page_title: Battle of Epierre
section_title: Battle
hierarchical_section_title: Battle of Epierre / Battle
caption_attribution_description: Français&#160;: Il était président de la Convention en 1793, lorsqu'il rédigea le texte de la Constitution dite de l'an I (adoptée le 24 juin 1793). Membre du Comité de salut public, il contribua à organiser la Terreur&#160;; mais, ami de Danton et lié aux hébertistes, il fut, comme eux, condamné par le tribunal révolutionnaire et guillotiné en avril 1794.
context_page_description: The Battle of Epierre was part of a larger War of the First Coalition campaign that pitted a Republican French army led by François Christophe de Kellermann against a numerically stronger Kingdom of Sardinia-Piedmont army commanded by the Prince Maurizio, Duke of Montferrat. Under the overall leadership of the Austrian commander in chief Joseph Nikolaus De Vins, Montferrat launched an offensive in mid-August 1793 to recapture the Duchy of Savoy from the French. Because the French were preoccupied with the Siege of Lyon, the Piedmontese recovered most of the Maurienne and Tarentaise Valleys, but they were stopped just short of Albertville and the reconquest of Savoy. In September, Kellermann launched a counteroffensive in which he adroitly switched his troops between valleys in order to drive back the Piedmontese. At Épierre, the French under Jean-Denis Le Doyen defeated the Marquis of Cordon in a local action. By 8 October the Piedmontese abandoned all their gains and withdrew to the crests of the Graian Alps. In spite of his victory, the suspicious politicians in Paris put Kellermann in arrest and he was imprisoned until November 1794.
context_section_description: With Kellermann's attention focused on Lyon, the Piedmontese launched the attack that he had predicted. In his leisurely way, De Vins had drawn up a plan to invade Savoy and Nice at the same time. The Austrian commander-in-chief wanted the Duke of Montferrat to move against Savoy, but he expected to direct the day-to-day operations from Turin. This was unrealistic because of the distance between Turin and the front. To complicate the situation, the Piedmontese officer corps loathed De Vins' chief of staff, the Austrian General-major Eugène-Guillaume Argenteau. The operation in Savoy began in August, which was very late in the season since the snows came early in the mountains.
  On 14 August 1793, the Duke of Montferrat's column passed over the Little St Bernard Pass and swept down into the Tarentaise Valley. Farther south, the Marquis of Cordon's column crossed the Mont-Cenis Pass and moved into the Maurienne Valley. The defending division of General of Brigade François Joseph Thorillon Dubourg had General of Brigade Charles Philippe Badelaune's (or Bagdelonne's) brigade in the Tarentaise and General of Brigade Jean-Denis Le Doyen's brigade in the Maurienne. Montferrat's force clashed with Badelaune at Séez on 15 August and Moûtiers on 18 August, routing the French both times. Bourg-Saint-Maurice and the entrenched camp at Saint-Martin-d'Arc both fell into Montferrat's hands. Both brigades were driven back into the lower valleys. Badelaune finally took up a strong position at Albertville and Le Doyen set up a roadblock at Aiguebelle. Farther north, another Piedmontese detachment violated Swiss neutrality by crossing the Great St Bernard Pass and moved into the Arve valley, capturing Sallanches and driving the French back to Carouge near Geneva. Dubourg reported to Kellermann that if he were pressed back any farther, he must abandon Chambéry and withdraw to Fort Barraux.
  Despite the crisis, the all-powerful political agents were obsessed with the internal revolt and would not allow Kellermann to leave the Siege of Lyon for more than four days at a time. Kellermann left Lyon on 19 August 1793 and did what he could to improve the defenses of Albertville and Aiguebelle on 21 August. He was back at Lyon on 24 August. However, the political agents in Savoy demanded the commander-in-chief's presence at the front and got their way. Kellermann hastened back to Savoy, leaving the Siege of Lyon to be carried out by Dubois-Crancé and General Jean-Baptiste Louis Philippe Demuy. The representative on mission Pierre Jacques Dherbez-Latour tried to dictate military instructions, but Kellermann and General of Brigade Louis Joseph Marie Rogon de Carcaradec stopped his interference by threatening to resign. Starting on 31 August, Kellermann traveled to Grenoble, Chambéry, and Montmélian in order to inspire the authorities. He called up some battalions from the Camp of Tournoux on the right flank, pressed ambulatory hospital patients into service, and got the political agents to call out the local National Guard.
  Because Montferrat failed to see the importance of pressing forward, his two columns remained separated and bottled up in the valleys. Kellermann exploited the Strategy of the central position by planning to operate first against Montferrat while holding back Cordon's force. Kellermann sent a column into the Doron valley toward Beaufort. This force threatened to outflank the Tarentaise by hooking south to Aime. Meanwhile, Kellermann's main force moved up the Isère River. Over in the Maurienne, Cordon was distracted by a French force on his left rear. During the Piedmontese invasion, a detachment of French soldiers withdrew up a side valley leading south from the Maurienne and was holding Valloire. Nevertheless, Cordon's wing marched down the Arc River on 10 September, hoping to be reinforced by Montferrat.
  Cordon's advancing column found Le Doyen's troops setting up an artillery battery. One badly-trained French gun crew rammed the round shot home before the powder charge and ruined the cannon. In the Battle of Epierre on 15 Septemb
caption: Jean Hérault de Séchelles
exif: {"Image Make": "Canon", "Image Model": "Canon EOS 600D", "Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image XResolution": "300", "Image YResolution": "300", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image DateTime": "2014:04:06 11:59:17", "Image Copyright": "", "Image ExifOffset": "180", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "72", "Thumbnail YResolution": "72", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "8166", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "11984", "EXIF ExposureTime": "1/40", "EXIF FNumber": "4", "EXIF ExposureProgram": "Aperture Priority", "EXIF ISOSpeedRatings": "1000", "EXIF SensitivityType": "Recommended Exposure Index", "EXIF RecommendedExposureIndex": "1000", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0230", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2014:04:06 11:59:17", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2014:04:06 11:59:17", "EXIF ComponentsConfiguration": "YCbCr", "EXIF ShutterSpeedValue": "43/8", "EXIF ApertureValue": "4", "EXIF ExposureBiasValue": "0", "EXIF SubjectDistance": "83/50", "EXIF MeteringMode": "Pattern", "EXIF Flash": "Flash did not fire, compulsory flash mode", "EXIF FocalLength": "28", "EXIF SubSecTime": "00", "EXIF SubSecTimeOriginal": "00", "EXIF SubSecTimeDigitized": "00", "EXIF FlashPixVersion": "0100", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "2101", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "2529", "Interoperability InteroperabilityIndex": "R98", "Interoperability InteroperabilityVersion": "[48, 49, 48, 48]", "EXIF InteroperabilityOffset": "8042", "EXIF FocalPlaneXResolution": "1036800/181", "EXIF FocalPlaneYResolution": "691200/119", "EXIF FocalPlaneResolutionUnit": "2", "EXIF CustomRendered": "Normal", "EXIF ExposureMode": "Auto Exposure", "EXIF WhiteBalance": "Auto", "EXIF SceneCaptureType": "Standard", "EXIF CameraOwnerName": "", "EXIF BodySerialNumber": "123063036836", "EXIF LensSpecification": "[28, 28, 0/0, 0/0]", "EXIF LensModel": "EF28mm f/1.8 USM", "EXIF LensSerialNumber": "0000000000"}