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BATTLE // September 12, 1813

Battle of Ordal

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Overview

The Battle of Ordal was a meeting engagement on 12 and 13 September 1813 that saw a First French Empire corps led by Marshal Louis Gabriel Suchet make a night assault on a position held by Lieutenant General Lord William Bentinck's Anglo-Allied advance guard.

Overview adapted from Wikipedia, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.

Significance

The Battle of Ordal was a meeting engagement in the final phase of the Peninsular War, fought as Anglo-Allied forces under Lord William Bentinck operated along the eastern coast of Spain. Suchet's corps launched a night assault against Bentinck's advance guard, inflicting approximately 2,000 casualties on the larger Anglo-Allied force of around 20,000 against Suchet's 17,000. The engagement checked the Allied advance guard and demonstrated that French forces in eastern Spain retained the capacity to mount aggressive offensive action even as the wider Peninsular campaign moved toward its conclusion.

Tactics

Suchet's corps conducted a night assault against the Anglo-Allied advance guard position. Beyond this characterization as a meeting engagement opened by a French night attack, the overview does not provide further detail on terrain use, maneuver, or dispositions.

Forces & casualties

Troop strength

  • First French Empire17,000
    medium
  • United Kingdom20,000
    medium

United Kingdom fielded a 1.2 : 1 numerical advantage

Casualties

  • United Kingdom2,000
    medium10% loss rate
Order of battle →Casualties in detail →

Commanders (3)

First French Empire

United Kingdom

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Related

6 sibling battles · 3 factions

Last verified June 2026
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