Editing Peninsular War (section)

===Spanish campaign, early 1809===

====Fall of Zaragoza====
[[File:Santa Engracia - Lejeune.jpg|thumb|[[Second siege of Zaragoza|Saragossa]]: ''The assault on the Santa Engracia monastery'' by [[Louis-François Lejeune]], oil on canvas, 1827]]
Zaragoza, already scarred from [[Charles Lefebvre-Desnouettes|Lefebvre]]'s bombardments that summer, was [[Siege of Saragossa (1809)|under a second siege]] that had commenced on 20 December. Lannes and Moncey committed two army corps of 45,000 men and considerable artillery firepower. Palafox's second defence brought the city enduring national and international fame.{{sfn|Glover|2001|p=89}} The Spaniards fought with determination, endured disease and starvation, entrenching themselves in convents and burning their own homes. The garrison of 44,000 was left with 8,000 survivors{{mdash}}1,500 of them ill{{mdash}}{{sfn|Gates|2002|p=114}} but the {{lang|fr|Grande Armée}} did not advance beyond the [[Ebro]]. On 20 February 1809, the garrison capitulated, leaving behind burnt-out ruins filled with 64,000 corpses, of which 10,000 were French.{{sfn|Glover|2001|p=89}}{{sfn|Bell|2009}}

====First Madrid offensive====
The Junta took over direction of the Spanish war effort and established war taxes, organized an Army of La Mancha, signed a treaty of alliance with Britain on 14 January 1809 and issued a royal decree on 22 May to convene at Cortes. An attempt by the Spain's Army of the Centre to recapture Madrid ended with the complete destruction of the Spanish forces at [[Battle of Uclés (1809)|Uclés]] on 13 January by Victor's [[I Corps (Grande Armée)|I Corps]]. The French lost 200 men while their Spanish opponents lost 6,887. King Joseph made a triumphant entry into Madrid after the battle. [[Horace François Bastien Sébastiani de La Porta|Sébastiani]] defeated [[José de Urbina y Urbina, 3rd Conde de Cartaojal|Cartaojal]]'s army at [[Battle of Ciudad Real|Ciudad Real]] on 27 March, inflicting 2,000 casualties and suffering negligible losses. Victor invaded southern Spain and routed [[Gregorio García de la Cuesta|Gregorio de la Cuesta]]'s army at [[Battle of Medellín|Medellín]] near Badajoz on 28 March,{{sfn|Bodart|1908|p=395}} where Cuesta lost 10,000 men in a staggering defeat, while the French lost only 1,000.{{sfn|Gates|2009|p=123}}

====Liberation of Galicia====
On 27 March, Spanish forces defeated the French at [[Vigo]], recaptured most of the cities in the province of [[Pontevedra]] and forced the French to retreat to [[Santiago de Compostela]]. On 7 June, the French army of Marshal [[Michel Ney]] was defeated in the [[Battle of Puente Sanpayo]] in Pontevedra by Spanish forces under the command of Colonel [[Pablo Morillo]], and Ney and his forces retreated to [[Lugo]] on 9 June while being harassed by Spanish guerrillas. Ney's troops joined up with those of Soult and these forces withdrew for the last time from [[Galicia (Spain)|Galicia]] in July 1809.{{citation needed|date=April 2021}}

====French advance in Catalonia====
In Catalonia, Saint-Cyr defeated Reding again at [[Battle of Valls|Valls]] on 25 February. Reding was killed and his army lost 3,000 men for French losses of 1,000. Saint-Cyr began the [[Third siege of Girona (Peninsular War)|third siege of Girona]] on 6 May and the city finally fell on 12 December.{{sfn|Scott|1811|p=768}} [[Louis-Gabriel Suchet]]'s III Corps was defeated at [[Battle of Alcañiz|Alcañiz]] by Blake on 23 May, losing 2,000 men. Suchet retaliated at [[Battle of María|María]] on 15 June, crushing Blake's right wing and inflicting 5,000 casualties. Three days later, Blake lost 2,000 more men to Suchet at [[Battle of Belchite (1809)|Belchite]]. Saint-Cyr was relieved of his command in September for deserting his troops.{{citation needed|date=April 2021}}