Second Battle of Dego

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Second Battle of Dego
Part of the French Revolutionary War
Date 14 - 15 April, 1796 Location Dego, present-day Italy Result French victory
Combatants
Image:Flag of France.svgFirst French Republic	Image:GR 134 crop.jpgAustrian Empire, Kingdom of Sardinia
Commanders
General Bonaparte, General Massena	Count Argenteau, Colonel Vukassovich
Strength
ca 15,000	ca 5,700
Casualties
ca 2,100 killed or wounded, 317 captured	ca 4,700 killed, wounded or captured

v • d • e War of the First Coalition

Verdun – Valmy – Jemappes – 1st Mainz – Neerwinden – Famars – Hondshoote – Wattignies – Kaiserslautern - Tourcoing – Tournay – Ushant – Fleurus – Vosges – 1st Dego – Luxembourg – Genoa – Groix – Hyères – 2nd Mainz – Millesimo – Montenotte – 2nd Dego – Mondovì – Lodi – Castiglione – Neresheim – Amberg – Würzburg – Bassano – Rovereto – Arcole – Rivoli – Neuwied - Camperdown Revolt in the Vendée – War of the Pyrenees – Anglo–Spanish War

v • d • e French Revolutionary Wars Italian Campaigns
1st Dego – Millesimo – Montenotte – 2nd Dego – Mondovì – Lodi – Castiglione – Bassano – Rovereto – Arcole – Rivoli – Cassano – Trebbia – Novi – Genoa – Montebello – Marengo – Pozzolo

The Second Battle of Dego was fought on 14 and 15 April, 1796, during the French Revolutionary Wars, between French forces and Austro-Sardinian forces. The battle was fought near Dego, a hamlet in northwestern Italy, and ended in a French victory.

After successfully defeating the Austrian left wing at the Battle of Montenotte, Napoleon Bonaparte continued with the implementation of his plan to separate the Austrian and Piedmont-Sardinian armies by taking the defences at Dego, which controlled the only road by which the two armies could link with each other. These defences comprised both a castle on a bluff and earthworks on rising ground, and were held by a small mixed force, consisting of units of both the Austrian and Piedmont-Sardinian armies. On 14 April Massena and La Harpe attacked, capturing the defences with little difficulty and only light casualties. However, the French troops then gave themselves over to looting, and during the night they were mostly scattered in the nearby houses. At dawn on 15 April, under cover of fog, the defences were counter-attacked by an Austrian force under Colonel Vukassovich, which had got lost and turned up at Dego fortuitously. Taken by surprise, the French were rapidly driven out of Dego and back to their starting point of the day before. Massena took some time to arrive and take control of the situation again, and organised a counter-attack, which was supported by reinforcements brought up by Bonaparte. Vukassovich's force was heavily outnumbered, and was unable to defend for long before it was driven out, leaving Dego definitively in French hands.

[edit] References

• Schels, J. B. 'Die Gefechte in den Apenninen, bei Voltri, Montenotte, Millessimo, Cossaria und Dego, im April 1796.' Oesterreichische Militärische Zeitschrift, Bd. 2 (1822): 123-217
  
• Boycott-Brown, M. The Road to Rivoli, London, Cassell, 2001
• Chandler, D. Dictionary of the Napoleonic wars. Wordsworth editions, 1999.
• Smith, D. The Greenhill Napoleonic Wars Data Book. Greenhill Books, 1998.

de:Schlacht von Dego

fr:Bataille de Dego (1796) it:Battaglia di Dego lmo:Dego