Spain was, at that time, an ally of France and the division, composed of 15,000 men under the command of the Marquis de la Romana, Pedro Caro y Sureda,[1] was initially deployed, between 1807 and 1808, to perform garrison duties in Hamburg under Marshal Bernadotte.

After Caro y Sureda learned about the outbreak of the Peninsular War, he decided to have the British transport the division back to Spain.

The Marquis contacted Rear-Admiral Richard Goodwin Keats in his flagship Superb, and on 9 August 1808 the Spaniards seized the fort and town of Nyborg.

[3] Their defection reduced Bernadotte's "Hanseatic Army" to a string of glorified coastal garrisons, severely sapping Napoleon's left (north) wing in the contest with Austria for mastery over Central Europe in 1809.

Blake, to his credit, led his remaining men through an heroic retreat west through the mountains, escaping Marshal Jean-de-Dieu Soult's pursuit.