Battle of Epierre

Battle of Epierre
Part of the French Revolutionary Wars
View of Épierre in the Maurienne valley
Date 15 September 1793 Location Épierre, Savoie, France Result French victory
Belligerents
Republican France	Kingdom of Sardinia
Commanders and leaders
François Kellermann Jean Denis Ledoyen	Duke of Montferrat Marquis of Cordon
Strength
Campaign: 12,000 Battle: 8,000	Campaign: 18,000 Battle: 6,000
Casualties and losses
Campaign: unknown Battle: 500	Campaign: 2,000 Battle: 1,000

The Battle of Epierre (15 September 1793) was part of a larger War of the First Coalition campaign that pitted a Republican French army led by François Christophe de Kellermann against a numerically stronger Kingdom of Sardinia-Piedmont army commanded by the Prince Maurizio, Duke of Montferrat. Under the overall leadership of the Austrian commander in chief Joseph Nikolaus De Vins, Montferrat launched an offensive in mid-August 1793 to recapture the Duchy of Savoy from the French. Because the French were preoccupied with the Siege of Lyon, the Piedmontese recovered most of the Maurienne and Tarentaise Valleys, but they were stopped just short of Albertville and the reconquest of Savoy. In September, Kellermann launched a counteroffensive in which he adroitly switched his troops between valleys in order to drive back the Piedmontese. At Épierre, the French under Jean-Denis Le Doyen defeated the Marquis of Cordon in a local action. By 8 October the Piedmontese abandoned all their gains and withdrew to the crests of the Graian Alps. In spite of his victory, the suspicious politicians in Paris put Kellermann in arrest and he was imprisoned until November 1794.