Leadership

“Little good could be said about the two native armies in the Peninsula in 1807. The Portuguese army had little actual existence. On paper it consisted of 30,000 men but not one of them could be found to oppose Junot as his men straggled into Lisbon. An acute observer writing at the turn of the century wrote that «the officers are ill-chosen, ill-paid and nevertheless are engaged entirely by interest, without the least spark of military honour. The Portuguese soldier is obedient, patient, robust, lively and dextrous; but he is at the same time idle, filthy, and disposed to find fault with everything».
Such military organisation as existed was dismantled by Junot in 1807 and the Portuguese army which fought beside the British with such distinction from Busaco to Toulouse was a completely new body, the creation of William Beresford. The extent of his achievement is best illustrated by two quotations from Wellington. When he first reviewed Portuguese troops in May 1809 he said, «the body of men very bad; the officers worse than anything I have ever seen». In July 1813 he reported, «No troops could behave better; nothing could equal their forwardness now, and their ready willing temper».

The Peninsular War
Michael Glove



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