Siege of San Sebastian

Infobox Military Conflict
conflict=Siege of San Sebastián


caption=
partof=Peninsular War
date=July 7 to September 8, 1813
place=San Sebastián, Spain
result=French victory (1st),
Anglo-Portuguese victory (2nd)
combatant1=flagicon|United Kingdom United Kingdom,
flagicon|Portugal|1707 Portugal
combatant2=flagicon|France French Empire
commander1=Marquess of Wellington
commander2=Brig-Gen Louis Rey
strength1=18,000
strength2=3,600
casualties1=5,300, including 1,200 killed, 3,800 wounded, 300 missing
casualties2=1,900 dead and wounded, 1,200 capturedDuring the Siege of San Sebastián (7 July - 8 September 1813) Anglo-Allied forces from the army of General Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington captured the city of San Sebastián in northern Spain from its French garrison under Brigadier-General Louis Rey.

ituation

After winning the decisive Battle of Vitoria on 21 June 1813, Wellington's army moved into the western Pyrenees to face Marshal Nicolas Soult's reorganized French army. To clear his rear area and to obtain a port to supply his forces, Wellington laid siege to San Sebastián.

Forces

Rey's 3,000-man French garrison consisted of the 22nd Line (1 battalion), 64th Line (2 battalions), elements of the 1st Light and 34th Line, one company each of sappers and pioneers, and two companies of gunners. Ninety-seven guns lined the fortifications.

To prosecute the siege, Lieut-Gen Thomas Graham commanded an 11,000-strong corps that included Maj-Gen Kenneth Howard's 1st Division, Maj-Gen John Oswald's 5th Division and Brig-Gen Denis Pack's Portuguese brigade. Graham deployed 40 heavy siege guns.

Approaches

San Sebastián stood on a peninsula into the Bay of Biscay that ran generally north and south. The southern face of the city's fortifications was very strong. On its eastern side, the city was protected by the estuary of the Urumea River. British engineers detected a weak point near the riverfront at the city's southeastern corner. Assaults were possible across the river bed at low tide from both the south and the east. Breaching batteries were constructed to the south of the city and in sandhills on the east side of the estuary.

British seapower could not be utilized because the Biscayan blockading fleet was understrength. In fact, French vessels regularly brought in supplies and reinforcements, while taking out wounded and sick soldiers. Because of this, Wellington could not expect to starve out the city. He would have to breach the walls and carry the city by assault.

First Siege

The first parallel was opened on 7 July. Wellington personally launched an unsuccessful attack on 25 July. For the next week, he was fully occupied in defending against Soult's attack in the Battle of the Pyrenees. In the first siege, the British suffered 693 killed and wounded and 316 captured. Rey's garrison lost 58 killed and 258 wounded.

econd Siege

After driving Soult back across the frontier, Wellington again turned his attention to San Sebastián on 8 August. By this time, Soult had reinforced Rey to a strength of 3,600 men, including complete battalions of the 1st Light, 34th and 119th Line. Graham's corps now numbered 18,000 men. The British engineers emplaced their breaching batteries by 26 August. By late on 30 August, two breaches were blasted in the walls by 15 heavy cannon firing from the south and 42 from the east. The main breach was made near the southeast corner and a smaller one on the east side. Graham ordered an assault for the following day.

Because the attack had to be made as the tide fell, it was scheduled for 11:00 am on 31 August. The 5th Division made the assault from the south on the main breach. The soldiers dashed across the 180 yards from the trenches to the foot of the breach with little loss, but then the French opened a terrific fire. Again and again the men of the 5th Division rushed up the rubble-strewn breach, but they were cut down in swaths.

The French had built an inner wall that stopped the redcoats and killed hundreds. Graham committed 750 volunteers from the 1st, 4th and Light Divisions, but they were unable to beat down the French defenders. A Portuguese brigade splashed across the Urumea and attacked the eastern breach, but their drive also stalled. After two hours, the assault was a costly failure. The survivors hugged the ground to avoid the searing fire.

Graham and his artillery commander, Alexander Dickson fired on the inner wall, despite risk of killing many British soldiers who lay so close under the barrier. When the British heavy guns first fired over their heads, the survivors of the attack began to panic. But, when the smoke cleared, they noticed that the big guns had wrecked most of the inner wall. With a yell, they charged, reached the top of the breach and spilled into the city. The French resisted in deadly house to house combat until nightfall. Rey then pulled his 1,200 survivors into the castle on Monte Urgull, where he held out until 5 September before asking for terms. He formally surrendered on 8 September.

Burning of San Sebastian

Meanwhile, the British rank and file ran completely amok, pillaging and burning the city even though the population was anti-French. Order was not restored for five days, by which time only a handful of buildings survived. The rest of the city burned to the ground.

This tragedy is remembered every year on August 31 with an extensive candlelit ceremony.

Consequences

Of Rey's garrison, 1,900 were killed or wounded and 1,200 captured. Graham's command lost 1,200 killed, 3,800 wounded and 300 missing. In the final assault, 856 men died, 1,216 fell wounded and 44 were listed as missing. Maj-Gen James Leith, who had just returned to command the 5th Division, was wounded in the assault. The engineering officer who laid out the Lines of Torres Vedras, Sir Richard Fletcher was killed during the siege, as was one of Harry Burrard's sons.

Not realizing he was too late to save San Sebastián, Soult launched a final attack on 31 August. This attempt was beaten back in the Battle of San Marcial. With the possession of San Sebastián, Wellington could think about driving Soult back into France. The next action was the Battle of the Bidassoa on 7 October, followed by the Battle of Nivelle in November. The French garrison of Pamplona surrendered to the Spanish on 30 October.

References

* Chandler, David. "Dictionary of Napoleonic Wars." Macmillan, 1979.
* Glover, Michael. "The Peninsular War 1807-1814." Penguin, 1974.
* Smith, Digby. "The Napoleonic Wars Data Book." Greenhill, 1998.