The Battle of Redinha was a rearguard action which took place on March 12, 1811, during Masséna's retreat from Portugal, by a French division under Marshal Ney against a considerably larger Anglo-Portuguese force under Wellington. Challenging the Allies with only one or two divisions, Ney's 7,000 troops were pitched against 25,000 men. In a typical rearguard action, Ney delayed the Allied advance for a day and bought valuable time for the withdrawal of the main body of the French army.
Battle of Redinha, 12 March 1811, by Henri Félix Emmanuel Philippoteaux.
Michel Ney, Marshal of France
Michel Ney, 1st Prince de la Moskowa, 1st Duke of Elchingen was a French military commander and Marshal of the Empire who fought in the French Revolutionary Wars and the Napoleonic Wars.
Portrait by François Gérard, 1805
Ney's birthplace in Saarlouis
Michel Ney as a sous-lieutenant in the 4th Hussars in 1792 by Adolphe Brune, 1834
Ney at the Battle of Eylau