Relation de la Bataille de Pierrelongue 19 juillet 1744 Par Claudio Allais   The first columns of the french-spanish army took the head of the Stura and Maira Valleys, while three others column, the 7th, the 8th and the 9th took position at the haed of the Varaita Valley. The 7th column composed of six battalions, under lieutenant general Don louis Gandinga, left Guillestre and, came through San Paul and Maurin, it took the head of the Col du L'Agnello to threaten the valley of Chateau Dauphine, then it withdrew to gain Acceglio in Maira Valley, coming through Col du Marie, in order to support the 6th column, under lieutenant general Comte de Lautrec, who had the order to gain the Preit village to threaten the Maira Valley. Marquise de Camposanto, lieutenant general, with five battalions that composed the 8th column, coming from the camp of Pontcernieres near Briancon, came through Seillac and near the lake of praria to gain the Traversieres du Bellino, on the watershed of the Varaita and and Maira Valley, abled to attack both the first or the second as the circumstances should suggest. Baillì du Givri, lieutenant general, at the head of ten battalions that formed the 9th column, left Barcellonette and gained the Montgeneve gap descending the Valley of Cesana to deceive our King and to attract there his army, making a feint as he wanted to attack the Susa and Pragelato Valley; then he came back and he took the Gardetta at the Valley of Bellino and the top of the Col du Bondormir that dominates the Valley of Chateau Dauphin. Brigadier Chevert commanded body of 1500 men from several regiments, and four companyes of grenadiers from Poitou's brigade to make easier the preparation of the main attacks by Bali de Givrì and to orchestrate with him his operations. All these nine columns were at their positions signed by pince de Conti, after many soffering due to the terrible marches of the day before, when the rain had been falling for ten hours.       Prince Conti and the Infant of Spain, going down to the Col de l'Argentera at the head of theri column, preceded by Marquise Las Minas and lieutenant general d'Aramburu, took Bersezio in Stura valley before the rock of the Barricade. Our lieutenant general Pallavicini, informed by his spies that three enemy corps were approaching with an envelopment manovre, sure that all the enemy forces were against him, to not to have his eight battalions destroyed or made prisoners, abandoned the high and the low Lobiera and the camp of the Montagnetta, places that should make the best army's flesh creep if they had to conquer them, to the enemy and reached with his troops the fort of Demonte, destroying bridges and the road of the Stura Valley in order to stop any enemy advance. After his success Prince Conti was worried about the situations of the columns that were fighting on his left, then the marechal de camp de Villemur sent an officier to take the news of the victory of the right, but this man, fallen in a river with his horse, drowned. Other courier were sent in the same time to the Balì de Givrì and Marquise Pallavicini did the same to our King, but they were not able to arrive in time to stop the futile bloody fight in the high Varaita Valley.       Lieutenant general de Gandica at the head of 7th column, following the movements of the 6th column, took Acceglio in Maira Valley, then, for order of the Pince of Conti, went in Varaita Valley, on the top of the Bondormir, to support the 8th and the 9th column. Marquise de Camposanto, chief of the 8th column, from Briancon reached with five battalions the mountain of the Traversiera on the north face of the Bellino Valley. To arrive there he marched at the foot of the Mont Peirol, where he advanced in face of our soldiers camped at the Bicocca plateau. His purpose was not a general assault, even if an attempt was done with a great support of fire, but to create some noise and to avoid their presence at the main entrenchements of Pierre Longue. Balì de Grivì, lieutenant general, who had over his shoulders the operations of the left of the Army, made a feint and came with the 9th column from Briancon to the other side of the Montgeneve, then he came back and went to the Col du l'Agnello and then on the San Verano and Longet's ones to descend the Vallon du Combe, at the head of the Bellino Valley. He had at his orders Comte de Danois, lieutenant general, and ten battalions, of whom three were of the regiment Poitou under lieutenant colonel M. de Morenne, and he had a vanguard under brigadier de Chevert, lieutenant colonel, who commanded a detachment of 1500 men and four companies of grenadiers. The 16 june this brigadier attaked our post of Chayol, but it withdrew after some shoots of fusil with the enemy near the Gardetta. During the night beetween the 16 and the 17 French camped at Chayol while ours soldiers made the same at the Gardetta. These are not easy paths to put communication a site with another on these mountains, expecially if you don't know them, but a traitor of his Country spead to the enemy their real collocations, enabled them to avoid all our surprise and they were able to attack us everywhere in a better position. He was a native of Bellin an he was accused and arrested for espionage. While two soldiers were escorting him in chains, going down from the top of the mountains, to bring him to the military court, he with a rapid strike, in a very narrow path on a rock face, surprized and threw them in the precipice below, where they died. He was so save and reached the enemy camp where he met the lieutenant colonel de Modane, aid marechal general, and he not only told him all the paths and communications of the mountains but he also wanted to be the scout. Prince de Contì, to give him a prize, took him in his castle of Isle Adam and gave him an annuity. Here he was named Doux Berger. With his news brigadier Chevert was informed that our troops, entrenched into the granges of the Gardetta, at the foot of the mountain of the Combe, had the same strenght of his force, and so he decided to attack them. While he was advancing our soldiers give him a volley of musketry firing covered by a grat number of loop hole opened in the walls of the grenges. Since this place avoid him to reach the top of Bondormir to be in the position of Conti's will in face of the main enemy's body, he attacked with the most vivacity he could. The grenadiers took with great difficulties the first house, but they had to assault other nine or ten other buildings, defended by ours soldiers with great courage. Then Comte de Danois arrived with Poitou's brigade. Chevert gave him the position and made an outflank manouvre to avoid any enemy's withdrawal, but ours soldiers recognized his plan and so they started the manouvre of disengagement in good order supported by a rearguard composed by 300 dragons dismounted and armed with rifled guns. At the end they had to run away very fast to avoid the encirclement. They went to the Bicocca or to Espeirases's camp losing 30 or 40 men wouded or killed and laving about 80 prisoners in the head of the enemy, many of them wounded. French Army descended to Celle di Bellino after destroying with fire the buldings of the Gardetta, then they marchedalong the rock of Fera and the reached the position to attack our trench at Bondormir, where the defencewas so fierce and good that they were not able to conquer the position. From here they climbed over Pierrelongue where he joined the other detached groups arrived from a parallel path thanks to the indications of the traitor. The brave Chevert wanted immediately a clash with us, but the Balì de Givrì told him he wanted before all a war council. There were present also Comte de Danois, Modane and others colonels of the regiments of the column and they agreed to attack the next day.       As soon as the piedmonteses could see the enemy on the top of Pierrelongue, they destroyed with the mines the communications beetween Bondormir and Pierrelongue and prepared the defence. In the same time the enemy was working hard to prepare a better zig-zag path through the Pierrelongue's ravine on the north face to reach easily the top of the mountain. Brigadier Chevert had to prepare the attack with his 1500 men and they had to take the Pas du Chat, a deep ravine where you were compelled to walk in a single line and to jump over a inclined and slippery terrain. At the end of this gap, on the flank of a rock, there were ready 400 piedmontese grenadiers to close the descend and a battery of cannons posted in the entrenchements fired on the gap. When Chevert began to move, the mountain was covered by a very thick fog, so he was not able to see the trenches; he received a whole volley from the piedmontese grenadiers who could hear him but they could not recognise his position. Chevert ordered to descend faster, to fix bayonets and to avoid any exchange of fire with the enemy, then he charged the enemy and they, fearing to be left alone without any support and to be destroyed by the odds of the enemy, made a withdrawl on the redoubt of the Baraccone in great confusion, where they created great dismayed and they pulled out also the garrison. Since this fast rout they abandoned to the enemy their tents, then they burned three great stack of wood to give to the garrison of the Bicocca's redoubt the news that Pierrelongue was in enemy's hands, then they went to the redoubt of Mount Cavallo. The french column descended from Pierrelongue without great losses in spite of the artillery fire and it attacked the second redoubt on the Battagliola Peak, and the fortifications were abandoned after a single volley. Since the door of the redoubt was very little, and the passage quite difficult, many were contused and some were killed. At the Battagliola the French stopped their advance and they had been holding this position for about two hours in order to attend Mass, celebrated on that holy day by a priest, and to take some rest; then they advanced against Mount Cavallo redoubt, better fortified than the others places, defended by seven battalions linened up the parapet, and some cannons of new inventions. The commander was lieutenat general du Verger and brigadier chevalier du Castagnole. Before the battle brigadier Chevert sent to du Verger his aid de champ, a major of Regiment de Provence, to intimate the surrender, threaten to execute all his garrison. Du Verger told him he was awaiting for him and he should do his duties. The officier was not permitted to enter the redoubt, so he was not able to say anthing about the strenght of the construction, and about the garrison's force. Chevert ordered the immediate attack, but before all he wanted to inform Balì de Givrì to have his support of fire. He told him to do nothing without him giving the right orders. As the day before he found the path necessary for a good withdrawl, in this day he was lack of food, since our militiamen captured a forniture of 50 mules loaded of sacks of meal, and so he wanted an immediate attack.       Chevert's group had to attack the battery, Poitou's brigade had to advance at his right and in the middle there was the regiment of Provence. Colonel Salis had to take a plateau over the Bellino ravine to avoid the manouvre af our 4 battalions present on the south face of the mountain. Beziers' battalion had to prepare ammonitions, power and balls.       With this order of battle the column advanced without sacks to be more efficient and free in combat, but it couldn't advance in good order on this mountain terrain , so some soldiers went over the others and the three corps attacked in an only great column. The weather was very dark on that day and a great and thick foggy covered totally the redoubt and his outline and the enemy was able to arrive at 30 paces from the trenches and ours soldiers could not see him. Then a terrible exchange of fire opened the fight. French wereon open ground, without cover, close to the palisade of the covered way, where they could disloge our soldiers, but they could not cut nor eradicate the palisade since they had not the necessary tools. To be able to going on the action they had to mantain a great fire against us who were shooting in a better position, covered by the entrenchments. They had been figthing for more than four hours in a range of only 10 paces from our position with in the middle only the covered way to separate the piemontese from french soldiers, but at the end French had to withdraw. Balì de Givrì wanted to continue the fight, put in the line of fire fresh battalions, the attack was renewed with such courage and bravery that the French reached again the wood of the palisade with an unprecedented effort, but they were rejected with great losses. Balì e Givrì, badly wounded in a thigh during this second assault, ordered to his men the withdrawal, again he renewed the order for the third time, loosing his confidence in the victory. Since the order arrive in the middle of the action, soldiers of the Poitou's regiment wanted to continue the fight and they asked for the flag, it passed from an hand to another and they threw it in the covered way and hoisted the flag on the palissade, they tried to extirpate with their hands the palisade. This was e terrible moment; the gun of both nations were crossed; all bullets, from a side to another, hit the heads and they were always deadly wounds. Comte de Danois, since the Balì de Givrì was badly wounded, marquise de Carta, commander of Provence's brigade, killed, and others colonels as a great number of officiers wounded, ordered the withdrawal but the soldiers, without officiers, didn't obey any more. They knew that it was extremely dangerous a withdrawal in such conditions, so rather to have their back riddled with bullets and canister fired by our artillery and guns, they wanted with great bravery to remain in the fight, beliving they were able to destroy with their heads the palisade. They had the great fortune that colonel de Salis left in that moment his position and attacked in the rear the redoubt, and even if the first volley killed him, his action decided the outcome of the battle. During his approaching our garrison moved en masse against him, leaving the sector they had been defening for four hours with great bravery. An enemy sergent tried to penetrate into the redoubt, but he found the death; a grenadier, more luky, penetrated in the redoubt sabre in the head, immediately more others men went into, charging with such fury that our soldiers had no time to make a resistance and they were compelled to surrend. Knight de Castagnole was in that occasion badly wounded and were killed lieutenant general du Verger, colonel Roquin, swiss, Marquise de Seyssel, first born of the Marquise d'Aix and aid de camp of the King; many battallion's majors and all grenadiers' officiers were killed. French pillaged all things that we could not take away and they stopped their action as they saw the regiment Gardes and those of Saluces, arrived to support the defence. After a little resistance these fresh troops were routed and they run to Pui, a village near Chateau Dauphin, or to the combe of Juillard on the face opposite north of Pontechianal, and many met their death hurling down the precipice during the rout.       The fight finished one hour before the night the 19 july 1744. We lost 1350 men, the majority of them killed hit at the head; more than 300 were found in the ravine killed by french bullets or by falls on the rock during the rout. The enemy looses were great too.       Our King, who were at Villaret, as soon as he knew the outcome of the battle, removed all the artillery from the Forts san Carlo, Bertola an Chateau and put himself in Chateau Dauphin, where he wanted to receive the about 200 survivors of the Mount Caval massacre. The King Charles Emmanuel then left Chateau Dauphin and go to Sampeyre, where he met general Guibert, who was at the Bicocca, and he gave orders to knight Cumina to evaquate Maira Valley, to marquise de Frabosa the Stura Valley and to reach the defensive line Castigliole-Saluces and here he joined the whole army. The deads of the battle of Pierrelongue were buried on the battleground and the woundeds were transferred to Chateau Dauphin. The French wounded were recovered in the ruins of the redoubt of Mount Cavallo.       Comte de Danois, who was now the commander, without food and to pay his exhausted soldiers, permitted three hours of free savage pillage at Bellino and Chateau Dauphin. The next day, in the early morning, french soldiers arrived in these two unfortunate villages and they pillaged houses and churches. In Bellino they killed two men and in Chateau Dauphin they didn't forget any houses and they pillaged also the Houses of the Capuchins, where they took many objects of our Army that here was camped…       …The Village of Pontechianale was save thanks to the generosity of Comte de Danois, but it had to give 50 men who had been trasporting for 8 days the french soldiers wounded from Mount Cavallo to Gardetta and then to Maurin. Balì de Givrì was about them, and he was one of the best general the France had, and he was recovered in Lyon, where in few days he died since his wounds       It seems impossible that Monte Cavallo, on the top of the mountains, in the Castellata, had to be the grave for marquises, counts, barons, and in a word for a great part of the best youth and the high nobility of the Kingdom of France and of Piedmont that serve in the Army.   Jean Cerino Badone