Battle of Fuengirola was one of the battles of the Peninsular War. It was fought on October 15, 1810, between a small garrison of a mediæval Moorish fortress in Fuengirola and a joint Spanish-British expeditionary corps under Lord Blayney .

Before the Battle

The town of Fuengirola has been an important trade town since middle ages. To defend it against invasion from the sea, the Moorish built a stone castle on a hill between the Mediterranean and the Fuengirola River . During the Napoleonic Campaign in Spain the area of Costa del Sol was considered of secondary importance. 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 significant losses in the fights in the interior , the Polish army of the Duchy of Warsaw was sent there as a garrison and to rest in October 1810.

The Castillo de Sohail was manned by more than 100 Polish soldiers from the 4th Infantry Regiment. The unit was commanded by Captain F. 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 I. Bronisz). All these forces formed part of the French Corps of General Horace Sebastiani stationed in Malaga. The Corps was created mostly of Polish forces from the Duchy of Warsaw and numbered some 10 000 men. It was dislocated in Southern Andalusia to prevent the Spanish partisans from receiving arms from Gibraltar.

In the autumn of 1810 the British Major General lord Blayney decided to lead an expeditionary corps from Gibraltar towards the port of Malaga and seize it by surprise. The beaches near the small fortress of Fuengirola seemed a perfect landing place for his forces. The Spanish partisans informed the British about the weakness of the defenders and lack of reserves. In October 1810 he gathered a force of two British infantry regiments (84th Regiment of Foot and 89th Regiment of Foot , 2571 soldiers altogether) supported by artillery and a Spanish Toledo Regiment . The corps boarded a small fleet of HMS Rodney, 3 frigates (HMS Circe, HMS Topaz and HMS Sparrowhawk), 5 artillery vessels , several brigantines and transport sloops.

Battle

On October 14, 1810, the British armada reached Fuengirola. The British fleet paraded in front of the Polish-held fort. After that the British commander sent an emissary to convince the Polish commander to surrender. However, Młokosiewicz refused and the British forces landed several miles away from the castle. On the beaches they were met by a strong unit of Spanish partisans from the area of Ronda, who joined their ranks. Both units started an all-out assault on the castle. At the same time the British fleet returned to the castle and started an artillery bombardment.

Despite numerical inferiority, the Polish garrison held out the attack and managed to repel it. Also, Sergeant Zakrzewski managed to sink one of the British artillery vessels with one of two Polish infantry guns and the British fleet withdrew. After Major Grant, the commander of 82nd Regiment of Foot was killed, lord Blayney sounded a retreat. Overnight they landed their artillery and the British engineers built a small fortified artillery nest near the castle, from which they planned to destroy the walls. However, the Polish garrison of Mijas under Lieut. Chełmicki, alarmed by the artillery bombardment, arrived to the area and broke through the Spanish units and joined up with the defenders. The garrison of Alhaurin was also alarmed and in the early morning it arrived to the abandoned town of Mijas, where it clashed with a 450 men strong Spanish unit and destroyed it completely.

On October 16 the artillery bombardment became heavy and the British cannons destroyed one of the castle towers. By evening only 130 (out of 260) Polish soldiers are still able. Also, several British ships arrived to the area and brought 930 men ad reinforcements for the 82nd Regiment. To counter the threat, Captain Młokosiewicz decided to prepare a surprise attack on the enemy artillery positions. Leaving the castle defenceless and guarded only by wounded, he headed a group of 130 soldiers in a night bayonette charge. The British forces are taken by surprise and, despite huge numerical superiority (approximately 10:1), the British forces shielding the artillery started a disorganised retreat. The rest of the 82nd Regiment dislocated to the rear of the British artillery was prevented from counter-attacking by the retreating soldiers of the 89th Regiment. Because of the panic in British ranks, the Poles captured the British artillery with negligeable losses. The guns were turned away from the castle and the Polish infantrymen started shelling the British infantry with their own bullets. Although the artillery fire was mostly missed (there were no trained artillery officers in the Polish unit), it made the reorganisation of British troops harder.

Finally in the early morning of October 17 lord Blayney managed to reorganise his troops and ordered the assault of the artillery nests occupied by Polish forces. The Polish defences broke after 2 hours of fights and the Poles started a withdrawal towards the castle. However, before the British and Spanish forces could push further, they were attacked on their left flank by the Polish garrison of Mijas that arrived on the battlefield. Approximately 200 rested and well-equipped Poles under I. Bronisz distracted the attackers enough to let the withdrawing Captain Młokosiewicz gather the rest of his forces and attack the right flank of the British soldiers. The simultaneous attack of a numerically smaller Polish forces supported by approximately 30 French cavalrymen from the 21st Dragoon Regiment surprised the enemy infantry, which lost its momentum and soon started to weaver. After Lord Blayney was taken prisoner by the Polish infantry, his units sounded a retreat and returned to their ships.

Aftermath

The heroic defence of the castle in Fuengirola was probably the only moment in history, in which Polish soldiers fought against the forces of Great Britain. Although in his memoirs Lord Blayney tried to downgrade the importance of the battle of Fuengirola, he himself remained in Polish and French captivity until 1814. His sabre is currently on exhibition in the National Museum in Kraków.

See also

• Napoleonic Wars
• Duchy of Warsaw
• Peninsular War

External links

• Andrew, 11th Lord of Blayney
• Portrait of Eustachy Chełmicki