Battle of San Millan-Osma

Battles of San Millán and Osma
Part of Peninsular War
Date 18 June 1813 Location San Millán de San Zadornil, Burgos, Spain Osma, Álava, Basque Country, Spain 42°51′N 3°08′W / 42.85°N 3.14°W / 42.85; -3.14 Result Anglo-Allied victory
Belligerents
French Empire	United Kingdom Portugal Spain
Commanders and leaders
Joseph Bonaparte Antoine Maucune Jacques Sarrut	Marquess Wellington Charles Alten Kenneth Howard
Strength
San Millan: 4,800 Osma: 3,800–4,802	San Millan: 4,000–5,484 Osma: 1,200–4,854
Casualties and losses
San Millan: 400 Osma: 120	San Millan: 100 Osma: 50–60

Peninsular War
Vitoria and the Pyrenees, 1813–1814

50km
30miles

San Marcial

8

Maya

7

Pyrenees

6

San Sebastián

5

Pamplona

4

Tolosa

3

Vitoria

2

San Millan

1

  

  current battle

In the Battles of San Millán and Osma (18 June 1813) two divisions of the Allied army of Arthur Wellesley, Marquess of Wellington clashed with two divisions of King Joseph Bonaparte's Imperial French army in northeast Spain. "extremely punishing couple of miniature battles at Osma and San Millan which ruined Maucune's division and sent the Army of ... There were in fact two armies involved in the campaign of 1813 "^[1] "Contact was, however, inevitable and on 18 June there was a sharp fight at the small village of San Millan, when the Light ... The French tried to make a stand at Osma the same day, but this was effortlessly beaten back and with it went .."^[2]

At San Millán de San Zadornil, Charles Alten's Light Division mauled Antoine Louis Popon de Maucune's French division. At Osma, 7.4 kilometres (4.6 mi) to the northeast, Jacques Thomas Sarrut's French division fought an inconclusive skirmish with Kenneth Howard's division before withdrawing to the southeast. San Millán de San Zadornil is located in the Province of Burgos while Osma is in Álava, Basque Country. The actions occurred during the Peninsular War, part of the wider Napoleonic Wars.

In the summer of 1813, Wellington's army thrust into Spain from Portugal with a powerful army composed of British, Portuguese, and Spanish soldiers. The British general outmaneuvered his opponents and forced the French to abandon Salamanca, Valladolid, Madrid, and Burgos. King Joseph and Marshal Jean-Baptiste Jourdan believed their position behind the Ebro River was secure, but Wellington sent his troops marching to outflank the line on the north. As Sarrut moved north, his troops bumped into Howard's soldiers. Maucune's division at San Millán was suddenly attacked from the west by Alten. Believing Maucune's division was no longer fit for combat, Joseph used it to escort a convoy and it missed the decisive Battle of Vitoria three days later.