Battle of Pombal 1811
Recorded location from Wikidata; battle sites are often approximate.
Key facts
| Date | 11 March 1811 | Wikidata |
|---|---|---|
| Year | 1811 | Wikidata P585 (point in time) |
| Era | 19th century (1800–1913) | derived from year |
| Location | Portugal | Natural Earth (modern borders) |
| Continent | Europe | Natural Earth |
| War / conflict | Peninsular War | Wikidata P361 |
| Participants | First French Empire, Kingdom of Portugal, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland | Wikidata P710 |
| Coordinates | 39.9167, -8.6167 | Wikidata P625 |
About the battle
The Battle of Pombal (March 9 to 11, 1811) was a sharp but ultimately indecisive skirmish fought at the eponymous town during Marshal Masséna's retreat from the Lines of Torres Vedras, the first in a series of lauded rearguard actions fought by Michel Ney. The French were pursued by Wellington and his British-Portuguese army but the Allied advance was energetically contested by Ney's efforts, preventing Wellington from crushing Masséna's army when it was critically vulnerable.
At Pombal, Ney turned part of his rearguard to face the larger Anglo-Portuguese forces and checked their advance, before he faced new attacks and chose to disengage to rejoin the main body of Masséna's army. Both British and French sources note Ney's skilful leadership of his rearguard; they report on the engagements that happened on the 9th, 10th and 11th. However, the descriptions of actions differ to some extent.
Text adapted from the Wikipedia article Battle of Pombal (revision 1370586372), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Changes: excerpted from the article lead section; formatting and citations removed. No text added.
Nearby battles
- Battle of Casal Novo 1811 · 24 km
- Battle of Aljubarrota 1385 · 36 km
- Battle of Foz de Arouce 1811 · 38 km
- Battle of Asseiceira 1834 · 47 km
- Battle of Bussaco 1810 · 53 km
- Siege of Santarém (1184) 1184 · 76 km
Other battles of the Peninsular War
- Siege of Ciudad Rodrigo (1810) 1810
- Siege of Cádiz 1810
- Siege of Lérida 1810
- Siege of Mequinenza 1810
- Siege of Tortosa (1810–1811) 1810
- Battle of Albuera 1811
- Battle of Arlabán (1811) 1811
- Battle of Barrosa 1811
- Battle of Bornos (1811) 1811
- Battle of Campo Maior 1811
All 124 battles of the Peninsular War →
Browse more: battles in Portugal · Europe · 19th century battles