Monumento to Roliça´s batlle - Roliça, Portugal - La Famille Bonaparte on Waymarking.com

"The village of Roliça is placed in the centre of a horseshoe shape of steep hills approximately one mile wide and two deep. The open end opens North North East toward Óbidos where the 95th had met the French the day before. The hills around Óbidos and Roliça were well wooded.
The French began the day to the north of Roliça backed up to the higher ground allowing them to block or protect the roads south toward Lisbon. On the hill about one mile to the south of the village where the French first fell back, there were four defiles, or gullies leading into the new French position. The field below these hills were grassy, but boulders and the steep sides to the gullies made attack in formation impossible. In the first stages of the battle, Delaborde pulled his troops back to the top of the hill."

"In August 1808, the British army—including the King's German Legion—landed in Portugal under the command of Lieutenant-General Sir Arthur Wellesley, who drove back Henri François Delaborde's forces at the Battle of Roliça on 17 August, as the Portuguese Observation Army of Bernardim Freire de Andrade shadowed Louis Henri Loison's division. On 21 August, Wellesley—who had turned to the mouth of the Maceira river to protect landing reinforcements—was attacked at Vimeiro Hill by Jean-Andoche Junot. The Battle of Vimeiro was the first occasion on which Napoleonic offensive tactics combining skirmishers, columns and supporting artillery fire failed against the British infantry line and Wellesley's defensive skills."
From wikipedia

The monument is composed by a tile panel with battle scenes and a column referring to The Roliça´s Battle, the first important combat between the british allies and the French invasors.
The war (Peninsular War) became known in Portugal as The French Invasions and it´s one episode of the Napoleonic Wars. The Napoleonic forces tried twice to invade Portugal and get to Lisbon but failed. The Roliça´s battle was part of the first wave.

How identified / Comment identifie: Sign / Panneau Name of book, tour, or museum - Preciser le nom si livre, tour, ou musee: PP Batalha da Roliça Relevant Website / Site web pertinent: [Web Link] If "other" specify / preciser si "autre": Not listed Visiting Days or Hours / Heures d'ouverture: Not listed

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