Battle of Medellín In the Peninsular War , the Battle of Medellín was fought on 28 March 1809 and resulted in a victory of the French under Marshal Victor against the Spanish under General Don Gregorio Garcia de la Cuesta . The battle marked the first major effort by the French to occupy Southern Spain , a feat mostly completed with the victory at the Battle of Ocana later in the year . Prelude . Victor began his southern drive with the objective of destroying the Army of Estremadura , commanded by General Cuesta , who was retreating in face of the French advance . On the 27th of March , Cuesta was reinforced with 7 , 000 troops and decided to meet the French in battle rather than continue to withdraw . The battlefield was just southeast of the town of Medellín , which was roughly 300 km southwest of Madrid . The Guadiana River ran along a west - east axis in the northern edge of the battlefield and was joined with the Hortiga River , which ran along a north - south axis that precluded any Spanish flanking maneuvers on the French right . Victor had roughly 17 , 500 troops while Cuesta possessed about 23 , 000 . However , Victor had a 50 - 30 advantage in guns and could also count on more cavalry than the Spanish , 4 , 500 to 3 , 000 . Both commanders arrayed their armies in an unusual fashion , although Victor ' s setup seems to have been more reasonable . The center of the French army , an infantry division under General Eugene - Casimir Villatte , occupied the main road that led from Medellín to Don Benito in the southeast , whereas the wings , commanded by Lasalle ( the left ) and Latour - Maubourg ( the right ) , stood much farther south and southeast . Each wing was composed of a cavalry division and two infantry battalions filled with German troops from the Confederation of the Rhine . Apparently , Victor ' s intentions were to keep withdrawing his flanks closer and closer to the center until a powerful counter - attack could shatter the Spanish lines . Victor ' s reserve was an infantry division under General François Ruffin , which would not take part in the battle . Victor ' s innovative scheme can be sharply contrasted with Cuesta ' s mistakes : Cuesta maintained no reserve and extended just 23 , 000 men , deployed in four ranks , into a four - mile arc from Guadiana to Hortiga . His plan was to simply strike the French wings and hope to catch the entire French army with their backs to Medellín and the Guadiana River , which was exactly what Victor expected . The battle . The cannonade began around 1 p . m . and Cuesta ordered the attack about an hour later . The Spanish initially had a great deal of success , repelling an impatient cavalry charge on their left flank by a brigade of Latour - Maoubourg ' s dragoons and prompting both French wings to keep falling back , all while their skirmishers unleashed deadly fire into the French ranks . Lasalle ' s position was a bit dangerous , since the Guadiana at his back meant his 2 , 000 cavalry and 2 , 500 infantry could not fall back more than a mile . Three Spanish cavalry regiments hovered around the bank of the Guadiana and attempted to turn the French left , but Lasalle and his men held on to their tenuous positions . By this point in the battle , both French flanks had retreated far enough to be within easy supporting distance from Villatte ' s division . Latour - Maubourg ' s western sector was reinforced with the 94th Line infantry regiment and a battalion of grenadiers . The ten French guns in this part of the battlefield also stabilized the situation as they consistently outperformed their Spanish counterparts . Spanish infantry , however , kept pushing forward and created many problems for Latour - Maubourg ' s men , who were arrayed in squares to protect themselves against cavalry charges and consequently had limited firepower . As the Spanish threatened to capture the French guns , Latour - Maubourg ordered the dragoons to attack once more . This time , the charge succeeded . The French dragoons defeated three Spanish cavalry regiments , who fled the field and left their infantry isolated , prompting them to flee as well . Since Cuesta had no reserves , a breach of this magnitude was just about the worst that could happen to his fragile line . Events now unfolded quickly . Lasalle had been reinforced with seven infantry battalions from Villatte , and once he saw the Spanish routing to the west he too ordered a powerful counter - attack . The 2nd Hussars regiment , accompanied by a regiment of Chasseurs à Cheval , smashed the Spanish cavalry , reformed , and charged at the once - again abandoned Spanish infantry in the eastern flank . Lasalle ' s fresh battalions also attacked frontally and French dragoons were now rolling over the center of the Spanish army , which attempted to flee in any way it could . Many were brutally killed in this chaotic retreat and Cuesta ' s army effectively ceased to exist . A large part of the Spanish army , mostly on the right flank , was totally encircled , with no room to move . The French gave no quarter to Spanish soldiers , standing or surrendering , and during the rest of day they killed all of prisoners taken . Entire units were totally annihilated , Spanish bodies covering large extensions of the field . Aftermath . It had been a disastrous day for Cuesta , who nearly lost his life in the battle . Some estimations put the number of Spanish killed at 8 , 000 men , counting both battle and after battle killings , and about 2 , 000 captured , while the French only suffered about 1 , 000 casualties . However , during the next days the French undertakers buried 16 , 002 Spanish soldiers in mass graves . On top of that , the Spanish lost 20 of their 30 guns . It was Cuesta ' s second major defeat at the hand of the French after Medina del Rio Seco in 1808 . The battle saw a successful start to the French conquest of Southern Spain .