Francisco de Longa

Francisco Tomás de Anchia Longa (10 April 1783 – 1831) was a Spanish general. Francisco Anchia y Urquiza became known as Francisco de Longa because of his leadership of the village, Longa, Mallabia (province of Biscay).

Francisco Tomás de Anchia Longa
Born1783 (1783)
Longa de Mallabia
Died1842 (1843) (aged 64)
Allegiance Spain
RankLieutenant General
Battles/warsWar of the Pyrenees
Peninsular War

Early life

He was born in Longa. He was a blacksmith by trade.

Leader

Longa was a Spanish guerrilla in 1809 with a few followers. These partidas, or groups, were encouraged by the military and civil authorities. Part of the reason for this was logistical: the bands depended upon supplies from the regular forces including arms and ammunition. Longa's partidas attacked lines of communications.

By 1811 he had formed and led a battalion of 700 men as a lieutenant colonel. By 1812, he had been promoted to colonel and given command of the Iberian Division. He led his forces in the Cantabrian mountains for four years.

Longa supported Wellington's Anglo-Portuguese campaign of 1813. He became commander of Spain's 4th Army., He was made a brigadier general by 1814, lieutenant general by 1815, and then field marshal.

He and 100 men engaged the French in guerrilla warfare, attacking the lines of communication around Pancorbo, Orduña and Valdeajos. He subsequently became the commander of the Iberian Division.

At the Battle of Vitoria, Longa's division was part of Sir Thomas Graham's column that ran through the mountains to the north. Their mission was designed to prevent French forces from retreating east from Vitoria. They were directed to avoid decisive engagement before the other columns. They faced the French Army of Portugal that had the mission of protecting the French lines of communication. They fought in the eastern area of Gamarra Mayor and sustained the highest casualties. It was named "Gomorrah" because of the nature of devastation of the battle. Longa's forces were able to cut the main French retreat route, thereby aiding Wellington's forces to victory.

Longa's guerilla forces aided in depriving the French forces of intelligence and instead provide intelligence of French locations to Wellington. Longa also achieved disruption: French internal coordination and logistics were hampered, negatively affecting French discipline and morale. The major achievements of the Battle of Vitoria were a greater French casualty rate vs allied forces (approximately 8,000 to 5,000 respectively) and capture of 151 of 153 French cannons and 415 French caissons (ammunition chests). Some argue that without forces like Longa's guerillas, French forces would not have been defeated. Within the following month, most French forces left Spain and French rule was practically ended.[1][2][3]

References
  1. Nash, Elizabeth (15 February 2008). "Spain Remembers Its War to End All Wars". The Independent [London (UK)], p. 26.
  2. Chartrand, Rene (2004). Spanish Guerrillas in the Peninsular War 1808 - 14, p. 28. Oxford, Osprey Publishing Ltd.
  3. The Consortium on Revolutionary Europe 1750-1850 Proceedings 1991, Edited by Karl Roider and John Horgan, Institute on Napoleon and the French Revolution, 1992, Session 14, Wellington in Spain: Wellington and the Spanish Guerillas: The Campaign of 1813, Charles J. Esdaile, page 298 - 306; Session, Insurgency and Counterinsurgency in the Kingdom of Leon, 1810-1811, Jackson Sigler, pp. 201-210.


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