In the Battle of Zújar of the Peninsular War, part of the Napoleonic Wars, on 9 August 1811 an Imperial French division from Nicolas Soult's army attacked a Spanish division belonging to Manuel Alberto Freire de Andrade y Armijo's Army of Murcia. The French division, led by Nicolas Godinot, defeated Joseph O'Donnell's Spanish division with heavy losses. Zújar is located on Route 323, northwest of Baza, Granada in Spain. Spanish armies under Freire and Joaquín Blake y Joyes threatened the French grip on the south of Spain during the summer of 1811. Marshal Soult, who had just suffered a bloody defeat at the Battle of Albuera in May, left a colleague's army to observe the Anglo-Portuguese and marched south at the end of June. After driving off Blake's army, the marshal moved east with 12,000 men to deal with the Army of Murcia. Freire's army had enjoyed initial success in its campaign against Jean François Leval's weak IV Corps. At the beginning of August, Freire was joined by Blake's force, which had been shipped to the Region of Murcia by a British naval squadron. The arrival of Soult with reinforcements quickly turned the tables. While Soult faced Freire's main force, Godinot's division brushed aside one Spanish force, then threatened to block Freire's line of retreat. After Godinot savaged O'Donnell's division at Zújar, Freire was able to get away. But French cavalry under Pierre Benoit Soult crushed his rear guard at Las Vertientes, east of Cúllar. After the twin defeats, the Murcian army scattered into the mountains. Background Since being mauled at the Battle of Baza on 4 November 1810, the Army of Murcia remained inert. Defending against it was the French IV Corps under General of Division Horace François Bastien Sébastiani de La Porta. In April 1811, Marshal Nicolas Soult began drawing troops away from the area so that he could strike at an Anglo-Portuguese army to the west. At this time, General of Division Jean François Leval assumed command of the seriously attenuated IV Corps. On 1 June 1811, General Manuel Alberto Freire de Andrade y Armijo commanded 14,453 soldiers present under arms in the Army of Murcia. Also known as the 3rd Army, this body of troops consisted of three infantry and two cavalry divisions. Brigadier General A. La Cuadra commanded 4,015 men in the 1st Division, Brigadier General Juan Creagh led 4,442 soldiers in the 2nd Division,