Province of Valencia
Under the command of Louis Gabriel Suchet, the French Army of Aragon successfully concluded the Siege of Tortosa on 2 January 1811 and the Siege of Tarragona on 29 June 1811. In the latter operation, the French killed or captured 15,000 Spanish troops, wiping out two-thirds of Catalonia's army. French losses were 4,300 killed and wounded. Tarragona's capture earned Suchet his marshal's baton. Emperor Napoleon desired to subjugate the Province of Valencia, but that campaign had to wait until the French recaptured the Sant Ferran Castle, which sat on a major road between France and Spain. The Siege of Figueras ended on 19 August 1811 with a Spanish surrender. Six days afterward, Napoleon ordered Suchet to advance and seize Valencia. The emperor assumed that the Spanish Army of Valencia was in a panic and that the city would be easy prey for the Imperial French army. Napoleon erred; Sagunto Castle would hold out for weeks.