Battle of Alcolea Bridge

Battle of Alcolea Bridge
Part of the Peninsular War
Battle of Alcolea Bridge (Spain)
Date 7 June 1808 Location Alcolea, near Córdoba, Spain 37°55′55″N 4°40′23″W / 37.932°N 4.673°W / 37.932; -4.673 Result French victory
Belligerents
First French Empire	Spain
Commanders and leaders
Pierre Dupont	Pedro Echávarri
Strength
18,000	3,000
Casualties and losses
Unknown	Unknown

Peninsular War: Spanish uprising 1808

220km
137miles

12

Santander

11

Bailén

10

Rioseco

9

Valencia

8

Girona

7

Zaragoza

6

Cabezón

5

Cadiz

4

Alcolea

3

Valdepeñas

2

Bruch

1

Dos de Mayo
Madrid

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  current battle

The Battle of Alcolea Bridge was a minor battle that took place on 7 June 1808, during the Peninsular War, at Alcolea, a small village 10 km from Córdoba, the city that would be invaded by French troops later that same afternoon.^[1]

The Dos de Mayo Uprising had put Iberia in revolt against French rule.

It is significant in that it was the first staged battle against regular Spanish troops that General Pierre Dupont de l'Étang fought in Andalusia after having left Toledo on 24 May, heading for Cádiz, with 25,000 troops. Although successive movements of French troops would be harried by Spanish guerrilleros fighting along the way, on both sides of the Sierra Morena and in the steep gorge (defile) of Despeñaperros that separates Castile-La Mancha (including Madrid) and Andalusia, Dupont met with no resistance there.

At Alcolea, some 3,000 regular troops, accompanied by some armed civilians, tried, unsuccessfully, to stop Dupont's vastly superior forces at the bridge over the Guadalquivir and were forced to retreat to Córdoba. Dupont went on to capture Córdoba that same day, his troops ransacking the city over four days.

Capitaine de vaisseau Daugier, commanding the battalion of Sailors of the Imperial Guard, is made to defend the bridge shortly after the initial battle. The Swiss-Spanish troops under Daugier's command would hold the bridgehead after its repair by the Sailors of the Imperial Guard, while said sailors would continue to the rear village of Arcolea, wiping out the scattered guerillas that still remained in the village. No losses were taken by the Sailors of the Guard in this battle.^[2]

One of the Spanish soldiers who fought at Alcolea was Pedro Agustín Girón, who would later become a minister of war, and who would also accuse General Echávarri of not having personally participated.^[3]

Iberia in revolt proceeded with the Capture of the Rosily Squadron.

• Battle of Bailén
• Timeline of the Peninsular War
• Uprising of Santa Cruz de Mudela
• Uprising of Valdepeñas

• Foy, Maximilien Sébastien (1827). History of the war in the Peninsula under Napoleon, to which is prefixed a view of the political and military state of the four belligerent powers. countess Foy. pp. 218–220. Retrieved 4 May 2021.
• Esdaile, Charles (2003). The Peninsular War: A New History. Palgrave Macmillan. ISBN 978-1-4039-6231-7. Retrieved 4 May 2021.

• Baste, Pierre (1824). "Recollections of capitaine de fregate Pierre Baste". Retrieved 4 May 2021. Commander in the Marins de la Garde Imperiale
• Media related to Battle of Alcolea Bridge at Wikimedia Commons