Trant's Raid
Part of the Peninsular War
Coimbra
Date 6 October 1810 [1] Location Coimbra, Portugal 40°12′N 8°25′W / 40.200°N 8.417°W / 40.200; -8.417 Result Portuguese victory
Belligerents
Portugal	French Empire
Commanders and leaders
Nicholas Trant	André Masséna
Strength
4,000 Portuguese militia	Unknown
Casualties and losses
3 killed 26 wounded	8 killed 4,000 captured

Peninsular War

200km
125miles

V

e

d

r

a

s

T

o

r

r

e

s

Fuentes de Oñoro

8

Sabugal

7

6

Lisbon

5

Bussaco

4

Almeida

3

Ciudad Rodrigo

2

Astorga

1

  

Third French invasion:

1

Siege of Astorga March April 1810

2

Siege of Ciudad Rodrigo April 1810

3

Siege of Almeida July 1810
3.1 Blockade of Almeida April 1811

4

Battle of Bussaco September 1810

5

Torres Vedras protects Lisbon

6

Battle of Redinha March 1811

7

Battle of Sabugal April 1811

8

Battle of Fuentes de Oñoro May 1811

Trant's Raid was the Portuguese recapture of the city of Coimbra from the French on 6 October 1810 during the Peninsular War. The assault was undertaken by a Portuguese militia led by Colonel Nicholas Trant, an Irish officer in the British Army.^[2]

Marshal André Masséna's army had captured Coimbra and established a base there. On 7 October Trant and 4,000 Portuguese militia recaptured the city. French losses were 8 killed and 400 able-bodied soldiers captured. About 3,500 sick and wounded, plus several hundred medical and service personnel also surrendered.^{[citation needed]} Trant's losses were only 3 men killed and another 26 men wounded.^{[citation needed]}

As the new governor of the city, he remained in possession of the city all winter while the French carried out their futile blockade of the Lines of Torres Vedras^[3]

• Cobbett (1810). Cobbett's Political Register. Cox and Baylis.
• Smith, Digby (1998). The Napoleonic Wars Data Book. Greenhill. ISBN 1853672769.

• Media related to Trant's raid at Wikimedia Commons