Battle of Sobral


The Battle of Sobral saw an Imperial French army led by Marshal André Masséna probe the Lines of Torres Vedras defended by Arthur Wellesley, Viscount Wellington's Anglo-Portuguese Army. The clash occurred during the Peninsular War, part of the Napoleonic Wars. Sobral de Monte Agraço Municipality is located about southeast of Torres Vedras and north of Lisbon, Portugal.
Jean-Andoche Junot's VIII Corps was engaged in the fighting on both days. On 13 October, the French drove back the skirmish line of Lowry Cole's 4th Infantry Division. The following day, Junot's troops seized an outpost belonging to Brent Spencer's 1st Infantry Division, but were quickly ejected from the position by a British counterattack. Masséna soon decided that Wellington's defensive lines were too strong to crack and elected to wait for reinforcements.