Battle of Villafranca ( 1744 ) The Battle of Villafranca unfolded on 20 April 1744 , during the War of the Austrian Succession . The armies of Spain and France , advancing into Kingdom of Sardinia , unsuccessfully attacked entrenched positions at the pass of Villafranca , defended by Anglo - Sardinian forces . Because of the high losses incurred , the defenders were forced to leave the harbour of Villafranca two days after the battle ( 22 April 1744 ) . Situation in Italy . 1744 had opened bleakly for the Spaniards in Italy . To the south the Austrians were steadily driving back General Montemar ' s army . Naples was threatened . Britain , boasting naval superiority in the Mediterranean , intervened on the side of Austria , and the Royal Navy everywhere harassed Spain ' s allies and frustrated Spanish war shipping . Genoa was blocked off by a British squadron , and Switzerland kept her borders closed to the passage of troops . Marching overland through allied France , the Infante Philip had easily conquered Savoy , but , starved of supplies , had been unable to advance against the Sardinians in the Alps . On 22 February , the Bourbon navies defeated the British off the coast of Toulon . The retreat of Admiral Matthews ' fleet left the sea lanes temporarily under French and Spanish control . Supplies poured into Philip ' s camp . 20 , 000 Frenchmen under Louis François I , Prince of Conti were then dispatched to combine with Philip ' s 20 , 000 Spaniards , their goal being to force a passage into Lombardy and to unite with the Spanish army in the south . On 1 April , the allies crossed the Var and advanced into Nice , which fell without a fight . Villafranca lay before them . The Battle . The Sardinians led by Vittorio Francesco Filippo di Savoia , Marquis of Susa , the brother of the King Charles Emmanuel III , entrenched themselves along the heights of Villafranca . Their natural defences were formidable : the attackers , hemmed in by cliffs and precipices , faced a difficult climb up over rocks and boulders , in plain sight of Sardinian guns . The fortified camp was equipped with more than 80 guns of all calibres , landed from English ships stationed in the harbor , which were arranged in eleven batteries . Sardinian forces counted fourteen battalions of infantry . Admiral Matthews , meanwhile , had returned to the area and landed a contingent of British regulars , marines , and artillery specialists to bolster the Sardinian defence . This force joined the Sardinians on the heights , their guns bearing down on the French against whom they had only recently declared war ( Britain had been fighting a war against Spain since 1739 ) . Voltaire would later quip , " even in the Alps we could still find Englishmen to fight us . " Conti ' s first attack was launched the 14 April , but was suspended because of a storm . Finally Conti gave the assault on the fortified camp of Villafranca on the night of 19 to 20 April 1744 . In the early stages of the battle the French and the Spaniards were able to immediately gain the position of the collet de Villefranche , capturing or destroying five Sardinian battalions . Even the commander in chief , the Marquis of Susa , was taken prisoner and he had to be replaced by the Knight of Cinzano . The French and Spanish forces moved to conquer the positions of Mont Gros , Mont Rouge and Mont Leuze , the keys of the defensive perimeter of Villafranca . However , led by their new commander , the defenders were able to contain the attack . In particular , the regiment Kalbermatten , a Swiss unit in Sardinian service , was able to develop a magnificent defensive action to hold the position of Mont Leuze . At four in the afternoon the situation was restored and Conti had now exhausted all the forces at his disposal . The Cinzano had the opportunity to launch an assault on the collective Villefranche and reoccupy the position , which is crucial as it allowed the transit of the road to Nice . This operation , conducted by principally by companies of grenadiers , archieved a complete success . In the evening the Sardinians were again deployed on the positions of the morning . Aftermath . The defenders had suffered heavy losses . There were over 1 , 000 dead and wounded and 1 , 500 prisoners , compared to less than 3 , 000 losses of Spaniards and French , who counted among their ranks 433 men held captive . With only 5 , 000 men fit to fight , Cinzano preferred to abandon the fortified camp of Villafranca with the help of the British navy . On the evening of 21 April , in the dock of Villafranca , the garrison was shipped aboard 33 ships escorted by four British warships . At the dawn of the 22 April the fleet left the port . The fort of Montalbano had been abandoned , but Cinzano had left a garrison of 340 soldiers in the Citadel of Villafranca , who surrendered on April 27 . The Prince de Conti realized that the conquest of the Ligurian Riviera would cost several months of combat . He then preferred to attack the Alps in July , an action that allowed the breakthrough of the Italian front and the siege of the city of Cuneo .