Second Battle of Dego

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Date	14 - 15 April 1796
Location	Dego, present-day Italy
Result	French victory

Belligerents

First French Republic

Habsburg Austria

Kingdom of Sardinia

Commanders

Napoleon Bonaparte,
André Masséna

Count Argenteau
Colonel Vukassovich

Strength

ca 15,000

ca 5,700

Casualties and losses

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.