The Second Battle of Dego was fought on 14 and 15 April 1796. On the 13th around 2:00 PM, André Masséna probed the Austrian and Piedmontese positions which were fortified and supported by 18 pieces of artillery. The next day at 11:00 AM, Masséna began moving Jean-Baptiste Meynier's division forward in two columns to attack the 3,000 defenders. On the right, Jean Jacques La Salcette had 1,800 troops including the 17th Light Infantry Demi-Brigade. In the center, Masséna took personal control of 2,600 men of the 14th and 32nd Line Infantry. On the left, Amédée Emmanuel Francois Laharpe took his division to the west bank of the Bormida di Spigno and unlimbered six guns to support the attack. When La Salcette's flanking column began to threaten the Austrian left flank about 3:00 PM, Masséna waved his men forward to attack Dego from the south. Laharpe formed his division into three columns and sent his men across the river north of Dego to attack the Austro-Piedmontese right flank. Causse led two battalions of the 51st Line Infantry on the right flank, Jean-Baptiste Cervoni led one battalion of the 75th Line Infantry in the center while another battalion of the 75th advanced on the left. Henri Christian Michel de Stengel covered the left flank with two regiments of cavalry. The French attack relentlessly forced the defenders into retreat. When the Austrian wing commander Eugene-Guillaume Argenteau belatedly showed up with two battalions of reinforcements, the French simply brushed him aside. In all, the French captured 16 guns, four colors, and as many as 1,500 prisoners.