During the Peninsular War, the Costa del Sol area Fuengirola was located in was considered of secondary importance by both sides, being occupied by the French Imperial Army with little opposition.

As such, after suffering losses in the Spanish interior, a number of units of the army of the Duchy of Warsaw were sent there in October 1810 to serve as a garrison and to rest.

All three detachments were part of the IV Corps under the command of Horace François Bastien Sébastiani de La Porta, who was stationed at Málaga.

The IV Corps numbered roughly 10,000 men and were stationed in southern Andalusia to prevent local Spanish guerrillas from receiving supplies from Gibraltar.

[citation needed] On 14 October 1810, Blayney's field force reached Cala Moral Bay, about two miles southwest from Fuengirola.

Under the cover of night, he landed his guns and British engineers constructed two artillery emplacements near Sohail Castle, which they planned to use to destroy the walls.

The garrison at Alhaurin was also alerted and in the morning of 15 October marched to Mijas, where it clashed with a 450-strong force of Spanish and German troops sent there by Blayney, dispersing it with a bayonet charge.

After Blayney was taken prisoner by the Poles, his subordinates sounded the retreat and started a chaotic re-embarcation under the fire from Polish troops using capturing artillery.

[citation needed] In his memoirs, Blayney downplayed the importance of the battle and claimed he had been captured by a member of the Society of United Irishmen instead of Poles.

Some British military historians claimed that the battle was decided by the timely arrival of a French relief force under Sébastiani's command from Málaga.