Second Battle of Dego The Second Battle of Dego was fought on 14 and 15 April 1796 during the French Revolutionary Wars between French forces and Austro - Sardinian forces . The battle was fought near Dego , a hamlet in northwestern Italy , and ended in a French victory . Background . After successfully defeating the Austrian right wing at the Battle of Montenotte , Napoleon Bonaparte continued with his plan to separate the Austrian army of General Johann Beaulieu from the army of the Kingdom of Piedmont - Sardinia led by General Michelangelo Colli . By taking the defences at Dego , the French would control the only road by which the two armies could link with each other . The town ' s defences comprised both a castle on a bluff and earthworks on rising ground , and were held by a small mixed force , consisting of units of both the Austrian and Piedmont - Sardinian armies . Forces . Army of Italy : Napoleon Bonaparte ( 15 , 000 ) Battle . On 14 April , André Masséna , leading Amédée Laharpe ' s division and one brigade of Jean - Baptiste Meynier ' s division attacked the town . The French overran the defences , losing about 1 , 500 killed and wounded . The Austrians suffered 3 , 000 casualties , including a large number of prisoners . Argenteau ' s survivors fled northeast to the town of Acqui Terme . Bonaparte ordered Meynier to hold Dego , while he took Laharpe ' s division west to fight Colli ' s Sardinians . However , the French troops in Dego then gave themselves over to looting , and during the night they were mostly scattered in the nearby houses . At dawn on 15 April , under cover of fog , the defences were counter - attacked by an Austrian force under Colonel Josef Vukassovich . Beaulieu planned for Vukassovich to reinforce Argenteau the day before , but his orders were poorly written and his subordinate showed up at Dego a day too late . Nevertheless , taken by surprise , the French were rapidly driven out of Dego and back to their starting point of the day before . Allegedly , the surprise attack caught Masséna in bed with a woman and he escaped in his nightshirt . Masséna took some time to take control of the situation again . He recalled Laharpe and organised a counter - attack , which was supported by other reinforcements brought up by Bonaparte . Vukassovich ' s force was heavily outnumbered , and was unable to defend for long before it was driven out , leaving Dego definitively in French hands . Results . The second day ' s action cost the Austrians a further 670 killed and wounded , plus 1 , 087 captured . The Preiss Infantry Regiment # 24 took particularly heavy losses . The French lost 621 killed and wounded , and 317 captured . The second day surprise made Bonaparte anxious that Beaulieu might intervene from the east , so the French general reorganized his forces and sent out strong patrols on 16 April . But Argenteau ' s mauling at Montenotte and Dego shook Beaulieu ' s nerve and he stayed near Acqui . Satisfied that Beaulieu was out of the picture , Bonaparte turned on Colli with his main strength on 17 April . On 21 April , The French beat Colli at the Battle of Mondovì and soon afterward the Sardinian government sued for peace .