THE COMBAT OF MONTE-ALTO
ALSO KNOWN AS MONT SAINT-JACQUES
(SAN-GIACOMO)
25 JUNE 1795
translated and edited by Geert van Uythoven
The engagement described here took place on
the 25th. As it turned out to be a French defeat, French accounts of this battle
usually start to describe the events of the 28th, when the French
counterattacked with limited success; just stating that on “the 25th, 26th, and
27th, nothing of importance took place”[1].
Limited success, because the Austrian remained in possession of the
entrenchment referred to here. Jomini though admits the capture of the
entrenchment, stating however that it was defeated only by “seven weak
battalions”[2]
The French Armies of the Alps (Moulins) and
Italy (Kellermann) were fighting in Savoy. The right Division of the army of
Italy, 19,000 men commanded by Masséna and Serrurier, defended a number of
heights and passes in the line San-Giacomo – Corbua – San-Pantaleone – Melogno
– Bardinetto – San Bernardo – and the plateau of La Planète. The French defended
the mountain Mont-Saint Jacques with a force of nearly 600 men, mostly
grenadiers. This mountain was high with very steep slopes. On top of it, the
French had constructed a strong retrenchment. Both French armies were opposed
by about 45,000 Austrians, 6,000 Neapolitans and a huge force of Piedmontese,
mostly unreliable militia though.
At two o’clock after midnight, sixteen
companies of an Austrian (German) regiment collected outside their camp at
Montefredo. To these a division of Croats was added, which formed the advance
guard. General Cantou led the march. When they had descended the mountain,
instead of following the valley they circumvallated the heights on the left and
entered the woods to hide their march from the French. However, because of all
this march was very slow, and the
starting-point was not reached before one o’clock in the afternoon. Nine hours
of precious time were wasted to cover a distance of less then two miles.
Before the foot of the Mont Saint-Jacques
was reached, the soldiers had to defile across a very steep rock. In order to
climb up and down on the other side again, the soldiers had to hold on to the
bayonets of the soldiers before them. Because of this the column could not
maintain order, and the attack started already disorderly. The French outposts
stood immediately behind this rock at the foot of the mountain, and with this
engagement the fighting started around noon.
These first posts were thrown back. Then
the retrenchment was stormed three times, but every time the Austrians were
thrown back. The melee was fierce. Austrian casualties were high, five officers
of the regiment had been killed. The dead and wounded rolled down the mountain,
falling on the defeated and spreading fear. The soldiers had no power, breath
or bravery left to climb the mountain again. To add to the disaster, powder was
running low. The French continued firing down from the retrenchment, in
addition throwing down huge rocks, continuing to make casualties among the
desperate Austrians.
In all this confusion, General Cantou
collected al drummers he could find, ordering the column to fall back at the
first signal. When the French would have made a sortie at this moment, even
with a third of the troops present inside the retrenchment, everything would
have been lost for the Austrians. Lucky for them, the French remained inside of
their retrenchment and luck would change the whole situation for the Austrians.
During the described attack, the Austrians
had detached an officer with 25 men, with orders to move into the wood on the
left side of the retrenchment and to drive away a few French who had been
sighted here. This wood was a retrenchment in itself, even more formidable as
the real one, because of the chopped down and entangled trees forming a
difficult barricade to cross. It was however only weakly defended. The Austrian
officer was lucky to find a gap, blocked by weak branches and twigs only. With
his weak detachment he swiftly crawled through it. The French platoon which was
deployed behind the barricade to defend it, was surprised to see that the
Austrians had crossed an obstacle they held for impassable, panicked an took
flight before a fight had even taken place. Instead of pursuing these, the
lucky Austrian officer threw himself on the open flank of the retrenchment.
Favoured by the thick smoke hanging here, he managed to reach the flank of the
retrenchment without being discovered.
Despite the surprise, the situation was
still critical for the Austrians. The tiny detachment found itself amidst of an
enemy which had twenty times their strength. In addition, it was complete
daylight. The officer leading the detachment knew he had to win or die, so he
had no moment to lose. Hoping he would be lucky, as he would need it, he
ordered his detachment to fire and yelling loudly hen and his men threw
themselves on the French occupying the retrenchment. Surprised by the totally
unexpected appearance of their enemy, the startled French retreated to the
right flank of the retrenchment, which ended on a deep ravine. The Austrians,
encouraged by their initial success, closed on their enemy even more
determined. Their attack however was temporarily checked by another incident,
which also added to the defeat of the French. While these retreated, some of
the last retreating turned about and fired at the pursuing Austrians. At that
moment a ammunition caisson imprudently positioned right behind the
retrenchment catches fire, setting fire to a second ammunition caisson standing
right beside the first one[3].
A huge explosion was the result, making casualties among the French as well as
the Austrians. Thick smoke rose, adding even more to the confusion. The French
panicked and ran; about forty of them threw themselves right into the ravine
and died. Two officers, a drummer and sixteen soldiers were taken prisoner by
the Austrians; the remainder took flight down the mountain. Among the French
prisoners taken in the retrenchment, one soldier, already pierced by several
bayonet trusts, refused to surrender and the Austrians were forced to finish
him off.
The Austrian officer with the remainder of
his detachment, of which about a third had not survived the explosion of the
ammunition caissons, was now master of the retrenchment. Looking for
reinforcements, he started yelling at the still advancing Austrians, still
struggling and firing at the retrenchment, the fact that it had been captured
from the French still unknown to them. The Austrians most close to him finally
understood what had happened, and finally he was reinforced by sixty-four
Austrian soldiers and Croats. With these and the remainder of his detachment,
he left in pursuit of the routing French, without waiting for the main body of
the Austrian column to arrive. Half way down the far side of the mountain, the
Austrian column reached the top of it with the retrenchment. Not knowing what
in the meantime had taken place, looking down through the smoke, they spotted
what they believed were the fleeing French, and opened a withering fire at the
unfortunate pursuing Austrians. These, take by surprise by the fire in their
backs, had no other option then to throw themselves down on the earth and to
find cover as good as possible. Not noticing their mistake, Austrian fire from
the mountain top became even more intense when more and more soldiers arrived.
In the meantime, the fleeing French had
reached their camp at the foot of the mountain. Reinforced, they turned about and
with drums pounding they stormed up the mountain again. The Austrians caught up
in the middle were in a perilous situation now: fiercely fire from behind
deprived them of the chance to retreat in order to reach the relative safety of
the retrenchments and the Austrian column; the French were advancing on them in
force from the other side. Seeing no other possibility, and believing to die
for sure, they preferred to die by the hand of the French rather then by their
own countrymen. Favoured by the cover of some brushwood, they threw themselves
on the startled French, which in all the confusion and because of the brushwood
mentioned they again broke and routed back to their camp, closely pursued by
the Austrians. Almost at the same time together they arrived inside the camp.
Despite of thinking defending themselves, the French ran inside the cabins to
pick up their belongings before fleeing even further. Loaded with their
belongings, on leaving the cabins again they were engaged by the Austrians. It
was complete confusion now. Firing had ceased, but fighting continued with
musket butts and bayonet thrusts. The French were at a great disadvantage,
leaving the cabins through the small doors, and their casualties were mounting,
during all this confusion, the French freedom tree was brought down as well,
and finally the surviving French fled back on to their next position, leaving
behind only their dead, wounded and a few prisoners.
In the meantime, the Austrian main force
had remained stationary in the captured retrenchment on the hilltop, continuing
firing down until they noticed the fighting inside the French camp. The next
day, the dead from both sides were buried.
Sources:
- Anonymous, “Das Gefecht von Mont Saint-Jacques,
genannt von Monte-Alto”, in ‘Militair-Wochenblatt’, 2. Jahrgang (Berlin 1817),
pp. 99 – 102 [main source].
- Blanchard, Pierre, “Histoire des batailles,
siéges et combats des Français, depuis 1792 jusqu’en 1815” (Paris 1818)
- Jomini, “Histoire Critique et Militaire des
Guerres de la Révolution”, Livre VIII (Paris 1802)
- Panckoucke (ed), “Victoires, conquêtes,
desastres, revers et guerres civiles des Français de 1792 à 1815”, Tome 4me
(Paris 1817)
© Geert van Uythoven