End of Jean Campaign

Campaign Map Day 10

Main French depot at Hellin – 0 days supplies
French have no more reserve supplies
French occupy Martos
French have defeated Spanish army
Spanish in general retreat

13th French army – resupply and secure Linares
14th French army – occupy Martos
15th French army – regroup and resupply at Mortalalla

1st Spanish army – retreat off map
2nd Spanish army – retreat off map
3rd Spanish army – retreat to Alcaudete

Guerrilla cease active operations

Comment

The defeat of Second Spanish Army at Martos signalled the collapse of the Spanish Army Group.
In the north First Spanish Army immediately abandoned Andjuar and also retreated off the map.
In the south Third Spanish Army was in a very exposed position far to the east.
They immediate retreated to Alcaudete, hoping to follow First and Second Armies before being cut off by 14th French army at Martos.

The French had not only secured the campaign objective of Jean, but also routed the whole Spanish army. However they were in a weaker position than the map would indicate. 6 of their 9 corps were down to one day’s supplies. The main depot at Hellin had run out of supplies, but there were sufficient supplies spread between the nine towns now held by the French. But to access these supplies Second French Army would have to retreat to Jean.

Had the French lost the battle of Martos 14th French army would have found itself in a very difficult position. If they attempted to hold Jean they would have run the risk of a combined attack from Second and Third Spanish Armies. In addition they would have had only one day’s supplies. I suspect that given all the circumstances I would probably ordered them to abandon Jean and retreat to Jodar. This would have resulted in the Spanish winning the campaign.

The French did win, but only just. At the start of the battle of Martos the Spanish had won four battles and the French had also won four. Whichever side won Martos would have deserved to win the campaign.

This was our most enjoyable campaign in southern Spain. It has taken me a long time to balance Spanish weakness in set piece battles against French problems with guerrilla attacks on their lines of supply. All of this has worked much better in this campaign than in previous ones.