Editing Peninsular War (section)

====Campaign in the northern Mediterranean region====
[[File:Battle of Castalla 1813 Print.JPG|thumb|The [[Battle of Castalla]] ]]

In the northern Mediterranean region of Spain ([[Catalonia]]) Suchet had defeated Elio's Murcians at [[Yecla]] and [[Villena]] (11 April 1813), but was subsequently routed by Lieutenant General [[Sir John Murray, 8th Baronet|Sir John Murray]], Commander of a British expedition from the Mediterranean islands{{Sfn|Robinson|1911|p=96}} at the [[battle of Castalla]] (13 April), who then [[siege of Tarragona (1813)|besieged Tarragona]]. The siege was abandoned after a time, but was later on renewed by Lieutenant General [[Lord William Bentinck]]. Suchet, after the [[Battle of Vitoria]], evacuated Tarragona (17 August) but defeated Bentinck in the [[battle of Ordal]] (13 September).{{sfn|Robinson|1911|p=96}}

The military historian Sir [[Charles Oman]] wrote that because of "[Napoleon's]<!--not a broken link but replacement of "the Emperor"--> absurdly optimistic reliance on" the [[Treaty of Valençay]] (11 December 1813),{{sfn|Oman|1930|pp=310}} during the last month of 1813 and the early months of 1814 Suchet was ordered by the French War office to relinquish command of many of his infantry and cavalry regiments for use in the [[campaign in north-east France (1814)|campaign in north-east France]] where Napoleon was greatly outnumbered. This reduced Suchet's French Catalonian army from 87,000 to 60,000 of whom 10,000 were on garrison duty. By the end of January through redeployment and wastage (through disease and desertion) the number had fallen to 52,000 of whom only 28,000 were available for field operations; the others were either on garrison duties or guarding the lines of communication back into France.{{sfn|Oman|1930|pp=308–311, 402}}

Suchet thought that the armies under the command of the Spanish General [[Francisco Copons y Navia|Copons]] and the British General [[Henry Clinton (Napoleonic Wars)|Clinton]] amounted to 70,000 men (in fact they only had about as many as he did), so Suchet remained on the defensive.{{sfn|Oman|1930|p=406}}

On 10 January 1814 Suchet received orders from the French War Ministry that he withdraw his field force to the foothills of the Pyrenees and to make a phased withdraw from the outlying garrisons. On ratification of the Treaty of Valençay he was to move his force to the French city of [[Lyons]].{{sfn|Oman|1930|p=411}} On 14 January he received further orders that because the situation was so grave on the eastern front he was to immediately send further forces to the east, even though ratification of the Treaty of Valençay had not been received. This would reduce the size of Suchet's field army to 18,000 men.{{sfn|Oman|1930|p=412}}

The Allies heard that Suchet was hemorrhaging men and mistakenly thought that his army was smaller than it was, so on 16 January they attacked. Suchet had not yet started the process of sending more men back to France and was able to stop the Sicilians (and a small contingent of British artillery in support) at the [[Battle of Molins de Rei|Battle of Molins de Rey]] because he still had a local preponderance of men. The allies suffered 68 casualties; the French, 30 killed and about 150 wounded.{{sfn|Oman|1930|p=411}}

After Suchet sent many men to Lyons, he left an isolated garrison in Barcelona and concentrated his forces on the town of Gerona calling in [[flying column]]s and evacuating some minor outposts. However his field army was now down to 15,000 cavalry and infantry (and excluding the garrisons in northern Catalonia).{{sfn|Oman|1930|p=415}}

The last actions in this theatre happened at the [[Siege of Barcelona (1808)|siege of Barcelona]] on 23 February; the French sallied out of Barcelona to test the besiegers' lines, as they thought (wrongly) that the Anglo-Sicilian forces had departed. They failed to break through the lines, and forces under the command of the Spanish General [[Pedro Sarsfield]] stopped them. The French General [[Pierre-Joseph Habert]] tried another sortie on 16 April and the French were again stopped with about 300 of them killed.{{sfn|Oman|1930|p=431}} Habert eventually surrendered on 25 April.{{sfn|Gates|2002|p=459}}

On 1 March Suchet received orders to send 10,000 more men to Lyons. On 7 March Beurmann's division of 9,661 men left for Lyons. With the exception of [[Figueras]], Suchet abandoned all the remaining fortresses in Catalonia that the French garrisoned (and that were not closely besieged by Allied forces), and in doing so was able to create a new field force of about 14,000 men, which were concentrated in front of Figueras in early April.{{sfn|Oman|1930|pp=424–425, 431}}{{efn|There were a further 13,000 French troops besieged in Barcelona, Tortosa, Saguntun and other fortresses, who were under siege and not able to extract themselves to join Suchet at Figueras {{harv|Oman|1930|p=425}}.}}

In the meantime, because the Allies underestimated the size of Suchet's force and believed that 3,000 more men had left for Lyon and that Suchet, with the remnant of his army, was crossing the Pyrenees to join Soult in the Atlantic theatre, the Allies began to redeploy their forces. The best of the British forces in Catalonia were ordered to join Wellington's army on the river [[Garonne]] in France.{{efn|The Anglo-Italian battalions, the Calabrians and the Sicilian "Estero" regiment were sent to Sicily {{harv|Oman|1930|p=429}}.}} They left to do so on 31 March, leaving the Spanish to mop up the remaining French garrisons in Catalonia.{{sfn|Oman|1930|p=431}}

In fact, Suchet remained in Figueras with his army until after the amnesty signed by Wellington and Soult. He spent his time arguing with Soult that he had only 4,000 troops available to march (although his army numbered around 14,000) and that they could not march with artillery, so he could not assist Soult in his battles with Wellington.{{sfn|Oman|1930|pp=431–432}} The military historian Sir Charles Oman puts this refusal to help Soult down to Suchet's personal animosity rather than strong strategic reasons.{{sfn|Oman|1930|pp=432, 500}}