Napoleon in 1812

Caracas Bagane, the commander-in-chief of the Spanish Resistance Army, was the brigade commander of the guerrilla unit under Lieutenant General Juan Martín Díez[1]. In a head-on fight, a guerrilla unit of insurgents and militias would never defeat the French soldiers.

However, if they were able to fight ‘by Guerrilla’s law’, they could defeat even the much stronger French army.

Of course some prior information was needed to engage in a guerrilla war. One of the most important was the march of the target troops.

To find the way the French were passing, or were about to pass, the guerrilla troops had sought information by releasing expert units that were good at tracking and searching.

Sometimes they sought help from the Spanish inhabitants, who had been looted by the French for their homes, property, and food, and even though the Spanish were not promised any remuneration, they actively gave information about the French. This was why the anger of the people was so scary.

“A procession of those French demons is expected to pass through the Lohane Mountains today. This is the information given by these villagers who appear to be merchants.”

“Let’s go that way for now. Check the authenticity of this information and make a reasonable plan.”

“All right, Brigade Commander.”

As a Spanish himself, Bagane knew to well the desperate anger of the Spanish people. That was why he was not even suspicious of the testimony of only merchants.

Caracas Bagane’s guerrilla brigade made its way toward the Lohane Mountains. Their guerilla uniform, a mixture of dark gray and brown, was specialized in concealment and stealth. Their appearance in the thick forest of the mountain ranges was not detectable from the far away.

An army in blue uniforms with tricolor flags appeared a mile ahead of the guerrilla unit, which was on standby, fully prepared for battle. This was the arrival of the long-awaited French army.

Bagane murmured in a low voice, staring at the French army as they marched south across the Lohane Mountains.

“As we have done before, we let the leading troops and the main troops go. Our target is the rear squadron and the reserve forces.”

“Yes, sir.”

It had already been four years since the guerrilla unit started operating in earnest. The Spanish Resistance had learned how to deal more damage and pain to the French. Rather than raiding the main forces, it was to wipe out the rear guard who was responsible for supply.

After losing its supplies in guerrilla raids, the French army had to plunder the area more violently and brutally in order to survive. As a result, the resentment and anger of the Spanish inhabitants against France grew even more.

A virtuous cycle (a vicious cycle from the French point of view) therefore took place in which the Spanish generals enrolled more recruits, wracked with resentment, in the resistance.

‘France is already fighting an unwinnable battle. As the war continues, our numbers increase and the Spanish people’s hatred for France grows. No matter how demonic the Emperor of France may be, he won’t be able to turn the tide of this war.’

Spanish guerrilla forces led by Caracas Bagane were waiting in a private house in the Lohane Mountains to ambush the French rear troops they targeted. Likewise, the locals who had been beaten up by the French gladly hid them.

How long did they wait? Finally, wagons and carts pulled by horses appeared, along with the French heavy force escorting them. As the guerrilla forces held their breath, they swept through the French wagons with a telescope. Because the Spanish resistance had been targetting only the supply wagons, the French sometimes disguised their troops and carts to trap them.

So they had to be cautious and look carefully at their movements and behavior. Were they really soldiers in charge of supply, and were they really carrying supplies?

Bagane took his eyes off the telescope and looked around. As an experienced hunter, he had already made up his mind. But two or three pairs of eyes together were more accurate than one.

The other hunters, who were holding telescopes with Bagane and looking at the movements and characteristics of the enemy, nodded in unison.

It meant that they were right. There had never been a mistake in judgment when Bagane and the others agreed.

“Show our fear to these vicious invaders like hyenas!”

“Whoaaa!”

Driven by their resentment, the guerrilla soldiers launched a surprise attack. Those who were angry and thirsty for revenge to the point that they would chew the French without leaving a single bone, pointed their guns indiscriminately at the panicked French army.

Bagane, who foresaw the success of the operation, smiled fishyly. With this, a French unit that invaded Spain would painfully die of starvation. It was then.

Tatata! Tata! Tatatata!

This was not a gunshot from Bagane’s guerrilla unit. They had not issued the order to fire yet.

When the guerrilla troops started to panic at the unexpected gun shots, a new army emerged from a totally unexpected area.

As they quickly approached the left side of the guerrilla unit, and started to surround them, they fired from a position that penetrated their sides. The uniform they were wearing was not blue like regular uniforms of the French army, but khaki.

As soon as they saw them, the guerrilla troops realized that they were not the only one to know how to use stealth, infiltration, and surprise. The left side of the guerrilla army, hit by the surprise fire, collapsed quickly.

“Reverse the line! Reverse!… Argh!…”

“Major Lopez!!”

The French fired at the guerrilla officers who were leading their soldiers while shouting intensively. They rode horses and continued to shoot at the guerrilla troops whose movements were restrained.

This was the first time that troops had attacked a Spanish guerrilla unit that was attacking the French army at the same time.

Those who were bleeding and falling were all dressed in brown uniforms. Caracas Bagane was momentarily taken aback.

The Spanish had prepared a perfect surprise attack by thoroughly looking at the French army’s path and march schedule, with even customized preparations for their level of armed force.

But these newly-emerged French troops came with a ‘perfect response’ to their perfect surprise, as if they knew the guerrilla forces would ambush the supply units here. Bagane realized that they had fallen into a trap.

‘We’ve been fooled by fake information trying to tie us up from the start! Damn it, what a stupid mistake!!…’

Lieutenant General Juan Martín Díez was worried that the performance of guerrilla forces hitting the rear of the French army had been decreasing recently, and the number of lost or repelled troops had been increasing.

Bagane found the reason only today. France had created strategies and special forces to respond to the rear guerrilla war. But even if the troops were destroyed, this fact had to be know and reported to the resistance headquarters.

“Ah shit! Where are those damn old men!? I’ll shoot them myself!”

“They, they’re gone! They all left at some point!”

They looked for the villagers who had given them information on the French army’s path, but they had long since disappeared. They were truly professional. In the meantime, the French troops fired sequentially in a perfect line.

“First row, fire!”

Tatatatatatata!

“Second row, fire!”

The rugged terrain of the mountains and ridges was covering the French, but the guerrilla troops had all their upper bodies exposed. The guerrilla unit, ambushed by their sequential fire, gradually collapsed.

“We can’t continue! Retreat! Everyone scatters!”

The lower members of the guerrilla unit were formed separatedly, so it did not matter much as long as the unit’s commanders were not caught. Bagane, the commander of the brigade, abandoned his subordinates and fled with only the major officers.

While the troops became bait and were chased by the enemy, the officers, including Bagane, were able to escape safely on the prepared path.

It was a cold-hearted decision, but it was inevitable to protect the roots of the resistance. But this was not the end of Bagane’s bad luck.

A unit composed of light cavalry was waiting for them as they ran away. As if they had expected this, the French soldiers were dispatched at the exact moment when the commanders of the guerrilla unit got separated, and surrounded them.

“Caracas Bagane! Commander of the 11th Guerrilla Brigade of the Spanish Resistance! You’re a good catch, you son of a bitch! You crawled in looking for your grave!”

One of the guerrilla officers, startled by the French officer’s words, shouted swearing.

“Poor bastards! We are walking down the path of hell, leaving the Lord, to pick up the pieces of you invaders! We know what you want us to live for! But our officers will never sell out their comrades!”

When he realized he was in an hopeless situation, he calmed down. Citing international law, he asked to be the only one killed and demanded that his officers be treated as prisoners of war. The French officer, however, only had a fishy smile.

“All the resistance solders we captured used to talk like that. International law, blah, blah, blah, and asking to be treated like a noble lady. But that goes both ways. Have you forgotten all the barbaric and cruel acts you have done to our comrades! And you’re still asking us to be gentlemen? Not everyone who is born as a human is human. You have to act like a human being to be treated like one.”

The iron rule of the Spanish guerrillas was to never let prisoners live. Even the soldiers who lost their will to fight, threw down their weapons and surrendered, ended up with ony violence, torture, and murder.

The story of the captured French general’s family brutally slaughtered in front of him was now very famous. The French officer’s cold eyes pierced the hearts of the officers of the guerrilla unit, including Bagane.

“How far will your loyalty to your comrades, to your commander and to your monarch (Fernando VII) go? It’s a mistake to expect fairy tale-like stories to the end. Do you still have no idea how we knew your positions and activities and dispatched informants?”

“The skills of the torture specialists from Marseille are extraordinary. Let’s bet if you care more about your colleagues or if you want to die comfortably without pain. For your information, the former has never won before.”

The officers of Bagane’s guerrilla unit still had a determined expression on their faces but could not avoid the darkening of their eyes. Torture specialists came to them with cruel smiles. Their torture took place there without having to move anywhere else. Soon desperate screams were heard in the Lohane Mountains.

This was just a few of the numerous events that took place in the French-occupied Spanish region.

The French were conducting a major extermination operation against the Spanish resistance, who had been persistently harrassing them.

[1] Juan Martín Díez

Here’s a painting made by Roque Gameiro of a guerrilla unit attacking French troops: