Siege of Olivença
1811 CE.
Shown on the map at 38.686°, -7.101°.
The siege of Olivença or Olivenza occurred on 19-22 January 1811 when French General Jean-de-Dieu Soult successfully undertook the capture of the run-down Spanish fortress of Olivenza in western Spain during the Peninsular War. On his way to storming the stronger fortress at Badajoz, Soult was obliged to modify his original plans. Sending his light cavalry under Brigadier General André Briche to take Mérida and leaving four squadrons of dragoons at Albuera to watch the garrison at Badajoz, he marched with the remainder of his army to invest Olivenza. Wellington had previously advised General Pedro de La Romana, commander of the Spanish Army of Extremadura, to either destroy the fortification at Olivenza or to repair its defences and fully garrison the town; La Romana in turn had instructed Mendizabal to slight the fortress, but Mendizabal ignored this order and reinforced the garrison with four infantry battalions. Soult, arrived on 11 January and was confronted with a strongly garrisoned, but untenable, fortress. The French heavy artillery arrived on 19 January, and by 22 January, a poorly repaired breach in the fortress's walls had been reopened.
Text from the Wikipedia article Siege of Olivença, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.