First Battle of Saorgio (1793)

The winter of 1792 found two French armies facing the Kingdom of Sardinia. On the north was the Army of the Alps under François Christophe Kellermann occupying Savoy.[1] 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 field work.[2] Anselme wanted to mount a naval expedition to Rome but the French government desired to attack the island of Sardinia instead. The government ordered Anselme suspended on 16 December 1792 and his temporary replacement was Gaspard Jean-Baptiste Brunet. Anselme was arrested on 12 April 1793 but managed to survive the Reign of Terror. Meanwhile, Brunet led the expedition to Sardinia which began on 8 January and ended in complete failure within two months.[3] Armand Louis de Gontaut, Duke of Biron assumed command of the Army of Italy on 10 February and pushed eastward with his right flank on the Mediterranean Sea.[4]

Dismayed by the incapacity shown by his general officers in 1792, King Victor Amadeus III begged Austria to send his army a supreme commander and his ally sent Joseph Nikolaus De Vins on 21 December. Despite this, the Austrian government suspected Victor Amadeus of desiring a separate peace with France. In fact, the French tried to diplomatically drive a wedge between Sardinia and Austria, but the execution of King Louis XVI by guillotine on 21 January 1793 caused Victor Amadeus to rebuff France.[5] In the spring, the defenses of Sardinia were organized from north to south as follows. The Duke of Montferrat held the Little St Bernard Pass which protected the Aosta Valley. The Marquis of Cordon (or Gordon) covered the Susa Valley with 14 battalions. His headquarters were at Susa and a 16-gun fort overlooked the Mont Cenis Pass. Giovanni Marchese di Provera guarded the Agnel Pass near Monte Viso. Leopold Lorenz Bartholomaus von Strassoldo shielded the Stura di Demonte Valley with 12 battalions posted near Demonte. Farthest south, Charles-François Thaon, Count of Saint-André employed 10,000 to 12,000 soldiers to defend Saorgio and pose a threat to Nice.[6]

On 28 February 1793 there was a clash at Levens in which Biron's 12,000 Frenchmen defeated 7,000 Sardinians under the Count of Saint-André. Both sides suffered 800 casualties while the Sardinians also lost two of their six artillery pieces.[7] At this period, the Sardinians were more familiar with mountain warfare while the French columns, moving separately, often lost themselves in the forests, rough terrain and foggy valleys.[6] Biron's offensive was helped when the Army of the Alps took responsibility over the Barcelonette valley and the County of Beuil. Moving east, the French overran the lower Var and Vésubie valleys and occupied Sospel. In March the Army of Italy counted 17,000 troops present for duty in 25 infantry battalions and two cavalry squadrons. Already a rising star, André Masséna had charge of five battalions. In its strange policy of moving commanders around before they could master their armies, the French government transferred Biron to lead the Army of the Coasts of La Rochelle on 4 May 1793. Though the duke was loyal to the French Revolution, the Jacobins planned to bring him down because he was a prominent aristocrat.[4] They finally succeeded and Biron went to the guillotine on 31 December 1793.[8]

The end of March 1793 saw Saint-André's forces organized into a Left Division under Pernigotti headquartered at Breil-sur-Roya with 7,050 soldiers in 15 battalions and a Right Division under Dellera based at Fontan with 5,200 troops in 11 battalions. The Sardinian infantry regiments normally had two battalions, numbering about 500 men each. Grenadier and Light Infantry Battalions counted about 400 men and the Light Legion had 300 soldiers. The Austrians contributed Infantry Regiment Belgiojoso Nr. 44 with one battalion of 600 men and a Garrison battalion of 400 men. In May, 1,000 men of the Casale Regiment arrived as a reinforcement.[9]

Historians Ramsay Weston Phipps and Edward Cust both assert that Saint-André led the allies at Saorgio.[11][12] However, an order of battle exists for the Austro-Sardinian army on 8 June 1793 that placed the Duke of Chablais in command over 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 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 4th Grenadier Battalion in Camp Corgoule. The Austrian Garrison battalion was split between Camps Brouis and Perus.[15]

The Right Division deployed two battalions each of Infantry Regiments Casale and Lombardy, one battalion of Christ and 1st Grenadier Battalion at Camp Authion, two battalions of Acqui at Camp Raus, two battalions of Oneglia at Oneglia to the east, 9th Grenadier Battalion at Camp Fromagnie, one battalion of Austrian Belgiojoso Nr. 44 en route to the Col de Tende, Light Legion at Saint-Véran and Ortighea and French Royalists at Moulinet.[15] Infantry Regiment Christ was a Swiss unit in Sardinian pay and Sardinian light units were denoted Cacciatore.[16]

Raphaël de Casabianca

On 7 June 1793 Kellermann exercised authority over both his own army and the Army of Italy under Brunet. Jean François Cornu de Lapoype was Brunet's chief of staff while Jean du Teil commanded the army's artillery. Dominique Sheldon was the only general of division, while Raphaël, Comte de Casabianca, Pierre Jadart Dumerbion, Joseph Louis Montredon, Antoine Saint-Hillier and Jacques Louis Saint-Martin were generals of brigade.[17] Dumerbion later became army commander,[18] but in 1796 Napoleon Bonaparte wrote that Casabianca was "not fit to command a battalion".[19] The French army consisted of both regular and volunteer battalions. Grenadier and chasseur companies were detached from their battalions to form elite units.[17]

Places on the French Riviera were garrisoned with 9,000 troops. There were 597 troops at Antibes, 1,076 at Monaco, 2,471 at Nice, 168 at Saint-Laurent-du-Var, 1,021 at Toulon and 626 at Villefranche-sur-Mer. Additionally, there were 1,053 volunteers in two battalions at Camp Diegue and 1,988 in the two-battalion 11th Line Infantry Regiment and two volunteer battalions at Castillon near Sospel.[17]

In the Roya Valley to the right flank were 7,052 troops. There were 426 grenadiers in seven companies and 87 gunners in two artillery companies at L'Escarène and 298 grenadiers in five companies and 649 chasseurs in 12 companies at Sospel. The bulk of the strength lay at the Camp de Braos with two battalions each of the 28th, 51st and 91st Line Infantry or 3,384 regulars, 196 grenadiers in three companies, 1,761 men in four volunteer battalions and 251 gunners in five companies.[17]

In the Tinée and Vésubie valleys on the left flank were 6,057 troops. There were 285 men at Saint-Sauveur, 190 at Utelle, 1,027 in one volunteer battalion and three companies at La Bollène-Vésubie, 1,621 in three battalions, nine grenadier and two artillery companies at Lantosque and 557 volunteers in one battalion at Roquebillière. At Belvédère were two battalions each of the 42nd and 50th Line Infantry or 1,890 regulars and 487 men in six infantry and two artillery companies.[17]

An additional body of 3,618 troops was posted in the center. There were 2,438 soldiers in one regular and three volunteer battalions and one artillery company at Saint-Arnould, 730 in five light infantry and seven grenadier companies at Col Negre and 450 in one volunteer battalion at Lucéram.[17]