Battle of Turin - The Siege

The Siege

In May, the Franco-Spanish army approached Turin with more than 40,000 men. Sébastien de Vauban, Marshal of France and expert of siege techniques, volunteered for the campaign but was dismissed due to his age. Vauban persisted in counselling the French command, proposing a side assault to the city and pointing out that the wide net of countermine galleries set by the defenders would present a tenacious obstacle to any other operation. But La Feuillade had different ideas and, dismissing Vauban's counsel, ordered his 48 military engineers to draw up plans for the excavation of a long series of trenches. Old Vauban vocally condemned La Feuillade's methods from Paris, publicly offering to have his throat cut if the French succeeded in taking Turin on La Feuillade's chosen point of attack.

Digging began May 14, although La Feuillade's lines never fully surrounded Turin. The siege began in June and was pursued for three months against dogged resistance. The besieged, supported by the active participation of the population to the battle, offered a strenuous defence, inflicting heavy losses on the attackers. Fighting continued during the whole summer of 1706.