Siege of Fort Bard

Siege of Fort Bard
Part of the War of the Second Coalition, War of the French Revolution
Piedmontese cannons shooting at the French soldiers
Date May 14 - June 1, 1800 Location Fort Bard,Aosta Valley Result Ceasefire
Belligerents
France	Kingdom of Sardinia Austria
Commanders and leaders
Napoleon Bonaparte	Josef Stockard Bernkopf
Strength
40,000-48,000 men	400 men
Casualties and losses
More than 2,000 dead or wounded	300-400 POWs

The Siege of Fort Bard (also known as Bard Fort) was a military action that took place during May 1800 during the second Napoleonic Italian campaign and stopped the French military leader Napoleon Bonaparte and his Armée de Reserve with approximately 40,000 men for two weeks.The Bard Fort was protected by 100 Austrian troops,led by captain Josef Stockard Bernkopf,and by approximately 300 piedmontese soldiers.

Prelude

On May 13,Napoleon enters in the current Italian region of Aosta Valley from the little Swiss town of Bourg-Saint-Pierre.Until May 16,the French Armée de Reserve doesn't engage any battle with the austro-piedmontese enemy. In May 16, Napoleon enters in Aosta,after a little engagement against the Austrian army.

The Siege

The problems start when Napoleon and the generals Dupont and Dufour reach the village of Bard,dominated by a massive fort that occupies every possible road. On the evening of May 20 the general Dupont demands the surrender of Stockard Von Bernkopf, commander of the Austrian company in the fort. He refuses to surrender.On the night of May 21 the village of Bard is conquered by the French army,that proceeds to surround the fort.On May 22 three Austrian cannons captured after the battle of Châtillon started to fire on the fort, dealing little to no damage. In the morning of May 26 the fort gets attacked by 300 grenadiers in order to distract the garrison from a smaller crew that will try to cross the Dora river. The defenders start shooting, killing all of the grenadiers and the small crew behind the fort. The General Dufour dies while trying to cross the river on a raft. Napoleon himself is worried of the tenacious resistance of the defenders, and the enemy army coming from Piedmont is getting close. On May 27 Napoleon orders the siege of the fort. A regiment of 1243 riflemen led by 120 officials starts to attack the fort, but the hidden French support cannons are too small to deal serious damage to the building and many French soldiers are killed by the defenders. The siege goes on with heavy casualties for the French army until May 29, where a 12-inch cannon named "cannone di Andreossi" (Andreossi's cannon in Italian) is positioned in the church behind the fort, where it can't be seen by the enemy. On June 1, the cannon starts shooting to the fort, destroying a part of the wall.At the end of the day, Napoleon asks for the surrender of the garrison and Bernkopf raises the white flag. The prisoners received the honours of warfor their audacious resistance.^[1]

Aftermath

The Fort, called by Napoleon "vilain castel de Bard" (evil castle of Bard in French)^[2] was destroyed completely under a Napoleon's order and it will get rebuilt only in 1830 by Charles Albert of Savoy. The surprise attack at the austro-piedmontese forces on the Po river in Lombardy planned by Napoleon was delayed. Napoleon will later took over the piedmontese and lombard area by defeating the Austrians in the Battle of Marengo.

See also

• War of the Second Coalition
• Napoleonic Italian Campaigns

References