Spanish Campaign Army – The Spanish

Spanish Regular Army (plus two irregular brigades)

The Spanish army consists of two parts.   The Regular army is commanded by the CinC.    The irregular army consists of town militia infantry brigades and guerrilla bands.   In this post I will deal with the Regular army only.

There are four corps in the Regular army.  Two have three infantry and one cavalry brigades, plus artillery.   Two more have three infantry brigades and artillery, but no cavalry.   There all four corps are weaker than any of the French corps, who have four infantry brigades.   The two Spanish corps without cavalry are particularly disadvantaged.

They are restricted to a maximum of three days supplies per corps, plus four days in the main depot.   They can nominate any town to be a depot, but can only have a maximum of four.   Like the French, they can move supplies between depots, but a maximum of three per campaign day.   As a result they are less mobile than the French, who have a maximum of four days supplies.

Not only are the Spanish corps weaker than the French, but their troops are also inferior.   Most are conscript, and therefore have low morale and are more likely to break and run in combat.   Most have poor quality must volley and skirmish ability.

Their cavalry are all conscript.   Only their gunners are equal to the French.

If a Spanish corps is forced to fight a set piece battle in the open they will probably lose.   However they are usually on the defence, and can usually choose their location to fight.   They have a large number of towns, and each town has a garrison.  The garrison cannot be moved, and does not come under the direct command of the Spanish commander.  But by deploying around a town they gain an extra infantry brigade.

The main strength of the Spanish army is the militia garrisons and the guerrilla bands.  I will cover both next week.

You will find the campaign diary blog here

http://1813pbemcampaigndiary.blogspot.com.es/