Battle of Genola

The Battle of Genola or Battle of Fossano (4 November 1799) was a meeting engagement between a Habsburg Austrian army commanded by Michael von Melas and a Republican French army under Jean Étienne Championnet. Melas directed his troops with more skill and his army drove the French off the field, inflicting heavy losses. The War of the Second Coalition action represented the last major French effort in Italy during 1799. The municipality of Genola is located in the region of Piedmont in northwest Italy a distance of 27 kilometres (17 mi) north of Cuneo and 58 kilometres (36 mi) south of Turin.

Championnet became the army commander after Barthélemy Catherine Joubert's death in the French defeat at Novi in August. His aim was to keep the fortress of Cuneo under French control. In November, both Championnet and Melas advanced and their armies collided at Genola. The French were forced to retreat into the Alps, leaving Cuneo to be besieged and captured on 3 December 1799. The badly-fed and clothed French army was ravaged by a typhus epidemic during the winter; the disease claimed the life of Championnet and many others.

Their armies' defeats in Italy and Germany during 1799 weakened the French Directory and resulted in the Coup of 30 Prairial VII (18 June 1799). France's post-coup leaders sent Barthélémy Catherine Joubert to command the 40,713-man Army of Italy with orders to attack. Joubert was to be supported on his left by the Army of the Alps under Jean Étienne Championnet. Upon arrival, Joubert's generals advised him to wait for Championnet's troops to join them, but the new commander felt bound by his instructions to launch an immediate offensive. In the Battle of Novi on 15 August 1799, the Army of Italy was defeated by the larger Austro-Russian army under Alexander Suvorov and Joubert was killed. The Allies failed to pursue; the Austrians were more interested in besieging the Italian fortresses. Suvorov and the Russian corps were soon ordered to march to Switzerland, leaving 178,253 Austrian soldiers holding Italy. Jean Victor Marie Moreau reorganized the French army until Championnet could arrive to take over.

Meanwhile, Championnet marched from Grenoble around 8 August 1799 with 25,000 troops split into four groups. The northernmost column crossed the Little St Bernard Pass to threaten Aosta and Ivrea while the next column south traversed the Mont Cenis Pass to Susa in order to menace Turin. Championnet accompanied a column of 8,000–9,000 men that crossed the Col de Montgenèvre and moved southeast to Fossano via Pinerolo. The southernmost column marched over the Maddalena Pass (Col de l'Argentière) into the Valle Stura di Demonte in the direction of Cuneo. On 16 September Paul Grenier with 8,000 defeated 5,000 Austrians under Friedrich Heinrich von Gottesheim at Fossano, inflicting 1,000 casualties for the loss of 200 men. Two days later at Savigliano, 20,000 Austrians led by Michael von Melas fell on Grenier's column and beat him, inflicting 2,000 casualties on the French while losing only 400. The French lost both Fossano and Savigliano and fell back, the other columns retreating as well. The northern column under Guillaume Philibert Duhesme withdrew after being blocked by Fort Bard.

Championnet assumed command of the Army of Italy from Moreau at Genoa on 22 September. The Army of the Alps was absorbed by its sister army at that time. Championnet wished to abandon Genoa in order to shorten the long line he had to defend, but the French government refused to allow it. There were 63,657 French troops available, but only 53,581 if garrisons are excluded. The right wing under Laurent Gouvion Saint-Cyr had 16,657 soldiers in the divisions of Jean Henri Dombrowski, Pierre Garnier de Laboissière, Sextius Alexandre François de Miollis and François Watrin. Championnet personally led the 15,215-strong center, consisting of the divisions of Louis Lemoine and Claude Perrin Victor at Mondovì. Grenier led the 19,615-man left wing near Cuneo, made up of his own and Duhesme's divisions plus a 2,056-strong reserve under André Calvin. Duhesme was also charged with holding the Little St Bernard and Mont Cenis passes. Opposing the French were Johann von Klenau who faced Genoa, Paul Kray in the Aosta valley and Melas who threatened Cuneo.

Saint-Cyr's wing successfully held its own against the Austrians near Genoa. Watrin with 7,000 troops beat Klenau with 5,000 on the 13th at Bracco, a village east of Sestri Levante. The French inflicted 1,200 casualties, mostly captured, on their foes while sustaining losses of 100. This was part of an operation that started on the 12th in which French troops from Torriglia pressed back Klenau's outposts in the mountains east of Genoa. After eight days, they withdrew into their previous lines. On 24 October 1799 Saint-Cyr defeated Andreas Karaczay in the Second Battle of Novi. Karaczay's 5,000 troops lost 300 killed and wounded while the French captured 1,000 men and four guns. The French lost 400 killed and wounded plus 800 captured out of 12,000. In the sequel, Saint-Cyr pushed threateningly to the north, so Kray was sent with a strong force including 2,800 cavalry and 25 artillery pieces to press him back. The French right wing commander pulled back to the heights behind Novi and refused to budge when Kray tried to maneuver him out of position. On 6 November in the Third Battle of Novi, Kray attacked the hills in four columns and fell into a clever ambush. The French troops made a fighting withdrawal, drawing the Austrians after them. Suddenly, Saint-Cyr's masked artillery opened up as Dombrowski's division bored in from the flank. The French drove the Austrians off the heights but Saint-Cyr was too prudent to pursue into the plain where the enemy's superior cavalry and artillery waited. The French sustained 400 casualties out of 11,000 men while inflicting a loss of 1,000 men and five guns on their 12,000 opponents.

Farther west there were clashes at Saluzzo and Pinerolo. On 16 October 1799 the divisions of Victor and François Muller attacked the Austrians at Beinette with serious losses on both sides. Finally, Melas gave up his attempted siege of Cuneo and pulled back. Lemoine's division was involved in actions at Mondovì on 27–28 October. On 31 October 1799, Melas with 15,000 soldiers drubbed Grenier with 7,000 at Centallo. The French suffered 1,000 casualties while the Austrians lost only 200 and captured four guns. However, the French gradually pressed forward toward Fossano. Duhesme fought an Austrian force at Pinerolo on 1 November and the next day the French captured Mondovì.

The French Army of Italy under Championnet and his chief of staff Louis Gabriel Suchet included the infantry divisions of Duhesme, Grenier, Lemoine and Victor and the cavalry division of Antoine Richepanse. Since Grenier was acting as left wing commander Muller led his division. Muller's 8,000-man division was made up of the 3rd, 8th and 17th Light Infantry Demi-brigades, the 10th, 31st, 40th, 47th, 104th and 106th Line Infantry Demi-brigades and 600 sabers from the 10th Hussars. The infantry brigadiers were Claude Clément, Jean Dominique Compans and Jean Davin while Julien Augustin Joseph Mermet led the cavalry. Duhesme's 8000-strong division comprised the 7th and 28th Light and the 29th, 80th, 87th and 107th Line Infantry Demi-brigades and the 11th Hussars. The brigade commanders were Georges Kister, Joseph Mathurin Fidele Lesuire and Claude-François Malet.