Battle of Ocana

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Battle of Ocana

Date	November 19, 1809
Location	Ocaña, near Madrid, Spain
Result	Decisive French victory

Combatants

France

Spain

Commanders

Nicolas Soult

Juan de Arizagua

Strength

35,000

51,000

Casualties

2,000 dead or wounded

4,000 dead or wounded
15,000 captured

Peninsular War: Second French Invasion, 1808–1809
Pancorbo – Valmaseda – Burgos – Espinosa – Tudela – Somosierra – Sahagún – Saragossa – Castellón – Uclés – Corunna – Valls – Villafranca – Ciudad-Real – Medellín – Porto – Gerona – Grijo – Lugo – 2nd Porto – Alcañiz – San Payo – María – Talavera – Almonacid – Tamamés – Hostalrich – Torres Vedras – Ocana – Alba de Tormes

In the Peninsular War, the Battle of Ocana (in spanish batalla de Ocaña) was fought on November 19, 1809 and resulted in a victory of the French under Marshal Soult against the Spanish under General Don Juan de Arizagua. It was the Spanish army's greatest single defeat during the entire conflict. They lost, combining prisoners, killed and wounded, and deserters, nearly 19,000 troops from an army of 51,000, mostly due to the superb French use of their cavalry, with a great deal more missing. William Napier writes: "The Spaniards came on at a trot, and Sebastiani directed Paris, with a regiment of light cavalry and the Polish lancers, to turn and fall upon the right flank of the approaching squadrons, which being executed with great vigor, especially by the Poles, caused considerable confusion, with the Spanish general endeavored to remedy by closing to the assailed flank." (Napier - "History of the War in the Peninsula 1807-1814" Vol II, p 247) The strategic consequences were also devastating, as it destroyed the only force capable of defending southern Spain, and the area was overrun over the winter in the Andalusia campaign.