The French Army’s Difficulties in Obtaining Food Supplies in Portugal in 1810

Did you know that in 1810, many French soldiers in Portugal faced significant hardships during the French Invasions, particularly during the Third Invasion?

One of the main difficulties was the lack of food and supplies. Portuguese and British forces implemented a scorched-earth policy, destroying crops, removing provisions and evacuating local populations to prevent the French from obtaining resources. This led to famine among French soldiers.

Food shortages, combined with poor sanitary conditions and long marches, contributed to the spread of disease, further weakening the French army.

“In 1810, Junot was in Spain and Portugal under the orders of General-in-Chief Masséna; he was part of the French army that invaded this country and thus witnessed the disastrous campaign in which the French were forced to retreat before the combined Anglo-Portuguese forces, commanded by the Duke of Wellington, through hostile villages where everything was lacking for Masséna’s troops: food and accommodation. (...)The difficulty of obtaining provisions to feed the French troops, even barely, was such that, to the great astonishment of those brave men, who had never witnessed anything like it, one regiment was tasked each day, in turn, with seizing whatever it could find that might serve to satisfy the hunger of Napoleon’s men.”

Bibliographical reference:

BENAVIDES, Francisco da Fonseca — No Tempo dos Franceses [In the Time of the French]. Lisbon: Tribuna, 2008, pp. 288–289.

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