deceived and a week later recalled him to France, appointing Marmont in
his stead.
Napoleon, though, owed Massena a favour, after an incident at an
imperial shooting party at Fontainebleau in September r8o8. The
Emperor, a famously bad shot, hit Massena in the face with a bullet when
aiming at a bird and destroyed the sight in his left eye. Massena had done
his best in Spain and Wellington testified that he could never rest easy
while the one-eyed marshal was in the field. Marmont was scarcely an
improvement. Destined to be the least successful of all the Peninsular
marshals, he was a man of no military talent who owed his elevation to
the marshalate entirely to Napoleon's favour and repaid him with
treachery. The two most talented Peninsular marshals were Suchet and
Mortier who, alone of his kind, managed to get on with Soult. This was
in marked contrast to another marshal, Victor, who all but refused to
serve under the rapacious Soult, but Victor was almost the quintessence
of the marshalate in that, after the death of his one fr iend, Lannes, he
declined to take orders from anyone but the Emperor.
Before Wellington and Marmont could cross swords, Soult had at last
blundered into action in the south. He came up to relieve Badajoz, then
under siege by General Beresford, forcing the English commander to
break off and deal with the threat to his rear. The resulting battle at
Albuhuera on 15 May was the bloodiest in the Peninsular War, with both
commanders losing control of their forces. The nerve of the British
infantry held better, so that it was Soult who finally disengaged.
Casualties were terrific: there were 4,000 fatalities among the 7 ,6oo
British casualties, and Spanish and Portuguese losses topped 2,400
besides; the French sustained total losses of 7,ooo. Since Beresford had
begun the battle with 32,0 00 against Soult's 23,000, it was disingenuous
of the British to claim a great victory; at the very best it was pyrrhic.
Wellington's strategy was to take the fortress towns of Badajoz and
Ciudad Rodrigo in order to be able to advance securely into Spain, but
the junction of Marmont's and Soult's forces fo rced him to break off the
siege of Badajoz. Another stalemate ensued as both sides eyed each other
warily. With just 6o,ooo men the French did not feel confident enough to
attack Wellington with his so,ooo. Soon the unified French command
disintegrated, as the familiar jealousies and fissiparous tendencies among
the marshals took their toll: Soult marched away to Seville while
Marmont withdrew to the Tagus valley. Marmont and Wellington
continued to play cat and mouse. The British commander again moved
out to threaten Salamanca, whereupon Marmont summoned four
marcin
(Marcin)
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