Battle of Tordesillas
1812 CE.
Shown on the map at 41.500°, -5.000°.
In the Battle of Tordesillas, Battle of Villamuriel or Battle of Palencia between 25 and 29 October 1812, a French army led by Joseph Souham outmaneuvered and pushed back an Anglo-Portuguese-Spanish army commanded by Arthur Wellesley, Marquess Wellington. After its failed Siege of Burgos, the 35,000-man Allied army withdrew to the west, pursued by Souham's 53,000 French soldiers. On 23 October, French cavalry defeated the Allied rear guard in the Battle of Venta del Pozo. The Allies pulled back behind the Pisuerga and Carrión Rivers and took up a defensive position. Beginning on the 25th there were clashes at Palencia and Villamuriel de Cerrato as Souham sought to turn the Allied north flank. The offence on Villamuriel was unsuccessful for the French, but by a well-executed attack on Palencia – Wellington's left wing – Souham forced Wellington to adopt a new unorthodox defensive position. The French commander was prompted to pause for reconnaissance. The stalemate was broken on 29 October when the laborious General of Division Maximilien Sébastien Foy managed to get a party of naked French soldiers swam the Duero River at Tordesillas with their weapons on a raft.
Text from the Wikipedia article Battle of Tordesillas (1812), licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.