Battle of Villelongue

Battle of Villelongue
Part of War of the Pyrenees
Modern map shows Villeongue-dels-Monts in relation to Le Boulou, Brouilla, and Montesquieu.
Date 7 and 18 December 1793 Location Villelongue-dels-Monts, Pyrénées-Orientales, France Result Spanish victory
Belligerents
Kingdom of Spain  Kingdom of Portugal	Republican France
Commanders and leaders
Antonio Ricardos John Forbes	François Doppet Eustache d'Aoust
Units involved
Army of Catalonia	Army of the Eastern Pyrenees
Strength
7 Dec.: 8,000	7 Dec.: 10,000, 40 guns
Casualties and losses
7 Dec.: 56	7 Dec.: 652, 26 guns

The Battle of Villelongue (7 and 18 December 1793) saw a Royal Spanish force from the army commanded by Antonio Ricardos attack a position held by a Republican French force from the army led by François Amédée Doppet. Spanish and French attack columns passed each other in the night without detecting each other. On 7 December, the Spanish attack on Villelongue-dels-Monts was delivered first and was completely successful, causing the French soldiers to flee. On 18 December, in order to cover a planned withdrawal, Doppet ordered an attack on the Portuguese garrison at Villelongue. Eustache Charles d'Aoust carried out the operation and overwhelmed the Portuguese. However, two days later, the French army was disastrously defeated at the Battle of Collioure and had to beat a hasty retreat to Perpignan.^[1]