Battle of Mondovì The Battle of Mondovì was fought on 21 April 1796 between the French army of Napoleon Bonaparte and the army of the Kingdom of Sardinia - Piedmont led by Michelangelo Alessandro Colli - Marchi . The French victory meant that they had put the Ligurian Alps behind them , while the plains of Piedmont lay before them . A week later , King Victor Amadeus III sued for peace , taking his kingdom out of the First Coalition . The defeat of their Sardinian ally wrecked Austrian Habsburg strategy and led to the loss of northwest Italy to the First French Republic . Campaign . Operations . This was the last battle of the Montenotte Campaign in which General of Division MG Bonaparte ' s Army of Italy thrust between Feldmarschall - Leutnant Colli ' s 21 , 000 - man Austro - Sardinian army and Feldzeugmeister Johann Beaulieu ' s 28 , 000 - strong Austrian army . In the initial battles , Bonaparte savaged Beaulieu ' s army and drove it northeast . Then the French general turned his main attack to the west against the Piedmontese . Colli conducted a series of well - fought rear guard actions , including the Battle of Millesimo on 13 April and the Battle of Ceva on 16 April . Nevertheless , Bonaparte drove the Sardinian army relentlessly westward toward the fortress of Cuneo and the plains of Piedmont . On 18 April , Colli retreated into a strong position behind the Corsaglia River . Forces . See Montenotte 1796 Campaign Order of Battle for a list of French , Austrian , and Sardinian organizations and units that fought in the campaign . Geography . The Corsaglia runs in a northeasterly direction until it flows into the northwest - flowing Tanaro River near the town of Lesegno . In April the streams were swollen by snow - melt and rain which rendered them generally unfordable . On the west bank are hills that dominate the river crossings . These heights are Madonna della Cassette in the north , La Bicocca in the center , and Buon Gesù in the south near the town of San Michele Mondovi . The Ellero River and the town of Mondovì lie five kilometers to the west of the Corsaglia . San Michele Mondovi . Colli appointed General Jean - Gaspard Dichat de Toisinge with 8 , 000 troops and 15 cannon to hold the position . Bonaparte planned to send the division of MG Jean - Mathieu - Philibert Sérurier in a head - on assault against San Michele while MG Pierre Augereau ' s division crossed the Tanaro to flank the position from the north . MG André Masséna ' s division hovered in the mountains north of Ceva , threatening a northwestward lunge to cut Colli off from Turin . MG Henri Christian Michel de Stengel was ordered to march the cavalry to support Sérurier . The division of MG Amedee Emmanuel Francois Laharpe watched the Austrians who were regrouping at Acqui Terme . Augereau ' s men failed to get across the river due to high water and five well - placed cannon . The Piedmontese repulsed Serurier ' s morning attack on the San Michele bridge with loss . Later , some skirmishers of General of Brigade ( BG ) Jean Joseph Guieu ' s brigade found an unguarded footbridge to the south near the hamlet of Torre Mondovì . Soon Guieu ' s men crossed in strength and began rolling up the Sardinian right flank . The defenders of San Michele broke for the rear , allowing BG Pascal Antoine Fiorella ' s troops to cross the bridge and occupy the town . In the confusion , Colli was nearly taken prisoner . Dichat was caught , but he escaped by bribing his captor . The hungry , badly - paid , and poorly disciplined French troops immediately ran wild in the town , stealing food and pillaging the houses . A company of Swiss grenadiers in Sardinian pay , noting that the French were out of control , retook part of the town . Colli organized a major counterattack in the early afternoon which drove the Sérurier ' s division out of San Michele , though Guieu managed to hold onto his small bridgehead . One authority estimates that the French suffered about 600 casualties while the Piedmontese lost 300 . On the 20th , Bonaparte brought Masséna ' s division forward while the other troops rested . To the northeast , Beaulieu still hesitated to mount a major effort to help his ally . On the night of 20 April , Colli withdrew his army from the Corsaglia position , intending to fall back behind the Ellero River at Mondovì . After destroying the bridges and leaving their campfires burning , Colli ' s soldiers slipped away during the evening . At midnight , Bonaparte discovered that his enemy had decamped and mounted a rapid pursuit , using a ford discovered by some scouts . Battle . The next morning , Sérurier ' s advance struck the Sardinian rearguard on the heights of Buon Gesù drove it back on the town of Vicoforte . Sérurier formed his conscripts into three heavy columns and covered them with his more experienced soldiers in skirmish order . Then , putting himself at the head of the central column , he led a charge against the Sardinians with Masséna ' s division following behind . The speed of the French attack did not allow Colli to deploy his troops properly , nor were there any prepared defenses . A few of the Sardinian units panicked and fled , leaving gaps in the line . Fiorella and Guieu ' s brigades , supported by BG Elzéard Dommartin ' s brigade of Masséna , converged on Vicoforte and captured it . The Sardinians at La Bicocca held firm until Dichat was killed , then they joined the disorderly retreat . Bonaparte ' s cavalry commander , Stengel took 200 dragoons across the Ellero , but Colonel Chaffardon counterattacked with 125 Sardinian horsemen and drove the French back . Stengel was mortally wounded in the melee . When the French arrived at Mondovì , the governor managed to stall the pursuers for a time with negotiations , but he surrendered the town when fired on at about 6 pm . Bonaparte forced the municipal authorities to provide large contributions of food to his hungry soldiers , so the town was not sacked . Results . According to historian Gunther E . Rothenberg , Bonaparte ' s forces lost 600 killed and wounded out of 17 , 500 . The Piedmontese lost 8 cannons and 1 , 600 men killed , wounded , and captured out of 13 , 000 . Digby Smith lists a strength of 15 , 000 for the French and 11 , 000 for the Sardinians , but gives no losses . A third source lists 1 , 000 total French casualties versus 800 Piedmontese killed and wounded , plus an additional 800 to 1 , 500 captured . Bonaparte ordered a vigorous pursuit of the defeated Sardinians . On the evening of 23 April , Colli asked for an armistice , but the French general ordered his troops to continue their advance . Bonaparte demanded that Sardinia hand over the fortresses of Cuneo , Ceva , and either Alessandria or Tortona as the price of peace . On 28 April , the Sardinian government finally signed the Armistice of Cherasco , which effectively knocked the Kingdom of Sardinia out of the First Coalition . The next action was the Battle of Fombio in early May .