Casemate 85

HISTORICAL ROUTE of the LINES of TORRES PROJECT.

Roger J C Thomas.
(Photographs by the Author, unless attributed)

In many ways the Peninsular War has often been seen as a backwater to the major campaigns and battles of the Napoleonic Wars, but in actual fact it was the deciding factor in the defeat of Napoleon's army in 1813, leading to the signing of the Treaty of Paris. Indeed, had Massena's advance and retreat from the Lines of Torres Vedras been seen as a battle, it would have been one of the greatest victories of all time. With the recent dramatisation of the 'Sharpe' stories into television dramas, many of the more famous battles of the Peninsular War have come to the public's attention. The glamour attached to the famous battles of Corunna, Talavera, Ciudad Rodrigo, Almeida, Busaco, Badajoz have all somewhat over-shadowed the importance of the defence works of the Lines of Torres Vedras.

The origins of the Lines date back to a survey and proposals made by a Portuguese army engineer, Major Jose Maria das Neves Costa towards the end of 1808, but it was the strategy adopted by Wellington in 1809 that resulted in their construction. Knowing that his army could be supplied by sea and if necessary, evacuated by the Royal Navy, Wellington chose to avoid major engagements with the French army and decided to make a gradual withdrawal towards Lisbon, using a scorched earth policy as he retreated. He was well aware of the formidable natural obstacles offered by the range of hills that ran across the peninsula north of Lisbon and on the 20 October 1809 he issued a memorandum to commence the construction of four lines of defence works to supplement the local terrain - the Lines of Torres Vedras, thus choosing and preparing in advance the battlefield upon which he wished to fight.

The two primary lines were built to the north of Lisbon, the first line, 281/2 miles (46 km) long ran between the mouth of the River Zizandre on the Atlantic coast to Alhandra on the banks of the River Tagus, while the second line 25 miles (40km) long started 8 miles (13km) further south at Ribamar in the west and finished at Póvoa de Santa Iria, once more on the banks of the River Tagus. The third line, 13/4 miles (3km) in length running between Paço de Arcos and Torres da Junqueira was established in an arc around the embarkation point adjacent to Fort St Juliao to the west of Lisbon. Finally a fourth line, 41/4 miles (7km) long, was built south of the River Tagus on the heights of Almada, to prevent an attack across the river by General Soult's forces.

The construction of the Lines was achieved by the mobilisation of thousands of Portuguese workers, who carried out the work under the supervision of a handful of British and Portuguese engineers. In principle the two Lines can be likened to the anti-tank stop lines built in Great Britain during the Second World War. They were not continuous entrenchments; rather they were a series of spaced out redoubts, with fieldworks and obstacles being built only where the geography failed, or to enhance a natural feature, making it even more difficult to assault. This was particularly true of the second line where extensive use was made of over-steepening the slope of the hillsides below the redoubts by 'scarping'.

New military roads were laid to the rear of the Lines to allow the rapid movement of the defending forces, while the roads that the French would have had to use were broken up, holed, or narrowed; fougasses were dug, bridges were prepared for demolition, low-ground was flooded, and extensive use was made of abattis. What Wellington and his engineers would have made of barbed-wire can only be guessed at, but I suspect that it would have been used very liberally.

The redoubts varied greatly both in size and plan, some being star-shaped while the majority conformed to the contours and the lay of land of the individual sites. Most were earthworks designed to hold between 50 to 300 men, with a small magazine, traverses, and a handful of 6-pdr field guns; some however, were stone-faced, or were built on a much larger scale - Säo Vincenté, north of Torres Vedras (1,720 men and 26 pieces of artillery) and Forte Grande (Great Redoubt) or Alquidão south of Sobral de Monte Agraço (1,590 men and 25 pieces of artillery). Many of the redoubts were intended to be interdiction batteries covering roads and passes that had to be traversed by an attacker. On completion, there were 152 redoubts along the first three lines, requiring a garrison in excess of 68,000 men. It should however be noted that when Wellington occupied the Lines in 1810, only 126 redoubts, armed with 300 pieces of artillery had been completed.

One of the interesting aspects of the Lines was the use of five semaphore signalling stations manned by Portuguese soldiers and British marines or sailors. The use of naval codes enabled messages to be sent the full length of the Lines in approximately seven minutes. The semaphore posts operated a numeric coded signalling system, using black balls and pennants to represent different numbers that could then be read off in a code-book to understand the message.

A new mast has been funded by Mafra Town Hall as part of their contribution to the Rota Histórica das Linhas de Torres Vedras project, and it was constructed by technicians from the Portuguese Navy Museum under the direction of Commandant Sáleal and with the aid of the master and crew of the Frigate D Fernando II. The arrangement of balls and flags was that proposed by Admiral Sir George Berkeley and the code for the signals followed the 'Popham Code' of the British Navy.

Probably the most remarkable fact about the lines was that even though 150,000 men had been involved in their construction, they were built in total secrecy and the French knew nothing of them until Montbrun's cavalry first encountered them south of Sobral on 11 October 1810. A short time later the French Marshal Massena arrived in person to undertake a reconnaissance and he soon realised what a daunting obstacle stood between him and Lisbon. While on his tour, Massena and his aides were spotted by the gunners in Redoubt 120, who proceeded to fire off a shot at the great man himself, which landed respectably close to its target. In response, Massena stood up in his saddle, raised his hat in salute and rode off out of range.

In autumn 2008 English Heritage was approached by the Intermunicipal Platform for the Lines of Torres, to provide advice on restoration work, and to contribute to an international symposium - Seminário Internacional Aimportância das Linhas de torres na Europa, that was held at the Auditório Municipal in Arruda dos Vinhos between 20 and 22 November. John Schofield (Head of Military Programmes) and Roger J C Thomas (Military Support Officer) attended on behalf of English Heritage and gave a presentation reviewing some fifteen years of work on recent military heritage, and the various conservation challenges faced in England by fortifications comparable to those of the Lines of Torres Vedras. In addition to lectures given by members of the Intermunicipal Platform and various Portuguese military archaeologists about different aspects of the project, and of the Peninsular War, presentations were also given by Lidia Klupsz (Polish Ministry of Culture), Paraskevi Kaouri (Hellenic Ministry of Culture, and Thomas Roth (Senior Curator, National Swedish Military Museums)

The Intermunicipal Platform comprises representatives from each of the six municipalities within in which the Lines of the Torres Vedras are located - Arruda dos Vinhos, Loures, Mafra, Sobral de Monte Agraço, Torres Vedras, and Vila Franca de Xira. The Intermunicipal Platform devised the project called Rota Históricadas Linhas de Torres (Historical Route of the Lines of the Torres) to restore and conserve, and to make accessible the two principle lines of redoubts to the north of Lisbon. A grant application to support the project was made to the European Economical Area, and it was approved in June 2007 with a budget of €2,016,219.

The Intermunicipal Platform with assistance from the Portuguese Institute of Archaeological and Architectural Heritage (IPPAR), the Directorate General for National Buildings and Monuments (DGEMN), and the Institute for the Management of Archaeological and Architectural Heritage (IGESPAR) has been very active in developing a methodology for assessing the survival and sustainability of sites, examining a variety of factors to enable their long-term conservation and the development of the Historical Route of the Lines of Torres.

The project has to date identified 114 redoubts that survive to one degree or another, ranging from ploughed out earthworks through to easily understood structures. It is intended that of this total, 48 sites will have intervention that will permit public access and interpretation. This process includes pre-assessment of the flora and fauna, scrub and tree clearance, archaeological inspection and where appropriate, intervention, consolidation of earthworks and structures, preparation and installation of interpretation panels, and the provision of access routes and paths.

The intention is to fully restore some of the redoubts to their original profile. A large amount of work is currently being done on The Great Redoubt or Forte do Alqueidão, where the whole complex has been recovered from scrub and tree growth, with extensive archaeological intervention and consolidation taking place. Seven public interpretation centres are being established along the two northern lines at Torres Vedras, Pero Negro (Wellington's HQ, below), Serra do Socorro (Socorro Hill semaphore station), Arruda dos Vinhos, Alhandra, Mafra, Bucellas, and Póvoa de Santa Iria. Some work is also being carried out on three of the semaphore signalling stations. The work at Serra do Socorro has been completed, including archaeological investigation, consolidation, and display of the original site of the semaphore post adjacent to the south-west corner of the monastery, and the erection of a replica semaphore post and interpretation panels.

The official opening was undertaken by the Norwegian Ambassador with a guard of honour being provided by a band from the 1st Queluz (Air Artillery) Regiment, wearing Portuguese infantry uniforms.

It is intended that the current project to develop the Historical Route of the Lines of Torres will be completed in time for the 200th Anniversary celebrations in 2010.