Battle of Limonest

The Battle of Limonest (20 March 1814) saw 53,000 Austrian and Hessian troops led by Prince Frederick of Hessen-Homburg attack 23,000 French troops under Marshal Pierre Augereau. After some stiff fighting, the Allies forced the outnumbered French defenders to withdraw from a line of hills north of Lyon in this War of the Sixth Coalition action. Lyon, in 1814 the second largest city in France, was abandoned to the Allies as a direct result of the defeat.

While Napoleon faced the main Allied armies of Karl Philipp, Prince of Schwarzenberg and Gebhard Leberecht von Blücher to the east of Paris, a secondary campaign was conducted near Lyon to the south. In January 1814 the Austrians easily captured large swaths of territory, but failed to seize Lyon. By mid-February, a reinforced Augereau managed to recapture some towns, posing a threat. Anxious for his supply line back to Germany, Schwarzenberg sent Prince Hessen-Homburg large forces to protect his southern flank. With greatly superior forces, Hessen-Homburg pressed the French back in a series of battles and captured Lyon.