Battle of Monte Settepani
Part of the Italian campaigns in the War of the First Coalition

Monte Settepani as seen from Bric Gettina
Date24 June–7 July 1795
Location
Monte Settepani, Liguria, Italy
44°14′42″N 8°11′51″E / 44.24500°N 8.19750°E / 44.24500; 8.19750
Result Austro-Sardinian victory
Belligerents
 Habsburg Austria
Kingdom of Sardinia Kingdom of Sardinia		 Republican France
Commanders and leaders
Joseph de Vins
Kingdom of Sardinia Michelangelo Colli		 François Kellermann
Strength
38,940 30,696
Casualties and losses
unknown, more than the French unknown

The Battle of Monte Settepani (24 June–7 July 1795) saw the Coalition armies of Habsburg Austria led by Feldzeugmeister (FZM) Joseph Nikolaus de Vins and the Kingdom of Sardinia-Piedmont led by Feldmarschall-Leutnant (FML) Michelangelo Alessandro Colli-Marchi attack the Republican French Army of Italy led by General of Division (GD) François Christophe de Kellermann during the War of the First Coalition. The attack captured a few key positions though it was repulsed by most of the French defenses. After the French failed to recapture Monte Settepani, Kellermann ordered a phased withdrawal to a more defensible position. By 7 July, the French army established itself in a new position running from Borghetto Santo Spirito on the coast northwest to Monte Galero. The setback compelled the French to relinquish the territory captured in the First Battle of Dego.[1]

Background

The war between France and Sardinia-Piedmont began in the spring of 1792, but French troops did not invade the Duchy of Savoy until 21 September 1792. Savoy was rapidly overrun with little resistance. The French also invaded the County of Nice, occupying Nice on 29 September. The Sardinian army in the County of Nice withdrew to defenses in the Maritime Alps covering the key Col de Tende.[2] Before the end of 1792, the French troops in Savoy were organized into the Army of the Alps while the troops in the County of Nice became the Army of Italy.[3] In the First Battle of Saorgio on 12 June 1793, the Sardinians repulsed a determined French assault on the mountain barrier.[4] On 7 September 1793, the Sardinians launched a campaign to retake the County of Nice, but it was too late in the season.[5] The operation sputtered out after a drawn battle at Utelle on 21 October.[6]

On 1 January 1794, GD Pierre Jadart Dumerbion assumed command of the Army of Italy.[7] In the Second Battle of Saorgio in April 1794, the army succeeded in ousting the Sardinians from their defenses and capturing the Col de Tende. The battle plan was provided by the army's new chief of artillery, General of Brigade (GB) Napoleon Bonaparte.[8] Noticing that the Austro-Sardinian forces were preparing an attack, Dumerbion mounted an operation in September. Also planned by Bonaparte, the offensive drove back the Austrians and ended with the First Battle of Dego,[9] a French victory on 21 September 1794.[10] This triumph secured the port of Vado Ligure for the French.[11] On 21 November 1794, Dumerbion was replaced in command by GD Barthélemy Louis Joseph Schérer.[7] During the winter of 1794–1795, many French soldiers died of typhus and other diseases.[12] On 6 May 1795, Schérer was replaced by Kellermann who was given command of both the Army of Italy and the Army of the Alps.[13]

Forces

Sepia tone print shows a clean-shaven man wearing a light colored military uniform. It is labeled Giuseppe Baron de Vins.
Joseph de Vins

On 20 June 1795, de Vins commanded an Austrian army composed of 23,380 infantry, 2,788 cavalry, and 772 artillerymen, a total strength of 26,940 men. Only the cavalry units from the Kingdom of Naples were not Austrian soldiers. The army was organized into two divisions led by FML Johann von Wenckheim and Generalmajor (GM) Karl von Türkheim. Wenckheim's division included four brigades led by GM Mathias Rukavina (5 battalions and 2 squadrons), GM Michael von Ternyey (4 battalions), GM Philipp Pittoni (5 battalions), and GM Anton Lipthay (6 battalions). Türkheim's division consisted of one infantry brigade led by GM Joseph Canto d'Irles (5 battalions), and two cavalry brigades led by GM Wilhelm Fischer (8 squadrons) and Alessandro Filangieri, Prince Cuto (12 Neapolitan squadrons).[14][note 1] Precise numbers are elusive, but there were 12,000 Sardinian troops opposing the Army of Italy in October 1795.[15] The Sardinians were commanded by Colli whose chief of staff was Colonel Joseph Henri Costa de Beauregard.[16]

On 19 June 1795, Kellermann's French army was organized into a strong Right Wing commanded by GD André Massena, a Center Division led by GD François Macquard (6,397 men), and a Left Division directed by GD Pierre Dominique Garnier (4,367 men). Massena's Right Wing was subdivided into three divisions led by GD François Xavier Jacob Freytag (9,476 men), Massena (5,308 men), and GD Jean-Mathieu-Philibert Sérurier (5,148 men). Freytag's division was made up of two large brigades under GB Amédée Emmanuel François Laharpe (4,637 men) and GB Jean-Baptiste Cervoni (4,839 men). The sum of troops in the active Army of Italy divisions was 30,696 men.[17]

Battle

Painting shows a clean-shaven man with an 18th century style wig. He wears a late 18th century dark blue military uniform with gold trim and white breeches.
François Kellermann

Kellermann's new chief of staff was GB Louis-Alexandre Berthier who had been dismissed in July 1793 and only recalled to duty on 14 March 1795. Kellermann's aide-de-camps were his son François Étienne de Kellermann and Antoine Charles Louis de Lasalle. The Army of Italy's strategic situation was very awkward. It occupied narrow strip of coastline with its back to a sea usually controlled by the British Royal Navy. The army defended a chain of mountainous terrain with its base located on its left flank. Kellermann's two armies facing the Kingdom of Sardinia-Piedmont counted 45,000 effectives, of which 15,000 belonged to the Army of the Alps. Previously, the Sardinians had been weakly supported by their Austrian allies. However, by 1795 the Austrians fielded a full army in the Italian theater. De Vins exercised authority over both the Austrian and Sardinian armies.[18]

The French right flank rested on the Ligurian Sea at Savona. From this place, the French defenses stretched west to include the Colle di San Giacomo, Monte Alto, Monte Settepani, and Colle del Melogno. The center division of the Army of Italy held the Col de Tende and the upper basin of the Roya River while the left division extended as far as Belvédère. To defend this line, Kellermann ordered fortifications to be constructed. Apparently, this order was carried out except on Massena's sector, so that the commanding general felt it necessary to write on 16 June, "Think once for all, my dear General, that the slightest negligence in war may have the greatest consequence." Massena began seriously fortifying only when the Austrians began massing in front of his positions on 18 June.[19]

Aftermath

In May 1795, Bonaparte was transferred from his post as chief of artillery of the Army of Italy to command an infantry brigade in the Army of the West engaged in the War in the Vendée. Bonaparte had no intention of fighting in a counter-insurgency campaign and sent in his resignation. The French government reacted to its loss of territory in Italy by reappointing Bonaparte to his former rank and assigning him to the Bureau Topographique at the War Ministry. From his new post, Bonaparte soon produced a flow of strategic advice for the Army of Italy.[20]

The Peace of Basel, signed on 22 July 1795, ended the War of the Pyrenees and released the French troops fighting against the Kingdom of Spain. A force of 10,000 troops led by GD Étienne Charlet, GD Pierre Augereau, GB Philippe Romain Ménard, and GB François Gilles Guillot was sent from the Army of the Eastern Pyrenees. However, local authorities retained many of these soldiers and the Army of Italy received only a fraction of this force, which arrived in October. An earlier batch of soldiers from the Army of the Eastern Pyrenees led by GB Claude Perrin Victor arrived in September. Another contingent of 5,000 infantry and 2,000 cavalry was sent to the Army of Italy from the Army of the Rhine and Moselle. On 29 September, Kellermann was replaced in command of the Army of Italy by Schérer.[21]

Notes

Footnotes
  1. ↑ By convention, battalions always refer to infantry formations and squadrons always refer to cavalry formations.
Citations
  1. ↑ Phipps 2011, pp. 240–249.
  2. ↑ Boycott-Brown 2001, p. 75.
  3. ↑ Phipps 2011, p. 69.
  4. ↑ Phipps 2011, p. 85.
  5. ↑ Boycott-Brown 2001, p. 78.
  6. ↑ Smith 1998, p. 60.
  7. 1 2 Clerget 1905, p. 39.
  8. ↑ Boycott-Brown 2001, pp. 89–91.
  9. ↑ Boycott-Brown 2001, pp. 95–97.
  10. ↑ Smith 1998, p. 92.
  11. ↑ Phipps 2011, p. 234.
  12. ↑ Boycott-Brown 2001, p. 100.
  13. ↑ Clerget 1905, p. 47.
  14. ↑ Nafziger 2024a.
  15. ↑ Chandler 1966, p. 38.
  16. ↑ Phipps 2011, p. 246.
  17. ↑ Nafziger 2024b.
  18. ↑ Phipps 2011, pp. 239–242.
  19. ↑ Phipps 2011, pp. 242–243.
  20. ↑ Chandler 1966, pp. 36–38.
  21. ↑ Phipps 2011, pp. 255–257.

References

  • Boycott-Brown, Martin (2001). The Road to Rivoli: Napoleon's First Campaign. London, UK: Cassell & Co. ISBN 0-304-35305-1.
  • Chandler, David G. (1966). The Campaigns of Napoleon. New York, N.Y.: Macmillan. ISBN 0-02-523660-1.
  • Clerget, Charles (1905). Tableaux des Armées Françaises pendant les Guerres de la Révolution (in French). Paris: Librarie Militaire R. Chapelot et Cie. Retrieved 4 January 2024.
  • Nafziger, George (2024a). "Austrian Army of Italy, 20 June 1795" (PDF). Fort Leavenworth, Kansas: U.S. Army Combined Arms Center. Retrieved 3 January 2024.
  • Nafziger, George (2024b). "French Army of Italy, 19 June 1795" (PDF). Fort Leavenworth, Kansas: U.S. Army Combined Arms Center. Retrieved 3 January 2024.
  • Phipps, Ramsay Weston (2011) [1931]. The Armies of the First French Republic and the Rise of the Marshals of Napoleon I: The Armies in the West 1793 to 1797 and The Armies in the South 1793 to March 1796. Vol. 3. Pickle Partners Publishing. ISBN 978-1-908692-26-9.
  • Pivka, Otto von (1979). Armies of the Napoleonic Era. New York, N.Y.: Taplinger Publishing. ISBN 0-8008-5471-3.
  • Smith, Digby (1998). The Napoleonic Wars Data Book. London: Greenhill. ISBN 1-85367-276-9.

Further reading

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