Commemoration of the Battle of Albuera

May 2022 - Javea member Steve Wall, was in Portugal on 14/16 May to commemorate the Battle of Albuera.

The Battle of Albuera (16 May 1811) was the bloodiest and most significant battle in the Peninsula War.

Wellington sent his best officer, Marshal Beresford, with a force of 10,000 (British, Irish, German, Spanish and Portuguese) to block Marshal Soult with 23,000 French, Polish and Irish.

Three of Steve’s forebear regiments fought there, one receiving 85% casualties and another 66%. They defeated the French against all odds.

Twice a year, in May and on Remembrance Day, a joint commemoration is held to those that died from the UK, Ireland, Spain, Portugal, Germany and those of our enemies from France and Poland takes place. 

Ambassadors, attachés, senior officers from all armies and descendants of those that fought attend. Steve represented his regiment, the Princess of Wales's Royal Regiment and laid wreaths alongside many others.

The photos below were taken at the British Cemetery in Elvas. It is both the oldest military cemetery in existence and the only one to hold bodies of men killed in battle during the Peninsula War 1808-1814. It holds only five marked graves, two of which are the only marked graves of thousands who fell at the Battle of Albuera. (Words and image Steve Wall, pictured in his blues)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Albuera