Battle of Fuengirola

Battle of Fuengirola, a painting by January Suchodolski
oil on canvas, 93 x 66 cm, Polish Army Museum

Date	15 October 1810
Location	Fuengirola, near Málaga, Spain
Result	Polish-French victory

Belligerents

United Kingdom

Spain

Duchy of Warsaw,

French Empire

Commanders and leaders

Lord Blayney (POW)

Franciszek Młokosiewicz

Strength

3,501 British
1,000 Spanish

400 Polish
57 French

Casualties and losses

40 killed, 70 wounded, 200 captured (part of them also wounded), 5 guns, 300 rifles & muskets, 60,000 rounds of ammunition, 1 gunboat

20 killed, 100 wounded

The Battle of Fuengirola (October 15, 1810) was an engagement between a small Army of the Duchy of Warsaw garrison of a medieval Moorish fortress in Fuengirola against a much larger Anglo-Spanish expeditionary corps under Andrew Blayney. Blayney led an amphibious assault on Sohail Castle under heavy bombardment. The defenders, fighting with the First French Empire, were men from the 4th Regiment of the Duchy of Warsaw. Under ferocious attack from sea and on land from the British and Spanish forces from the inland, about 300 Polish troops ultimately routed the assaulting forces, inflicting heavy losses on the highly reputed British 89th (The Princess Victoria's) Regiment of Foot among others and even captured Blayney himself, who was a very distinguished general. Several of the Polish officers were awarded the Legion of Honour by Napoleon himself.

The town of Fuengirola has been an important trade town since the Middle Ages. To defend it against invasion from the sea, the Moors had built a stone castle on a hill between the Mediterranean and the Fuengirola River. During the Peninsular War the area of Costa del Sol was considered of secondary importance and it was seized by the French forces with little opposition and until 1810 the partisan activity in the region was close to none. That is why, after suffering losses in the fights in the interior, some Polish units of the Duchy of Warsaw were sent there in October 1810 to serve as a garrison and to rest.

Sohail Castle was manned by 150 Polish soldiers from the 4th Infantry Regiment and 11 French dragoons. The unit was commanded by Captain Franciszek Młokosiewicz. Similar small garrisons were placed in the nearby towns of Mijas (60 infantrymen under Lieutenant Eustachy Chełmicki) and Alhaurin (200 infantrymen and 40 dragoons under Major Bronisz). All of these forces formed part of the French Corps of General Horace Sébastiani stationed at Málaga. The corps numbered some 10,000 men located in southern Andalusia to prevent the Spanish partisans from receiving arms from Gibraltar.

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Wikipedia