Battle of La Bisbal In the Battle of La Bisbal on 14 September 1810 a Spanish division led by Henry O ' Donnell ( also known as Enrique José O ' Donnell ) and supported by an Anglo - Spanish naval squadron led by Francis William Fane and Charles William Doyle surprised an Imperial French brigade commanded by François Xavier de Schwarz . The Imperial troops were from the Confederation of the Rhine , a collection of small German states that were allied to Napoleon . Part of a division led by Marie François Rouyer , Schwarz ' s brigade was almost completely wiped out , most of its soldiers being taken prisoner along with its commander . One of the few Allied casualties was the capable O ' Donnell , wounded in the foot . The battle occurred during the Peninsular War , part of the Napoleonic Wars . The action occurred amid the events leading up to the Siege of Tortosa in December 1810 and January 1811 . As Louis Gabriel Suchet prepared to attack Tortosa , Marshal Jacques MacDonald was ordered to support him . The marshal cooperated by advancing into southern Catalonia with a large force . To distract MacDonald from his mission , O ' Donnell determined to raid northern Catalonia . The raid was a brilliant tactical success but it failed to deter the marshal from assisting Suchet . Finally , a logistical crisis forced MacDonald to withdraw to northern Catalonia . Background . In June 1810 , Marshal Pierre Augereau was replaced in command of VII Corps by Marshal Jacques MacDonald . Orders soon came from Paris . MacDonald was instructed to drive toward Tarragona while his colleague General of Division Louis Gabriel Suchet was to lead the III Corps to capture Tortosa . Suchet ' s corps had successfully concluded the Siege of Lerida on 13 May and the Siege of Mequinenza on 5 June . Located on the Ebro River , Tortosa lay on the main highway between the provinces of Catalonia and Valencia . By seizing the city , Napoleon hoped to sever the link between the two areas . Before Suchet could implement the plan , he was compelled to return to Aragon to suppress the guerillas . MacDonald also had difficulties . He first needed to restock his empty depots with supplies from France . It was August before either commander was ready to carry out their emperor ' s strategy . MacDonald marched his field army of 16 , 000 troops south to support Suchet ' s operations against Tortosa . MacDonald left General of Division Louis Baraguey d ' Hilliers with almost 10 , 000 soldiers to garrison Barcelona . In addition , there were 18 , 000 troops manning the defenses of other cities and holding open the road to France . Captain General Henry O ' Donnell commanded the Spanish Army of Catalonia . Seeing that MacDonald was too strong to directly confront , O ' Donnell resolved to operate against the unsuspecting Imperial forces in the north . By doing so , he hoped to draw MacDonald away from Tarragona and Tortosa . O ' Donnell decided to leave the divisions of Generals Juan de Courten , Pedro Sarsfield , and Joaquín Ibáñez Cuevas y de Valonga , Baron de Eroles to hold Tarragona and take the division of General Luis González Torres de Navarra , Marquess of Campoverde north . He planned to avoid the large Barcelona garrison and attack General of Division Marie François Rouyer ' s German division which was holding the area between Girona and Palamós on the Mediterranean coast . Meanwhile , Colonel Charles William Doyle sailed north with 500 foot soldiers aboard the British frigate " HMS Cambrian " , the Spanish frigate " Diana " , and other vessels . Captain Francis William Fane of the " Cambrian " commanded the Allied naval squadron . In early September , O ' Donnell managed to elude the garrisons of Barcelona , Hostalric , and Girona without being noticed . Battle . Fane ' s Anglo - Spanish naval expedition struck first on 10 September . An amphibious force rowed ashore at Begur and captured 50 men and a coastal artillery emplacement . Alerted by this raid , General of Brigade François Xavier de Schwarz ordered his coastal units to beef up their defenses . His brigade comprised two battalions each of the 5th Confederation of the Rhine ( Anhalt - Lippe ) and 6th Confederation of the Rhine ( Schwarzburg - Waldeck - Reuss ) Regiments . The brigade numbered 1 , 700 men with 18 artillery pieces . Schwarz posted 800 men and his headquarters at La Bisbal d ' Empordà while the remainder of the brigade was spread out to defend Begur , Calonge , Palamós , and Sant Feliu de Guíxols . Still undetected , O ' Donnell arrived at the village of Vidreres with 6 , 000 foot soldiers and 400 cavalrymen on 13 September 1810 . Another authority counted 6 , 600 men in the Spanish force , including the " Kayser " Swiss Regiment , " Numancia " Dragoons , and miquelets . On the morning of the 14th , O ' Donnell attacked La Bisbal in overwhelming force . As his pickets were driven in , Schwarz sent a courier with orders to his detachments to concentrate . Shortly afterward , La Bisbal was surrounded and its defenders fell back to an old castle . Unfortunately , the structure was dominated by a nearby hill and a church tower from which snipers picked off a few Germans during the day . Schwarz held out until evening ; he surrendered after the Spanish began massing for an assault . The French commander did not put up much of a battle , losing only one officer and four men killed , and three officers and 16 rank and file wounded . While the action in La Bisbal was going on , Schwarz ' s other outposts were being snapped up . Fane and Doyle landed their troops at Palamós and captured it . Colonel Aldea ' s column overran Calonge while Colonel Fleires ' s column seized Sant Feliu . Rouyer at Girona was unable to intervene because O ' Donnell called out the local miquelets to harass his garrison . Schwarz , two colonels , 56 officers , 1 , 183 men , and 17 guns were captured for a total of 1 , 242 prisoners . The Germans also lost approximately 400 killed and wounded . Spanish losses were not reported but were probably light . However , they included O ' Donnell who was badly wounded in the foot at La Bisbal . The Spanish general and the German prisoners were taken aboard Fane ' s squadron before it sailed back to Tarragona . Schwarz was held in captivity until the end of the war in 1814 . O ' Donnell ' s wound became infected and he nearly died before being sent to Majorca to recover . Until his injury healed , the high command in Catalonia passed into the less capable hands of Lieutenant General Miguel Iranzo . O ' Donnell later received the title 1st Count of la Bisbal in recognition of his victory . Aftermath . Campoverde took command of the land force and headed north past Girona before Rouyer or Baraguey d ' Hilliers could react . He captured Puigcerdà in the Cerdanya and crossed the Pyrenees into France . His troops clashed with the garrison of Mont - Louis and extorted funds from French villages . Recrossing the border , Campoverde ' s division moved down the Segre River valley and took position at Calaf and Cardona . Because he was so isolated from northern Catalonia by the guerillas , MacDonald did not hear of the La Bisbal disaster until three weeks later . Nevertheless , he initially maintained his position in support of Suchet . By holding his ground MacDonald nullified O ' Donnell ' s strategy . Other events would finally distract the marshal from his position in the south . When Campoverde moved south to Cardona , the marshal took two French and two Italian brigades to attack him . An Italian brigade attacked at once on 18 October and took a beating . MacDonald declined to press his enemies further because provisions in Barcelona were getting low . Instead he lumbered off to Girona so he could protect his supply convoys . Suchet was not able to begin the Siege of Tortosa until 16 December 1810 .