The Lines of Torres Vedras

Today we spend time in and on the Lines of Torres Vedras as we travel from the Atlantic Sea, seen here at the point where the clouds sit at the edge of the land

to the River, now called Rio Tejo, but known then, and still by many, as the Tagus.

The Lines of Torres Vedras link these two points with hills and hill forts which Wellington is determined to defend to turn back the Third French invasion of Portugal.

But more about that shortly, first the beginning of the day.

Early Morning

My morning rhythm has really fallen in to place. I wake today again at 3.30am and begin to draft the blog post of yesterday. The pattern has meant I've blogged every day of the holiday so far. In past years by this point I've fallen behind with the blogging. What has given way this year is the photos on Flickr, none of which have been updated since last Thursday, as these full on days haven't left any time. This is a pity as the Flickr photos give a much better and more detailed context than I can ever fit into these words.

Drew wakes at 6am and I make him a cup of espresso in the coffee machine in the room.

By 6.45am both of our ablutions are done. The Dolce CampoReal had a very nice shower with good water pressure in this hotel - after which we head for breakfast.

Breakfast

7am breakfast is much more civilised than a 7.30am one we have had for the last five days - it allows for more time to enjoy the food, and the food here was amazing. Here are some images of it.

Drew, still a little hoarse, but without other evidence of a cold, went for the fresh fruit.

I opted for some lovely fresh fruit for the top of my Greek Yogurt, the yogurt had the lovely thick texture of the best Greek yogurt, like it could be sliced with a knife not spooned!

Drew then had two hash browns, two fried eggs, bacon, sauteed mushrooms and bacon.

While I had a selection of local cheeses with chorizo and jamon. With wholemeal rolls. Really delightful.

Drew moved on to the next course in which he had four sweet treats. A Berliner (doughnut), a cake called on the signs at the buffet 'Common Cake', a Palmier and two apple turnovers with pastry on both sides. He was very happy with these.

I had oatcakes, a first for this holiday, with sausages and sauteed mushrooms.

Set up for the day, well for the morning anyway, we went back to the room, packed our cases and dropped them down to the coach for 8.25am.
 

The Lines of Torres Vedras

Having in the last few days travelled quite great distances, today or focus will be looking at the lines in much more depth, even though the total footprint of travel will be much less.  

This map well represents the overall picture:

Lisbon, Portugal's capital, is at the bottom of a peninsular with the Atlantic on one side, the West, and the Tagas on the other - the east. Wellington sees the hills, already called the Torres Vedras by the local people, as the opportunity to form an impregnable defence. However, being Wellington one line was not enough, so he built another line, more impregnable, behind that - the second line. As you can see closer to the bottom of the map, that was not enough for him. He built a much smaller line around the area where, if worse came to worse, the British would be able to leave Portugal by sea - the third line.

There were 152 forts and redoubts built along the first and second lines, as seen in this map which focuses on just the first and second lines.

As we saw two days ago, the Battle of Bussaco, had been fought with Wellington's forces being to strong for the forces of Masséna. Though at the end of the battle both went south, Wellington's army moving fastest, heading for the trap he had built. Masséna thought Wellington was rushing off to save his army from another conflict, so followed as quickly as he could, given the challenges of an army with so many sick and wounded. 

Planning

There is a saying attributed to General Omar Bradley during World War II which says: "Amateurs talk strategy, professional do logistics." This phrase so captures the difference between Wellington and Masséna as characterised in The Lines of Torres Vedras.

On the 20th of October 1809 Wellington wrote to Richard Fletcher, Colonel of the Engineers in this 21 point plan (please note this transcript of the original document opens in OneDrive). A whole year ahead of the engagement at Torres Vedras - Wellington planned and put his plan into action with this outcome clearly in his site.  

There were 126 fortress and redoubts built by 1810 when Masséna and his forces reached them. Another 26 were completed later. Wellington also arranged with the Portuguese navy, supported by the British navy to have fourteen gunboats on the River Tejo, near where Fort 1 is built on the lower map above.

The lines then are a series of hills with forts and redoubts along, plus were possible the flooding of valleys by damming the rivers and the breaking of bridges which would make access to easy. 

The old Roman Road along the river and two other roads are the only routes past. These three points are manned by a rapid reaction force of Wellington's best troops. There were 34,000 British troops and 24,000, now battle tested, Portuguese troops, in the three valleys with divisional or brigade commands in each. 

The forts, on the other hand, are not managed by regular soldiers but, in most cases by the militia, often drawn from the local villages. 

Memos and letters written by the French show that the invading commander and his generals knew nothing about the lines until 4 days before they arrived in front of them. Wellington and his forces had kept the secret. Even though the work has been going on for 1 year and involved the British forces paying Portuguese labourers to do the work - they were paid in what was then called Silver Dollars, but a century before had been called Pieces of Eight - cue for parrots screeching 'pieces of eight, pieces of eight' at this point!! 

Even the British Ambassador to Lisbon did not know. Wellington, funded by his old school friend Nathan Rothschild, managed the process himself, so that the French did not hear about it from The Times or other newspapers reporting on the Ministry of Defence or Parliament.  

The Lines took £8.5 Million to complete that being the cost of both materials and labour. 

The bottom line is they worked and changed the history of Europe by such a devastating defeat of the formidable French. 

Wellington's Eagle's Nest

Apologies for the long description of the Lines, but I think one needs that to understand what we see when we get into them. The first point at which we stopped today at 8.30am is the one we saw last night from our hotel called Wellington's Eagle's Nest.

This is Mount Socorro, named for Our Lady of Succour, which is the name of an ancient chapel built on the top of this hill overlooking the Atlantic, with views along the First Line, up to where the French were based and behind to the Second Line. Wellington came up to this viewing point daily, leaving his HQ at 5am each day, to see what the situation was. 

Looking to the sea

and towards the French positions, from here you can see another 5 of the First Line Forts. 

and back to the lines beyond - note in the foreground a pole which was used for semaphore between the forts - this was manned by the Royal Navy signallers. 

The chapel is still standing and used weekly for worship and private prayer.

There is no fort on this mountain, the only one in the range without a fort or a redoubt, the Portuguese explained that the land was holy and that Our Lady would be sufficient help, so her chapel was enough on the hill.

St Vincent Fort

Leaving the heights of Mount Socorro we head down, a long way down, to the town of Torres Vedras and the fort above it. This is St. Vincent's Fort and it and two others form numbers 52, 53, 54. 

It has a good example of Scarpe and Counter Scarpe to stop the forlorn hope of the enemy.

It also provides amazing views of the rest of the hills forming the first line in the distance beyond the new housing.

Drew got adventurous and climbed onto the walls to improve his shot

and this highly magnified photo shows the semaphore on this Fort.

and more of the redoubts in the other direction, including one we shall be at later, can be seen here.

To support the towers the British brought canon from everywhere. Old cannons from the Indian wars, both British and Indian were brought. 18lb Russian Cannons from Russian ships in Lisbon bay were sequestered. Howitzers were used in the steep element, as they could lob up exploding shells. The forts weren't there for show, they were bristling with cannons and militiamen. 

Unusually, on this site, gunpowder for the cannons were put into reinforced windmills.

Scorched Earth

At the centre at Fort Vincent we go to an interpretation centre and view a film about the Lines which was very illustrative of there use. 

The film reinforces that what defeated Masséna was the lines. However, it also emphasis a bit of the history that the British often downplay, but is hugely significant to the Portuguese - The Scorched Earth policy of Wellington. 

Wellington, with the agreement of the Portuguese government established a Scorched Earth policy north of the First Line. The Portuguese population retreated towards Lisbon and was ordered to destroy all the food supplies, the French might capture as well as forage and shelter in a wide belt across the area. The command was obeyed as a result of French plundering and general ill-treatment of civilians in the previous invasions. The civilians would rather destroy anything that had to be left behind, rather than leave it to the French. This lead to the creation of internal refugees between the first and second lines and between the second line and Lisbon. Many Portuguese men, women and children starved during this period, a fact reflected in the Portuguese war memorial for this time, but not in British ones.

It was effective. It is reported that when the French armies reached the Lines of Torres Vedras, French soldiers told there friends and families that the country "seemed to empty ahead of them". This led to low morale (they had recently lost many comrades at Bussaco). With hunger, disease and indiscipline which greatly weakened the French army; compelled the forces to finally retreat after sitting, starving, cold and wet, before the Lines of Torres Vedras for a winter.

Wellington's Headquarters

At Midday we arrived at Wellington's HQ. 

A very impressive house. You'll see in the sign below that  Wellington is described as a Marshall, while he wasn't a Marshall or Field-Marshall in the British Army at the time, he carried the honourary rank of Marshall in the Portuguese Army.

Beresford's Headquarters

We next go down the valley, through the town of Torres Vedras, and up the other side. To Beresford's HQ, Beresford led the Portuguese Army and was always close to Wellington. 

The only serious French Incursion into the Lines

Masséna's aide de camp Marbor supported his leader as he wrote in his memoirs says that "Masséna's Generals thought every little hill was as steep as Bussaco." Marbor also recalls that a stormy discussion took place in which Junot was keen to go ahead, but that Ney and Reynier said that Bussaco had so diminished the numbers of the fighting troops, that all were at risk. Ney, said he would not follow Masséna's orders as he had been willing to do in Bussaco. This tension reemerged as they went into retreat, as we saw yesterday.

So, during the six months which Masséna and his forces spent in front of the Lines waiting for reinforcements and seeking a way out of the tactical impasse in which it found itself, that is from September 1810 to March 1811, only one serious incursion towards the lines took place. 

This was in Sobral, a small village in front of the lines. On October 12th, 1810, Junot, former ambassador to Portugal and putative ruler of Portugal, when he led the First French invasion, attacked the advanced posts of the Anglo-Portuguese troops. It was the first battle fought between the allied troops and the army commanded by Masséna on the Lines of Torres Vedras. The French occupied the Sobral position and dislodged Wellington's advanced posts located in Caixaria. The fighting then continued inside the town, where fire was exchanged from house to house, with the French having the advantage. Losses are estimated at about one hundred and fifty men on each side. General Clausel occupied the positions protecting Sobral, seen here.

However, after this success, the following morning they saw the redoubt, forts and cannons above them and swiftly withdrew, seeing that they were doomed to be pummeled with little chance of advance. The Anglo-Portuguese followed them out of the valley. The redoubt above this point was held by professional Portuguese troops rather than the militias that were in most of the other forts. The French could see that there was no way further forward for them here. The town was quickly emptied and the incoming troops found bread and dried fish left by the French which they used for themselves later in the day. 

The Montagraço Redoubt 

At 12.45pm we arrive at the redoubt at the top of the Montagraço ridge. This redoubt with the nearby smaller forts 15, 16 and 17 made a a great fortified entrenchment, where General Pack's Brigade camped. Mark, the historian travelling with us, he is seen in the last image here, explained that none of the Eucalyptus trees (a major export from Australia to Portugal) were here 220 years ago. The views were much clearer back in those days.

While there is a new path some of us walked down on, others, including Drew, thought the 320 year old road built by Fletcher and his Portuguese labourers would be more fun. 

My view of the road with Drew on it

Drew's view with others ahead of him.

Chão do Prado

We stop for lunch at 2pm at Chão do Prado, a restaurant set in a vineyard that serve their own wine.

We shared some tapas style dishes. Starting with Pão com azeitonas e azeite (bread with olives and olive oil)

Ovos mexicanos com salsicha portuguesa (Scrambled Eggs with Portuguese Sausage)

Cogumelos salteados (Mushrooms in a lovely sauce with herbs)

an unusual item on the menu was chamuça de coelho (Rabbit Chamussa) Drew wasn't convinced by this, so I was forced to have two. Though I was so keen on trying that I'd started eating before I remembered to photo. Lots of memory of rabbit dishes served by my Father in days gone by, he was more likely to put it in a stew.

Feeling I needed something to finish of the meal I choose Fatias de Laranja (Orange Slices). Not fuss, no added sugar, no syrup, just a lovely juicy orange, peeled and sliced. Lovely.

This was all washed down with plenty of cold sparkling water. Drew even managed to take a photo of our party, though poor Andy only has the back of his head and Alasdair seems squeezed by the post.

Portela Grande Redoubt

Our final, or almost final, visit of the day at 4.09pm is Forte da Portela Grande Redoubt formed by forts 40, 41 and 42 which are part of the Second Line of Torres Vedras.

It is quite a walk up:

But well worth it as this fort has a Powder Room (a real Powder Room, not the euphemism) which is almost intact. Most of the ones we have seen earlier today have had their tops removed. This is the entrance

and this where the powder would be stored free from enemy shells, water damage or fire.

The second reason for climbing up here is the view it gives of the Rio Tejo (River Tagus) and the surrounding hills most of which have forts of their own. The fort also has a lot of its defenses intact being more inaccessible than some of the others on lower hills, where the stones have been repurposed by local farmers for their field walls. This animation captures those features.

Hotel Mundial

At 5.15pm we head towards Lisbon for our stay at the Hotel Mundial. 

We pass by to take a shot of the Peninsular War Memorial in Lisbon. We had seen casts of this while in the Monastery overlooking Porto on Saturday.

The images show Portuguese Army ripping down the French Eagle, the British Lion and, interestingly the wife of a partisan, starving in between the Torres Vedras lines trying to stop her husband to go to war while send tends for her sick, dying and deceased childildren. It is quite dramatic.

We arrived back at the hotel at 6.15pm 

enough time for a quick rest and prepare for dinner at 7.30pm

Dinner

Dinner at the Hotel Mundial is quite formal, up on the eighth floor with views over the nearby squares our group is placed over three tables. 

Our starter is a delicious bowl of Caldo Verde, this soap, which we were supposed to have had at the Curia Palace Hotel, but which held no flavour their, was delicious here. A rich vegetable stock with potatoes strands of kale running through it, lovely chunks of a chorizo style sausage included, with its paprika pepperiness and a cornbread crumb on top. Yum, Yum.

This was followed by a sea bream dish with vegetables that I would only ever describe as colcannon while technically this would be called purê de batata com couve, they don't seem to have this dish in their normal recipe range, perhaps the chef has worked in Ireland. It rested under the tasty fillets of fish and was a perfect way of the fish juice flavouring the veg. A lovely idea and very, very tasty. There were some blobs of unidentified stuff, but Drew having confirmed that they were sweet, I left them alone.

For dessert Drew had both mine and his Chocolate Ganache enjoying it and the mango that was shaped like an M, probably for the hotel which is called the Mundial,

By 9.30pm we had completed our meal and headed back to the room. We were in bed by 10.15am after a somewhat tiring, but very enjoyable walk up and down to a number of the forts at the tops of the hills called towers of Torre Verde.