Battle of Ceva

Part of the French Revolutionary Wars

Date	16 April 1796
Location	Ceva, Piedmont in present day Italy
Result	French victory

Belligerents

First French Republic

Kingdom of Sardinia

Commanders and leaders

Napoleon Bonaparte
Pierre Augereau

Michelangelo Colli
Giuseppe Felice, Count Vital

Strength

7,908

6,000

Casualties and losses

600

over 150

In the Battle of Ceva on 16 April 1796, troops of the First French Republic under Pierre Augereau fought against part of the army of the Kingdom of Sardinia-Piedmont led by General Giuseppe Felice, Count Vital. Augereau assaulted the strong defensive position without success. At the direction of the Sardinian army commander, Feldmarschal-Leutnant Michelangelo Colli, Vital withdrew on the 17th in order to avoid being trapped by a second French division.

The Montenotte Campaign began on 10 April when Feldzeugmeister Johann Beaulieu's Austrian army attacked the extreme right flank of General of Division (MG) Napoleon Bonaparte's army near Genoa. Bonaparte launched a successful counterattack on 12 April at the Battle of Montenotte. On 13 April, MG Augereau's reinforced division defeated part of Colli's Sardinian army at the Battle of Millesimo. In the Second Battle of Dego on 14 and 15 April, the Austrians were defeated again. While Beaulieu reorganized his badly shaken army at Acqui Terme to the northeast, Bonaparte prepared to increase the separation between the Piedmontese from their Austrian allies by driving Colli farther to the west.

On 15 April, Colli assembled a force on high ground at Montezemolo in order to cover the fortress of Ceva. Meanwhile, MG Jean Sérurier's division advanced from Ormea north toward Ceva along the Tanaro River valley. Fearing he might be cut off from Ceva, the Piedmontese commander fell back to the fortress. Marching from the east, Augereau occupied Montezemolo early on 16 April, then his division moved north and west in an attempt to outflank Ceva.

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Wikipedia