3-098-631 - Heritage Art/Heritage Images

The Great Day of Gerona (September 19, 1809), c1890. Hand-to-hand combat between the defenders and the French soldiers during the Spanish War of Independence. In the centre is Álvarez de Castro. "At a quarter to four in the afternoon, the alarm signal breaks the sound of the Cathedral bell; the drums resound everywhere with the general's call. In the streets and squares, the cry of "To arms! Assault the breaches!" rings out... The breaches under attack are reinforced with the utmost valour. Our general, accompanied by the Lieutenant of the King of the Plaza and his General Staff, arrives at the Santa Lucía fortress - being the closest to his home; he finds his garrison offering the greatest resistance to the enemy...He flies to reconnoitre the other fortresses and in all of them - which were attacked simultaneously - he finds their defenders entrenched, the plaza itself encircled by a blazing fire fuelled by 130 artillery pieces, furiously deployed...The Santa Bárbara companies, composed of heroic women from the city, rendered outstanding service, distributing cartridges and tending to the wounded with disregard for the greatest risks". Extract from an unpublished manuscript entitled Diary of the Siege of Girona, by Juan Pérez Clarás, member of the Governing Board of the Siege.