Army of Naples - Capture of Naples

Capture of Naples

After Mack's flight, the Iazzaroni attacked the French front lines at Aversa and in a few other places. This attack seemed to Championnet to constitute a violation of the armistice, the authority of the viceroy with whom he had made the treaty being so disrespected. He decided to attack Naples himself. This decision attracted to him a group offering to keep the armistice and pay a large sum if he gave up on occupying the city, but he doubted that these actions would be carried out so he refused the offer. The agents of the court in absence profited from this circumstance to increase the anger of the insurgents. The insurgents named two new chiefs, Iazzaroni Pazzto and Michel le Fou. Meanwhile, Championnet, urged by the peaceful factions in Naples to occupy the city in order to stop the disorder and protect them from the Iazzaroni, agreed on the condition that those that called him to the city should take Fort Saint Elme. His army began its march on January 20.

The Duhesme division had the difficult task of taking the Capuana gate and the bridge of the Madeleine. Colonel Broussier only took this last after a hard-fought six-hour battle. General Monnier was pushed back in his first attack on the gate. Captain Ordonneau failed in a second attempt, but Chief of Staff Thiébault attacked for a third time and succeeded thanks to Duhesme's trick of faking a retreat that drew the Napolitans into an ambush. The ambushed grenadiers and chasseurs, fighting back with bayonets when their enemies did an about-face that pushed back the frightened Iazzaroni and fought wildly across the bridge. The French took all of the enemy's artillery. "This is what I call getting a good rank by way of a good gate." said Duhesme to Thiébault when Championnet named him Adjutant General on the battlefield. Championnet then tried a peaceful approach which was poorly received by the insurgents. At the same time that Moliterno and Rocca Romana, aided by 600 young people, were taking Saint-Elme Fort, Championnet sent two battalions to take possession of it. The last preparations for the attack on Naples took place that night. At dawn, Fort Saint-Elme, shooting its cannons at the Iazzaroni, gave the signal to march to five columns that meant to enter the city from different directions. Rusca and Broussier, placed to the left with two thirds of Duhesme's division in two columns, entered by way of the outlying part of Capua and the bridge of the Madeleine and reunited, pushing back the masses in front of them by way of the Fort of El-Carmine, whose walls they had order to scale but which gave up without resistance. The Nola gate group surrendered its arms with little resistance.

Kellermann, starting in Serraglio, was ordered to head to the Castel Nuovo, but he met with intense resistance from Poggio supported by hundreds of Albanians, who he beat back foot by foot to the Largo del Castello. Brigade Chief Calvin, though protected by a port entrance, fared little better. He had to use the roads at the foot of Saint-Elme's Fort in order to take a stand at the Castel dell'Ovo and he was held at bay by two Napolitan columns. At this point Michel le Fou, taken prisoner by Rusca, was taken before Championnet. Championnet treated the leaders of the Iazzaroni well and promised to respect San Gennaro, patron saint of Naples. Michel served as an intermediary to the people. An honor guard given to San Gennaro, something some Iazzaroni saw with their own eyes, produced an incredible effect and the angry cries changed to "Long live the French!" Championnet took advantage of this sudden change of heart to take all of the forts. Reserves camped on the plazas and the rest of the army camped on the highlands that dominate the city.