"The Sieges of Ciudad Rodrigo and Badajoz" Topic

"At the end of Part 5 we saw that the French Army was unable to penetrate the lines of Torres Vedras which defended Portugal´s capital. Half starved, in March 1811 the French retreated northeastwards hustled onwards by British and Portuguese troops. Unable to cross over to fertile northern Portugal because the bridges at Coimbra were guarded by Portuguese militia, the French made for the border towns of Almeida and Ciudad Rodrigo before retiring on Salamanca to regroup. In May 1811, Wellington kept shut the door to Portugal at Fuentes de Oñoro in the north and almost at the same time, Beresford locked the door in the south at ´bloody´ Albuera. The allies should have been beaten at Albuera, but in spite of their enormous losses, the allied line never wavered. As much as any other factor, this steadiness of British, Portuguese and now Spanish troops dented French self confidence. It was almost as if French armies must achieve the impossible to defeat the British and their allies. As it happened, Fuentes de Oñoro and Albuera proved to be the watershed in the Peninsular War, and from this point it was the French and not the allies who were on the defensive…"
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