First Battle of Saorgio (1793)

 The First Battle of Saorgio (8–12 June 1793) saw a French army commanded by Gaspard Jean-Baptiste Brunet attack the armies of Sardinia-Piedmont and Austria led by Joseph Nikolaus De Vins. Charles-François Thaon, Count of Saint-André, was the Sardinian commander in the Maritime Alps. Though the French were initially victorious in this War of the First Coalition battle, their main attacks against the strong defensive positions on the Massif de l'Authion and the Col de Raus failed miserably, resulting in heavy casualties. Saorge is today in France, some 70 kilometers (43 miles) northeast of Nice, although it was part of Piedmont in 1793. In the Second Battle of Saorgio in April 1794, the French took the positions from the Austro-Sardinians.

Background

Operations

The winter of 1792 found two French armies facing the Kingdom of Sardinia. On the north, the Army of the Alps under François Christophe Kellermann was occupying Savoy. On the south lay the Army of Italy under Jacques Bernard d'Anselme at Nice, with a paper strength of 26,806 men but only 21,728 available for combat. Anselme wanted to mount a naval expedition to Rome, but the French government wanted to attack the island of Sardinia instead. 

On December 16, 1792, the government suspended Anselme, and his temporary replacement was Gaspard Jean-Baptiste Brunet. Anselme was arrested on April 12, 1793, but escaped the Reign of Terror. Meanwhile, Brunet headed the expedition to Sardinia, which began on January 8 and ended in failure two months later. On February 10, Armand Louis de Gontaut, Duke of Biron, took command of the Army of Italy and moved eastward with his right flank on the Mediterranean Sea.

Disgusted by the incompetence of his general officers in 1792, King Victor Amadeus III urged Austria to send a supreme commander to his army, and his ally despatched Joseph Nikolaus De Vins on December 21. Regardless, the Austrian authorities suspected Victor Amadeus of wanting a separate peace treaty with France. In truth, the French attempted to establish a diplomatic rift between Sardinia and Austria, but the execution of King Louis XVI on 21 January 1793 forced Victor Amadeus to reject France. Sardinia's defenses were arrayed from north to south in the spring as follows. 

The Duke of Montferrat controlled the Little St. Bernard Pass, which provided protection to the Aosta Valley. The Marquis of Cordon (or Gordon) deployed 14 battalions to the Susa Valley. Susa was his headquarters, and a 16-cannon fort guarded the Mont Cenis Pass. The Agnel Pass near Monte Viso was guarded by Giovanni Marchese di Provera. With 12 battalions stationed near Demonte, Leopold Lorenz Bartholomaus von Strassoldo defended the Stura di Demonte Valley. Further south, Charles-François Thaon, Count of Saint-André, used 10,000 to 12,000 soldiers to defend Saorgio and threaten Nice.

Combat at Levens

On February 28, 1793, Biron's 12,000-man French army beat 7,000 Sardinians led by the Count of Saint-André at Levens. Both sides lost 800 men, while the Sardinians lost two of their six artillery pieces. The Sardinians were more used to mountain combat at the time, while the French armies, moving individually, frequently became lost in the woodlands, rugged terrain, and misty valleys. Biron's advance was aided by the Army of the Alps taking command of the Barcelonette Valley and the County of Beuil. 

Moving east, the French took control of the lower Var and Vésubie valleys, as well as Sospel. The Army of Italy had 17,000 troops in service in March, divided into 25 infantry battalions and two cavalry squadrons. André Masséna, a rising star, was in command of five battalions. On May 4, 1793, the French government reassigned Biron to lead the Army of the Coasts of La Rochelle, as part of its peculiar strategy of transferring commanders around before they could manage their troops. Despite his support for the French Revolution, the Jacobins intended to depose him since he was a famous aristocrat. They eventually succeeded, and Biron was executed by guillotine on December 31, 1793.

Saint-André's forces were divided into two divisions by the end of March 1793: a left division led by Pernigotti and located in Breil-sur-Roya, with 7,050 troops in 15 battalions, and a right division led by Dellera and based in Fontan, with 5,200 troops in 11 battalions. Sardinian infantry regiments typically had two battalions of roughly 500 soldiers each. The Grenadier and Light Infantry Battalions each had roughly 400 soldiers, while the Light Legion had 300. The Austrians provided the Infantry Regiment Belgiojoso Nr. 44, which included one battalion of 600 men and a garrison battalion of 400 men. The reinforcements, 1,000 troops from the Casale Regiment, arrived in May.

Battle

Brunet, Biron's replacement, was in favor of the representatives on a mission who caused Anselme's dismissal. The Army of Italy began closing in on Saint-André's main defenses in May and June. Brunet dispatched Jean-Mathieu-Philibert Sérurier with a left flank column to Saint-Sauveur-sur-Tinée, where he met up with some Army of the Alps forces on May 19. The 3,000-strong force then moved up the Tinée River to take Isola on May 21. The Sardinians abandoned the upper Tinée valley, which Sérurier left in the hands of the sister army before returning to the Army of Italy.

The main Sardinian defenses surrounded the town of Saorgio, which was located on the east bank of the Roya River, above the gorge. A line of fortifications went west from Saorgio, beginning at the Saint-Martha entrenched camp on the west side of the Roya. The main locations along the crest to the west were the Colle Basse, Massif de l'Authion, and Col de Raus. The western end of the railway was indicated by the town of Roquebillière. The mountain crest trended northeast from Saorgio, passing through the Cima di Marte, Colle Ardente, and Monte Saccarello. The two defending brigades were led by Dellera and Michelangelo Alessandro Colli-Marchi.

The Austro-Sardinians had issues with command. Colli, like De Vins, was an Austrian general loaned to Sardinia. Colli and his boss, Saint-André, didn't get along. The problem was exacerbated by De Vins' instructions for Colli to obey an order from Saint-André only if the Austrian generalissimo agreed. De Vins' chief of staff, another Austrian called Eugène-Guillaume Argenteau, was likewise detested by the Sardinian officer corps.

The French representatives on the expedition pushed on with frontal assaults and threatened to expel any general who refused to carry out their requests. Brunet launched his onslaught on June 8 with a victory in which Masséna took part. Jean Quirin Mieskowski's brigade overcame the entrenched Linieras camp and took Mangiabo. Sérurier and 3,000 troops were repulsed in an attack on the Col de Raus, 5 kilometers (3.1 miles) northwest of Authion, on the same day. 

Brunet tried again on June 12 with a direct attack on the artillery installation that crowned Authion. Sérurier headed one of the attacking columns, which was largely made up of grenadiers from the army. Despite three valiant charges, the French were forced to retreat after an Austrian counterattack. While the French supporting fire proved ineffective, the Sardinian batteries were well-equipped to deal with any flanking attacks. As the French front line fell back, the raw troops who made up the reserves cried "Treason!" and fled. Brunet realized there was nothing else he could do and retreated. The French suffered 280 fatalities and 1,252 injuries. There is no mention of Austro-Sardinian losses.

Forces

Austro-Sardinian Order of Battle

Ramsay Weston Phipps and Edward Cust, both historians, believe Saint-André led the allies at Saorgio. On the other hand, an order of battle for the Austro-Sardinian army on June 8, 1793, exists, with the Duke of Chablais commanding the Left Division of Saint-André and the Right Division of Colli. 

The Left Division had two battalions of Infantry Regiment Nice, one battalion of Queen's, and the 8th Grenadier Battalion in Camp Brouis, two battalions of Saluzzo in Camp Perus, two battalions of Tortona in Saorge; two battalions of Vercelli in Camp Linieras; one battalion of Sardinia in Camp Albarea, 1st Light Battalion in Camp Beolet, one battalion of Queen's in Camp Briel; and the 4th Grenadier Battalion in Camp Corgoule. Camps Brouis and Perus were home to the Austrian Garrison battalion.

The Right Division deployed two battalions each of the Infantry Regiments Casale and Lombardy, one battalion of Christ and the 1st Grenadier Battalion at Camp Authion, two battalions of Acqui at Camp Raus, two battalions of Oneglia at Oneglia to the east, the 9th Grenadier Battalion at Camp Fromagnie, and one battalion of Austrian Belgiojoso Nr. Infantry Regiment Christ was a Swiss regiment in Sardinian service, while light units in Sardinian service were known as Cacciatore.

French Order of Battle

On June 7, 1793, Kellermann assumed command of both his own army and the Army of Italy under Brunet. Brunet's chief of staff was Jean-François Cornu de Lapoype, while the army's artillery was led by Jean du Teil. The division's single commander was Dominique Sheldon, while the brigade's generals were Raphal, Comte de Casabianca, Pierre Jadart Dumerbion, Joseph Louis Montredon, Antoine Saint-Hillier, and Jacques Louis Saint-Martin. Dumerbion rose to become an army commander, although Napoleon Bonaparte stated in 1796 that Casabianca was "unfit to command a battalion." Regular and volunteer battalions made up the French army. Companies of grenadiers and chasseurs were separated from their battalions to form elite groups.

9,000 troops were stationed along the French Riviera. Antibes had 597 troops, Monaco had 1,076 troops, Nice had 2,471 troops, Saint-Laurent-du-Var had 168 troops, Toulon had 1,021 troops, and Villefranche-sur-Mer had 626 troops. There were also 1,053 volunteers in two battalions at Camp Diegue, as well as 1,988 in the two-battalion 11th Line Infantry Regiment and two volunteer battalions at Castillon near Sospel.

There were 7,052 troops on the right flank in the Roya Valley. At L'Escarène, there were 426 grenadiers in seven companies and 87 gunners in two artillery companies, and at Sospel, there were 298 grenadiers in five companies and 649 chasseurs in 12 companies. The bulk of the force was concentrated in Camp de Braos, which housed two battalions of the 28th, 51st, and 91st Line Infantry, totaling 3,384 regulars, 196 grenadiers in three companies, 1,761 men in four volunteer battalions, and 251 gunners in five companies.

On the left flank, there were 6,057 troops in the Tinée and Vésubie valleys. At Saint-Sauveur, there were 285 men, 190 at Utelle, 1,027 in one volunteer battalion and three companies at La Bollène-Vésubie, 1,621 in three battalions, nine grenadiers, and two artillery companies at Lantosque, and 557 volunteers in one battalion at Roquebillière. There were two battalions of the 42nd and 50th Line Infantry, totaling 1,890 regulars and 487 men in six infantry and two artillery companies at Belvédère.

A total of 3,618 troops were stationed in the center. At Saint-Arnould, there were 2,438 men in one regular, three volunteer battalions, and one artillery company, 730 in five light infantry and seven grenadier companies, and 450 in one volunteer battalion at Lucéram.

Aftermath

Brunet launched a second assault on the Massif de l'Authion and Col de Raus at the end of July, backed by governmental officials. Although this endeavor failed, the connection with the Army of the Alps improved. Brunet said that he would march across the Republic of Genoa territory to turn the left flank of the Saorgio position. This plan never materialized. Representative Paul Barras disliked generals, but Sérurier's actions delighted him, and he proposed for promotion on June 25. On August 22, 1793, both Masséna and Sérurier were made brigade generals.

Brunet disliked his chief of staff, a radical Jacobin, so he ordered Lapoype to defend the coast. Lapoype complained to his brother-in-law, Louis-Marie Stanislas Fréron, the representative. Brunet was soon entangled in a feud with the politically powerful Fréron and Barras. Later, Brunet rightly anticipated that if political officials resorted to hard measures, Toulon would allow Coalition forces. 

The following year, Napoleon, the Army of Italy's new artillery commander, proposed striking eastward into the neutral Genoese territory to conquer Oneglia and turn the Saorgio position from the east. On April 2, 1794, the plan was accepted, and Dumerbion's offensive began four days later. The French conquered Oneglia on April 9th, Ormea on April 17th, and Garessio on April 19th during the Second Battle of Saorgio. On April 27, they returned to the west and attacked Saorgio from the northeast. The Sardinians, hopelessly outflanked, retreated, and the French took Saorgio on the 28th.