Battle of Majorca a seaborne attack on the Balearic Islands seem to have surfaced independently in various Republican militia groups in the days following the joining of Ibiza, Formentera, and Majorca to Franco's Nationalist military rebellion. Already, on July 23, bomber squadrons struck Palma and Cabrera, and on August 1, a Republican expeditionary force from Menorca landed at Cabrera and resisted all efforts to dislodge it. These actions, however, and in particular the Majorca landings, were never approved by the Madrid government and had from the very beginning an air of confusion and improvisation. On August 2, Bayo assembled a column of Barcelona
Battle of Minorca (1756) repair and undermanned. When Byng and his fleet, now numbering 13 ships of the line (having been reinforced by ships of the Minorca squadron that had escaped the island), arrived off Minorca on 19 May, they found the island already overrun by French troops, with only the garrison of St. Philip's Castle in (Port Mahon) holding out. Byng's orders were to relieve the garrison, but a French squadron of 12 ships of the line and 5 frigates intervened as the afternoon was wearing on. The two fleets positioned themselves, and battle was drawn up on the morning of the following