Loyal Lusitanian Legion

Loyal Lusitanian Legion
Leal Legião Lusitana
Soldier of the LLL, at the Busaco Military Museum
ActiveJuly, 1808
Disbanded4 May 1811
CountryUnited Kingdom United Kingdom
Kingdom of Portugal
AllegianceGeorge III of the United Kingdom
John VI of Portugal
BranchArmy
TypeLight infantry and Field Artillery
Size~3,000
EngagementsBattle of Alcantara
Battle of Talavera de la Reina
Battle of Busaco
Commanders
Commanding officerRobert Wilson

The Loyal Lusitanian Legion (LLL) was a foreign volunteer corps of the British Army, organized with Portuguese émigrés in England, that fought in the Peninsular War. The LLL was created by the initiative of Portuguese Army Colonels José Maria Moura[citation needed] and Carlos Frederico Lecor[citation needed] – exiled in England after the occupation of Portugal by the Napoleonic Army – and the Portuguese Ambassador in London Chevalier de Sousa, with the support of the British government.

The LLL received the title "Loyal" to distinguish itself from the much larger Portuguese Legion, mobilized at the same time with the best units and officers of the disbanded Portuguese Army by direct order of Napoleon and which would fight for him in the several European campaigns.

The LLL included not only Portuguese, but also British (including its commanding officer, Colonel Robert Wilson) and Germans.

The Legion was organized in Plymouth, in July 1808 and landed in Oporto, Portugal in September of the same year.[citation needed] Between 1808 and 1811, as part of the Anglo-Portuguese Army, the LLL fought against the Napoleonic Imperial Armies in the Peninsular War. It was present at the battles of Busaco (Portugal, 27.9.1810; ca 2,000 men; commander: Baron Eben, German,* 1773; source: O. Pusch, 1986) and Talavera de la Reina, but was especially used to conduct raids and other irregular operations in the rear of the French Army, as part of Portuguese and Spanish militia forces.

The LLL was disbanded on 4 May 1811, after being transferred to the Portuguese Army, with its units being transformed into the 7th, 8th and 9th battalions of caçadores.