Battaglia of the Catalan – Wikipedia

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The Battaglia of Catalan It was an armed confrontation fought on January 4, 1817 as part of the Luso-Brazilian invasion of the eastern province of the Río de la Plata between the army of the United Kingdom of Portugal, Brazil and Algarve, conducted by the Marquis of Alegrete, and the Eastern militias , led on the occasion by Andrés Latorre.

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The battle was fought on the banks of the Catalán torrent, tributary of the Río Cuareim, currently in Uruguayan territory, near the border with the Rio Grande do Sul. The clash proved to be the bloodiest of the entire conflict and ended with the Luso-Brazilian victory.

After the failure of the plan of José Gervasio Arts, who wanted to invade the Brazilian territory in order to cut the connections to the Army of Carlos Frederico Lecor who had invaded the eastern province of the Río de la Plata, the leader Eastern had retired to the Arapey stream to reorganize her troops. [3] In the ranks of the Luso-Brazilian army, meanwhile, the governor of Rio Grande do Sul, the Marquis of Alegrete, had detected General Joachim Xavier Curado in command of the northern front, [4] to give a greater impulse to military operations in the region. [5]

Venyto aware through his service information from the fact that Craast was near and was preparing to attack, Alegrete detached a body of 500 cavalry men on 20 December 1816 with the task of reaching the heights of Santa Ana and attract the enemy army, [6] In order to divert the enemy’s attention from the point where he had decided to cross the Río Cuareim. [7] For his part, Artas brought out of his andrés Latorre camp with 3400 men and two pieces of artillery, directed to the hills where the Luso-Brazilians had been sighted, while he himself remained on the Arapey with 500 men destined to act as a reserve. [2]

Realized by Alegrete’s deception, Latorre advanced on the right bank of the Río Cuareim in search of the rearguard of the Luso-Brazilian army, who in the meantime had passed the river, entering the eastern territory, and had occupied a strong position on the Catalán torrent, tributary left of the Cuareim. [8] On the night of January 2, the Portuguese commander had launched 600 men with 2 pieces of artillery against the camp of Conduct, under the command of Lieutenant Colonel José de Abreu, and at the same time had a regiment of dragons between the Arapey stream and the heights Of Santa Ana , in order to observe the moves of Latorre in this way and provide a reserve ready in the event that CRABRAS had managed to reject the attack. [8]

After a silent night march, Abreu managed to wade without being seen the Arapey stream; On the morning of January 3, the camp of Craas attacked by surprise, which risked being captured, and reported a complete victory in the battle of Arapey. [9] On the evening of the battle he returned halfway through the bulk of the Luso-Brazilian army, without however notifying anyone of the thing. [ten]

On January 4, 1817 Latorre attacked the army of the Marquis of Alegrete trusting on his numerical superiority; [8] The oriental deployment was composed of the center by the infantry, in the midst of which the artillery pieces were located, and the cavalry on the wings, consisting mainly of indigenous launchers (Charrúas, Minuán and Guaycurú). [2] The Luso-Brazilian army also adopted the classic deployment with the cavalry on the sides of the infantry, but had the advantage of having 9 pieces of artillery and more trained troops; [first] Alegrete had made his troops arranged in the road order and was therefore not surprised by the attack. [11]

Ladre concentrated his attack on the Portuguese left wing, resting on the bank of the Catalán, coming to cross the stream to commit the rear. [8] When the victory seemed to be assigned to oriental troops, Lieutenant Colonel Abreu arrived on the battlefield, back from the victory of the previous day; The left wing of Latorre ceded under the assault of the newcomer, folding towards the center and causing the flag of the entire deployment. [2]

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The eastern army was forced to a precipitous retreat, chased for some alloys by the Luso-Brazilian cavalry, [11] Leaving 900 dead on the field, 290 prisoners, 2 cannons and a large number of horses. [2]

The battle of the Catalán was the bloody of the entire conflict, [2] The only one who saw at the same time implicate all the forces of both the parts present in the same war theater. Released victorious from it, the marquis of Alegrete undertaken the march towards the Río de la Plata for a few days, but he desist in front of the risk of seeing the connections with the Rio Grande do cut on the after having received news of the fall in the eastern hand of the fortress of Santa Teresa and Cerro Largo. [11] In the meantime, the column of Lecor did not find great resistance in its march towards Montevideo, which was occupied on January 20, 1817. [twelfth]

Alegrete returned the command of the front to General Curado, who retired to the Río Cuareim. [13] Over the following three years, Craas continued his fight against the invading army despite the defeats, betrayals and defections from his field, adopting a tactic of continuous guerrilla guerrillas against the Luso-Brazilian invaders. [14]

  1. ^ a b Vázquez, pp. 202-205 .
  2. ^ a b c d It is f g Alonso, pp. 179-182 .
  3. ^ Vázquez, pp. 200-202 .
  4. ^ Fragoso Tasso, p. 141 .
  5. ^ Man Towers, p. 65 .
  6. ^ Castellans and Ardao, pp. 165-167 .
  7. ^ Man Towers, pp. 65-66 .
  8. ^ a b c d Fragoso Tasso, p. 143 .
  9. ^ Zorrilla, p. 77 .
  10. ^ Zorrilla, p. 78 .
  11. ^ a b c Man Towers, pp. 67-69 .
  12. ^ Man Towers, p. 71 .
  13. ^ Fragoso Tasso, p. 144 .
  14. ^ Vázquez, pp. 207-222 .
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  • ( IS ) Aurora chapel of Spanish and Maria Julia Ardao, The geographical scenario of artiguism , Montevideo, A. Monteverde & Cía, 1991.
  • ( PT ) Fragous rate, The Battle of the Passo do Rosário , Rio de Janeiro, Army Library. Volumes 167-168, 1921.
  • ( PT ) J. S. Torres Man, Annaes of the Wars of Brazil with the states of Prata and Paraguay ( PDF ), Rio de Janeiro, National Press, 1911 (archived by URL Original September 23, 2015) .
  • ( IS ) Juan Antonio Vázquez, Artigas military driver , Montevideo, Military Center. Editorial Dep.To G.Ral Artigas , 1953.
  • ( IS ) Juan Zorrilla de San Martín, The epic of Artigas. Volume II , Montevideo, Barreiro and Ramos, 1910.

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