Bajas francesas en los Pirineos

FRENCH LOSSES IN THE CAMPAIGN OF THE PYRENEES

[From Soult's Official Return, lent mo by Mr. Fortescue.]

BRITISH LOSSES AT THE SIEGE OF BURGOS SEPTEMBER 20—OCTOBER 21, 1812

Sept. 20th, storm of the Horn work of St. Michael. Total casualties 421 (of whom the 42nd lost 2 officers and 33 men killed, 5 officers and 164 men wounded = 204 ; the 79th lost 5 men killed, 2 officers and 32 men wounded = 39; the Portuguese lost 3 officers and 17 men killed, 5 officers and 88 men wounded = 113 ; the other 67 casualties were divided among the remaining battalions of the 1st Division).

Sept. 21st, casualties 42 ; Sept. 22nd, 39 ; Sept. 23, 158 (of which 76 in the Guards Brigade and 44 in the K.G.L. brigade of the 1st Division, and 29 among the Portuguese).

Sept. 24th, casualties 39 ; Sept. 25th, 38 ; Sept. 26th, 32 ; Sept. 27th, 53; Sept. 28th, 26 ; Sept. 29th, 9 ; Sept. 30th, 29; Oct. 1st, 11; Oct. 2nd, 29; Oct. 3rd, 9; Oct. 4th, 16; Oct. 5th, 224 (of these 224, which really belong to the storm of the outer enceinte on the evening of Oct. 4th, the* 2/24th had 68 casualties, no other battalion more than 15).

Oct. 6th, casualties (French sortie of night of 5th) 142 ; Oct. 7th, 33 ; Oct. 8th(2nd French sortie in which 133 in the K.G.L. Brigade were killed or wounded), 184 ; Oct. 9th, 18 ; Oct. 10th, 61; Oct. 11th, 24; Oct. 12th,

17 ; Oct. 13th, 9 ; Oct. 14th, 3 ; Oct. 15th, 18 ; Oct. 16th, 12; Oct. 17th,

18 ; Oct. 18th, 48 ; Oct. 19th (the last assault), 170 (of whom 85 in the Guards Brigade and 84 in the K.G.L. Brigade of the 1st Division).

Oct. 20th, 47 ; Oct. 21st, 9.

GENERAL TOTAL : 24 officers and 485 men killed

68 „ „ 1,445 „ wounded

42 „ missing = 2,064

No figures for Artillery, Engineers, Train, or other auxiliary services, or for General Staff. Martinien's lists supply 4 casualties of generals (Conroux, Sch witter, Rignoux, Meunier), and 12 of staff officers. There must have been appreciable casualties in the other services, especially men captured from the Train at the Yanzi disaster.

Soult's figures are always unreliable (as witness Albuera). The details above contain some 'moral impossibilities '—e. g. the Return gives 68rd Line of Abbess Division 193 casualties, not including one officer. But Martinien's lists supply one officer-casualty at Maya, two at Beunza, two at Yanzi. Similarly 58th Line of Conroux has in the Official Return 478 casualties, including only 5 officers—1 wounded and 4 prisoners. A reference to Martinien shows 2 officers killed (one the colonel I) and 5 wounded—adding the 4 prisoners we get 11 officer-casualties to 473 men : quite a possible percentage, which Soult's is not.

Captain Vidal de la Blache (i. p. 280) gives a casualty list differing slightly from the above. It runs : Foy 556, Maucune 2,457, Lamartiniere 981, Darmagnac 2,225, Abbe 258 [quite impossible], Maransin 1,050, Conroux 2,887, Vandermaesen 1,480, Taupin 1,202, Cavalry 72 ; total 12,671.