Efficiency and Cohesion
The efficiency and cohesion of the lines was based on five points:
1) Redoubts of artillery with Portuguese artillerymen, commanded by Major-General José António Rosa, and situated to fire into preset zones, where the enemy attack was expected. Both lines extended more than 80 km. The first line had 534 artillery pieces.
2) Military roads to cover the rear of the lines and allowing an extraordinary mobility of forces. In September 1810, the field army had some 66,598 regular soldiers. Including the Ordenanças and Milicias, it had 77,690 men.
3) A semaphore system introduced by the British Navy which allowed a message to be sent around the lines in 7 minutes, or from the HQ to any point in 4 minutes. The signal system had five stations:
- Redoubt n.30 close to the ocean (Ponte do Rol)...
- Fort São Vicente
- Monte do Socorro close to Pêro Negro, Wellington’s headquarters. The station was reconstructed in 2008.
- Monte Agraço
- Sobralinho, by the Tejo.
4) Secrecy. The building of the lines took, surprisingly, only 10 to 11 months. Lisbon became a peninsula defended by a most efficient system of blockhouses. Everything was preserved as a secret, whose maintenance is as surprising as the building of the lines. Only one report appeared in the London newspapers, a major source of information for Napoleon. It is said that when Masséna was first confronted by the Lines, he asked his staff why they had not known about them in advance. "Wellington has made them", replied someone. Masséna shouted, "To the Devil with you! Did Wellington make the mountains?" It is also said that not even the British government knew about the forts and was stunned when Wellington first said in despatches he had retreated to them.
5) The scorched earth policy. North of the lines everything that could supply the invading army was collected, hidden or burnt. A vast tract of land was deserted and perhaps 200,000 inhabitants of the neighbouring districts of the lines were relocated inside the lines. That the French were able to campaign in their vicinity at all was a remarkable feat, according to Wellington:
| “ | It is certainly astonishing that the enemy have been able to remain in this country so long; and it is an extraordinary instance of what a French army can do. ...They brought no provisions with them, and they have not received even a letter since they entered Portugal. With all our money, and having in our favour the good inclinations of the country, I assure you that I could not maintain one division in the district in which they have maintained not less than 60,000 men...for more than two months. | ” |
Read more about this topic: Lines Of Torres Vedras
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