dell'Assietta 2400 meters.
The Battle of Assietta was fought in the Italian campaign of the War of the Austrian Succession on July 19, 1747. It resulted in a defeat for France against the army of the Kingdom of Sardinia. [edit] Background In the late phase of the War of the Austrian Succession, France had decided to eliminate the Savoy-Piedmontese army, considered dangerous due to its strong strategic position. King Louis XV had already tried to penetrate into Piedmont, besieging Cuneo and fighting at Madonna dell'Olmo and Bassignana. This time he advanced with a huge army comprising 150 infantry regiments, 75 cavalry squadrons and 2 artillery brigades, under the command of Marshal Charles Louis Auguste, duke of Belle-Isle, and Marquis De La Mina. The two commanders had different views on the lead of the campaign: Belle-Isle favoured a direct menace to Turin by crossing the Alps, while his Spanish colleague preferred to send troops to relieve the Austro-Piedmontese siege of Genoa. Belle-Isle's ideas prevailed and the French troops occupied Antibes as well as the county of Nice. However, they were halted by the strong Piedmontese defence of the southern Alpine passes. Belle-Isle's brother, the Chevalier de Belle-Isle, led an army of 50 infantry battalions, 15 cavalry squadrons and numerous cannon advanced towards the northern passes. The army was divided into two corps: one descended from the Moncenisio towards Exilles while the other advanced towards Fenestrelle from the Assietta Pass. The latter is a bare plateau at more than 2,500 meters of altitude. Having predicted that the French would move through it, Charles Emmanuel III of Savoy had fortified the area with 13 infantry battalions: 9 Piedmontese, the remaining were Austrian and Swiss taken from the troops that had unsuccessfully besieged Genoa. French intelligence notified the marshals that the Piedmontese were fortifying the pass, and a decision to attack immediately was taken. The forces involved amounted to 32 French
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Keywords: alps, assietta, battle, chisone, colle, holiday, italy, lugris, lugris2, panorama, pass, piedmont, pinerolo, summer, tourism, travel, trekking, vacation, valley, walk
