Fortificazione campale e ordini di battaglia. Un esempio piemontese del 1743

The article proposes a translated and commented edition of a battle order written in French on 6 October 1743 by the Marquis d’Aix, commander of the troops of the King of Sardinia in the Varaita valley; the army was sent to face a Franco-Spanish invasion contingent, which arrived in Chianale after crossing the pass of Agnello and Saint-Veran. The rapid examination of the Piedmontese field fortifications introduces the commentary on the order of battle, always seeking the fundamental relationship between the defensive artifact and the use of infantry in the field. Central is the issue of the defending troops volume of fire, the accuracy of the shot and the safety determined in such conditions by the entrenchments. Other important topics are those of ammunition management, logistics and the composition of the camps protected by temporary fortifications, as well as some notations on the perception of the battle by soldiers and officers. The ultimate purpose of the study is to add a further piece to the search for the “nouvelle histoire bataille” by calling into question the relationship with the study of the field fortification and its role in military archeology.

Abstract licence: CC BY-NC

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