The British invasion of Guadeloupe is the British landing operation of the Napoleonic Wars era , which was carried out between January 28 and February 6, 1810, and whose purpose was to capture the Caribbean island of Guadeloupe . The island was the last remaining French colony in both Americas after the revolution in Haiti , the sale of Louisiana and the systematic capture of other colonies by British troops. During the Napoleonic Wars, the French colonies provided fortified harbors to privateers who operated on numerous British trade routes in the Caribbean, and then returned to ports before the British warships managed to intercept them. In response, the British imposed a blockade on the islands belonging to France, and seized any ship that tried to enter or leave the port. By disrupting the trade and communication of the colonies with the mother country, the British blockade squadrons undermined the economy and morale of the French colonies. On the other hand, from the point of view of French historians, the British initially aimed to capture the French colonies in the West Indies , while the use of privateers was a forced measure for French colonial governors, caused by a lack of military courts and the need to respond to the blockade.
| British invasion of Guadeloupe (1810) | |||
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| Main Conflict: Napoleonic Wars | |||
| date | January 28 - February 6, 1810 (new style) | ||
| A place | Guadeloupe , West Indies | ||
| Total | Victory of Great Britain, capture of the island. | ||
| Opponents | |||
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| Commanders | |||
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| Forces of the parties | |||
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| Losses | |||
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Despite repeated efforts, the French fleet was not able to sufficiently strengthen and replenish the reserves of the Guadalupe garrison, since many French ships were intercepted. Meanwhile, the British switched to the direct capture of islands belonging to France, such as Martinique , until Guadeloupe remained the last French colony. A British military expedition landed on the island on January 28, 1810 and found that most of the local militia had fled. Moving from two beaches on opposite sides of the island where they landed, the British were able to quickly move deep into the territory. Just reaching the capital of the island, the expedition faced strong resistance, but in the battle, which lasted most of the day on February 3, the French were defeated and retreated. The captain-general of the island, Jean Augustin Ernuf , the next day began negotiations on surrender and eventually surrendered with the troops to English captivity.
Content
Context
In the winter of 1808, British ships and troops from all over the Caribbean began to assemble on the island of Barbados under the command of Vice Admiral Sir Alexander Cochrane (fleet) and Lieutenant General George Beckwith (troops intended for landing). Their intention was to invade Martinique, plantation island, Sugar Bowl of France, in early 1809. A smaller portion of the troops was sent to Cayenne , the Dry Guillotine, a place of political exile that was captured already in early January 1809. In late January, the invasion of Martinique began, and despite resistance in the central, mountainous part of the island, it was captured by the British in 25 days. Cochrane then divided his ships, and sent some of them to help the Spaniards in the siege of San Domingo , while maintaining enough power to block the Leeward Islands.
In April 1809, a strong French squadron of three battleships and two frigates arrived at the island of Le Sainte , south of Guadeloupe. There they were blocked by the British until April 14, when British troops, under the command of Major Frederick Maitland, landed and captured the island. The French squadron, however, managed to escape under cover of night, after which the French battleships split. One of them was later captured by the British off the south coast of Puerto Rico , while the other two returned to France. Two French frigates, separated from the battleships, were locked in Bass Terre. In June, the frigates tried to return to France. Only one of them managed to avoid a meeting with the blockade squadron, but he was captured in the North Atlantic by other British ships only a month later.
Subsequent attempts by France to support its colony in Guadeloupe were insignificant, most of the sent brig were captured before reaching the island. The only significant attempt by French ships to break through to Guadeloupe took place in November 1809, and at first was quite successful, since on December 13, 1809, French ships managed to destroy the British frigate HMS Junon. However, this attempt was ultimately unsuccessful, as two French armed merchant ships, the Loire and the Seine, were destroyed on December 18 in battle with the English squadron off the southern coast of Guadeloupe.
During the fall and winter, British troops were again gathered from all over the Caribbean, this time to Fort Royal , Martinique, to prepare for the invasion of Guadeloupe.
The forces of the parties
General Beckwith gathered 6,700 people from many garrisons, so his soldiers belonged to a variety of infantry regiments of the British army, each of which was represented by a small team. In addition, Beckwith had 300 garrison gunners and local militia units. These troops were divided into two parts: 3,700 men, led by Beckwith himself and Major General Thomas Hislop , were to be deployed in Le Gossière on the south coast of the island. The second unit, 2,450 men under the command of Brigadier General George Harcourt, was originally supposed to wait on the island of Le Saint to join the attack later, making a landing in another place. A small reserve under the command of Brigadier General Charles Wale followed the main forces to provide support if needed. Since the French did not have significant naval forces in Guadeloupe, the Royal Navy's contribution was much less than that required for the invasion of Martinique the year before. However, Cochrane warships escorted both parts of the landing forces. He also sent part of the sailors from the ships to participate in the ground campaign.
French island defenders were weakened by years of isolation and food shortages. Although the available French troops numbered from 3,000 to 4,000, there was an epidemic of yellow fever on the island, and a large part of the garrison, mainly consisting of soldiers and officers of the 66th regiment of infantry and local militias, was unsuitable for combat missions. With the exception of the capital of the island, where the 66th regiment was actually located, the rest of the island was defended by a militia of local residents whose morale was very low. The French governor (captain-general) of the island was an experienced divisional general, Jean Augustin Ernuf, who in the past, however, held not so much combat as staff posts.
Invasion
After a brief period of gathering troops, Cochrane and Beckwith sailed to Guadeloupe on January 27, 1810, where they landed in two different places. The British forces did not meet any serious resistance - the local residents left their homes when the troops in red uniforms approached, and the militias - prepared fortifications. On January 30, Ernuf led the defense of that part of the island that was controlled by regular French infantry. However, the people of General Harcourt went ashore north of Bas-Terre , bypassing the strongest French positions in the Trois-Riviera and forcing them to leave Bas-Ter himself.
Ernuf tried to organize a retaliatory attack, but she failed. This ended the resistance of the French, and the governor of the island agreed to surrender.
Losses and results
The British during the operation had 52 killed and 250 wounded, with seven missing. The losses of France were more severe, in the region of 500-600 people. 3,500 soldiers and militias were captured along with their officers, guns and the Eagle of the 66th Regiment, and this was the first French eagle captured by the British during the Napoleonic Wars. The prisoners were sent on ships to England, where they stayed until 1814, while their commander was returned to France, where he appeared before a military court, which, however, could not find concrete violations in his actions, and lasted so long that the First Empire fell, and Ernuf was rehabilitated by the king.
By February 22, the nearby Dutch (the Netherlands was at that time an ally of France) colony Sint Maarten , Sint Eustatius and Saba surrendered without a fight, convinced by the formidable sight of the ships of the fleet of Admiral Cochrane. For these successes, Admiral Cochrane and General Hislop were promoted. General Beckwith remained in the Caribbean until he retired in 1814 due to poor health. All the officers and soldiers participating in the expedition were awarded the gratitude of both houses of parliament, and ten years later the regiments and ships that participated in the landing were awarded the diploma of Guadeloupe in 1810. Four decades after the operation, she was in the midst of hostilities, for participation in which a bar for the Naval Medal was issued, and this bar was relied on to all participants in the events that were still alive in 1847.
Guadeloupe became a British colony, but only until 1814, after which it was returned to France and is still its possession.
Literature [2]
- Adkins, Roy & Lesley. The War for All the Oceans. - Abacus, 2006 .-- ISBN 0-349-11916-3 .
- Clowes, William Laird. The Royal Navy, A History from the Earliest Times to 1900, Volume V. - Chatham Publishing, 1997 .-- ISBN 1-86176-014-0 .
- Gardiner, Robert, ed. The Victory of Seapower. - Caxton Editions, 2001. - ISBN 1-84067-359-1 .
- James, William. The Naval History of Great Britain, Volume 5, 1808–1811. - Conway Maritime Press, 2002. - ISBN 0-85177-909-3 .
- Marley, David. Wars of the Americas: A Chronology of Armed Conflict in the New World, 1492 to the Present. - ABC-CLIO, 1998. - ISBN 0-87436-837-5 .
- Rodger, Alexander. Battle Honors of the British Empire and Commonwealth Land Forces. - Marlborough: The Crowood Press, 2003 .-- ISBN 1-86126-637-5 .
- Woodman, Richard. The Sea Warriors. - Constable Publishers, 2001. - ISBN 1-84119-183-3 .
Notes
- ↑ According to British sources.
- ↑ List copied from English section.