Battle of Ciudad Real (march 26-27, 1809)

The battle of Ciudad Real (March 26-27, 1809) was a bloodless French victory over a Spanish army that had attempted to force the French out of La Mancha. After several detachments, the Count of Cartaojal, commanding the Ejército de la Mancha was left with only 10,000 infantry. After remaining inactive at Ciudad Real for three weeks, in late March Cartaojal made a sudden reckless dash towards Toledo. On 24 March he reached Yébenes, only twenty miles from Toledo, but was then forced to retreat when strong French reinforcements began to arrive. Cartaojal retreated to Ciudad Real, where he took up a very weak position on the plains between the town and the Guadiana.

By now he was facing a French force 13,000 strong under General Sebastiani, who decided to attack the weak Spanish position. On 26 March French dragoons captured a bridge across the Guadiana at Peralvillo, north of Ciudad Real. Cartaojal was able to drive then back off the south bank, but not to recapture the bridge. The next morning (27 March), Sebastiani sent his infantry across the bridge. This threatened to outflank the Spanish right wing, and Cartaojal responded by ordering an instant retreat, sending his cavalry to cover the retreating infantry.

Sebastiani’s cavalry soon broke through the Spanish cover, and began to chase the Spanish infantry across the plains. By the time a heavy rainstorm ended the pursuit on the following morning the French had reached as far as Santa Cruz de Mudela, thirty miles south east of Ciudad Real. Despite this long pursuit across an open plain the French only took 2,000 prisoners, for the Spanish infantry had broken up into several columns, each of which was willing to disperse if threatened. Neither side suffered any significant casualties during the short battle.

Extracted from Military History Encyclopedia on the Web
Information in spanish Historia y Arte de Ciudad Real