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The British Army was in retreat from Napoleon’s forces 200 years ago, during a bitter winter in northern Spain. In November 1808 an expeditionary force of 20,000 men under General John Moore marched into Spain to help to drive out the French invaders. But the British were badly equipped and rapidly became outnumbered as Napoleon poured in reinforcements to deliver a crushing defeat.

By late December 1808 Moore realised his dire situation and began a gruelling retreat over 250 miles through the northwestern mountains of Spain to the port of Corunna, near the Bay of Biscay, to escape by sea. Snow, hail and rain storms turned the roads to quagmires, many of the troops died in the perishing cold and stragglers left behind were shown no mercy by the pursuing French. Hungry and demoralised, the Army was on the verge of collapse. However, the French had to battle through the appalling conditions as well, and Napoleon himself led a desperate advance through a mountain pass in a blizzard to pursue the British.

Moore just managed to stay one step ahead and by January 11, 1809, the exhausted remains of his Army arrived in Corunna where they waited for the British fleet.

However, the French soon caught up and even though the British were starved, diseased and frostbitten, they fought a valiant rearguard action. Moore was killed, but the remains of the Army beat off the enemy and boarded the ships home. Several thousand men had been lost, but the Army had been saved from annihilation and would return to Spain to fight again.