Qualla: Battle of Castalla https://qualla.com/battle-of-castalla en-us © 2026 Bendyline Thu, 20 Aug 2026 16:38:46 GMT Qualla serial false Qualla support@bendyline.com yes https://qualla.com/_m/e/y/z/e/battle-of-castalla-wp/hero-small.webp Qualla: Battle of Castalla https://qualla.com/battle-of-castalla Battle of Castalla: Introduction https://qualla.com/battle-of-castalla/ Photo credit William Salter, Public domain. The victory at Castalla was really won the day before, at a mountain pass called Biar. On 12 April 1813, Colonel Frederick Adam and a mixed brigade of barely two thousand men - British, King's German Legion, Italian, and Spanish - fought a five-hour holding action in the pass to keep Marshal Suchet's French army off the back of their retreating comrades. When Suchet's cavalry tried to turn the retreat into a slaughter, three companies of the 2/27th Foot sprang a neat ambush and stopped them cold. That stubborn stand bought Lieutenant-General Sir John Murray the hours he needed to draw up his whole army on strong ground near Castalla. The next day, the French would break themselves against it.

Read more: Battle of Castalla on Qualla

Image: William Salter | Public domain

]]> Mon, 20 Jul 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/e/y/z/e/battle-of-castalla-wp/eyze-battle-of-castalla-intro.mp3 0:06 1 full Battle of Castalla: The Pass at Biar https://qualla.com/battle-of-castalla/ Photo credit 19th Century Print, Public domain. By the spring of 1813 an Anglo-Sicilian force, thickened out with Spanish troops, had been sitting at Alicante for months, changing generals and achieving little, until Murray took command of a reinforced army of some eighteen thousand. Then Marshal Suchet moved to surprise him. ...

Read more: Battle of Castalla on Qualla

Image: 19th Century Print | Public domain

]]> Mon, 20 Jul 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/e/y/z/e/battle-of-castalla-wp/eyze-battle-of-castalla-the-pass-at-biar.mp3 0:06 2 full Battle of Castalla: A Castle-Topped Ridge https://qualla.com/battle-of-castalla/ Photo credit 19th Century Print, Public domain. The position Murray chose was made for defence. A ridge crowned by the old castle of Castalla overlooked a deep stream bed, with a spur jutting forward that would tend to split any attack coming up the slope, and a flooded stream guarding his right flank. Murray arranged his divi...

Read more: Battle of Castalla on Qualla

Image: 19th Century Print | Public domain

]]> Mon, 20 Jul 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/e/y/z/e/battle-of-castalla-wp/eyze-battle-of-castalla-a-castle-topped-ridge.mp3 0:06 3 full Battle of Castalla: Suchet's Gamble https://qualla.com/battle-of-castalla/ Photo credit 19th Century Print, Public domain. Louis Gabriel Suchet was the one marshal who had won his baton by his victories in Spain, and he tended to treat the provinces of Aragon and Valencia as a private kingdom. Confident that a hard blow would send the Spanish and Italian infantry running, he planned to drive his colu...

Read more: Battle of Castalla on Qualla

Image: 19th Century Print | Public domain

]]> Mon, 20 Jul 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/e/y/z/e/battle-of-castalla-wp/eyze-battle-of-castalla-suchets-gamble.mp3 0:06 4 full Battle of Castalla: Musketry on the Slope https://qualla.com/battle-of-castalla/ Photo credit 19th Century Print, Public domain. At noon on 13 April the French surged forward. Whittingham's steady Spaniards threw back the right-hand attack columns and their skirmishers; the left-hand columns ran into Adam. In a short, close-range musketry duel, Adam's 2/27th Foot, drawn up in line, poured fire into the 121...

Read more: Battle of Castalla on Qualla

Image: 19th Century Print | Public domain

]]> Mon, 20 Jul 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/e/y/z/e/battle-of-castalla-wp/eyze-battle-of-castalla-musketry-on-the-slope.mp3 0:06 5 full Battle of Castalla: A Victory Not Followed https://qualla.com/battle-of-castalla/ Photo credit 19th Century Print, Public domain. And then Murray let it slip. Slow to seize his advantage, he allowed the French to disengage and retreat almost unmolested, their rearguard once again defending the pass of Biar to cover the withdrawal. The arithmetic still favoured the Allies: about 440 casualties on Murray's si...

Read more: Battle of Castalla on Qualla

Image: 19th Century Print | Public domain

]]> Mon, 20 Jul 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/e/y/z/e/battle-of-castalla-wp/eyze-battle-of-castalla-a-victory-not-followed.mp3 0:06 6 full