The Battle of Roliça.

On the 16 of August of 1808, the british army under the comand of liutenant-general sir Arthur Wellesley, was stationed between the villages of Caldas da Rainha and Óbidos, after having fought a skirmish action the previous day with some companies of the first division of the french army under the comand of general de division Henri Delaborde.

Next day, early in the morning, on a windmill south of the walls of Óbidos Wellesley saw the french lined up on a hill behind a water course and near what he was told to be Roliça. It was not a very good position, still from there the french could also clearly see the british movements, that had to take the iniciative, since Delaborde was not about to launch an attack with his 4.000 men, against the 14.000 anglo-portuguese.

Knowing this, Wellesley made his plan for the day and basically his objective was to encircle the whole french division depriving the rest of the army from this very important efectives, that included three guns and a squadron of chasseurs a cheval. He had excellent informations about the total numbers of the french in Portugal, after all there where already portuguese officers in is staff.

I'll write the complete story of this battle in several chapters given the many interesting episodes that occured, starting next with:

- Orders of battle.

- First advance of the day.

- Delaborde's retreat to Columbeira.

- Lake and the 29th foot attack.

- The wait for Loison.

- Disaster at Azambujeira.

- Final episodes.

Sunset at Porto Novo.

Opening Soon.

I've beeing studying the Peninsular War, Guerra de la Independencia, Guerre d'Espagne, Invasões Francesas for some years now, and have already a book published, two more to come, and also several articles published in a variety of newspapers and specialized publications.

However since the very first time that I started this quest for knowledge, I've noticed that those who wish to visit the battlefiels or other related monuments in this region, do not find it easy because of the lack of information, and many just give up, because some of them are just accessible to those who know the terrain.

That´s why I'm starting this new chapter in my life, showing to visitors from abroad what they could not otherwise see.

Recently a group of members of a british museum accompanied me in a visit to Roliça, Porto Novo and Vimeiro, a sort of tour of the First French Invasion of Portugal in 1808, but I'm also preparing other routes that will include castles, some of the more emblematic vineards of the region and magnific natural sceneries.

I'll also post here any manifestations related or not to the Peninsular War, but that I find interesting and worth to be spread around. I'll mainly refer to a region that goes from Torres Vedras to Óbidos, Bombarral and Lourinhã.

I cannot advande any dates, but those who wish to contact me in the meantime, can do it so to the email adress : aureahistorica@gmail.com.