On the 9th and 10th of April the squadron cannonaded Recco, but was obliged to stand out again; in the night of the 10th General Pègot, who had arrived to relieve General Ronger St. Victor, retired, and occupied, on the 11th of April, a position at Mount Fascia. The English squadron and transports had all arrived before Genoa, and a detachment from the divisions on shore had been able to communicate with the native levies at Fontana Buona. On the 12th of April the position of Mount Fascia was attacked, and, after a hard day’s contest, General Pègot fell back in the night, and took up another strong position at La Sturla, on the heights of Albaro, his right on the sea being covered by a battery of four pieces of artillery, and his left resting on Fort Richelieu. The remainder of the British army disembarked at Nervi, and immediately attacked the enemy on the heights of Albaro, on the 13th of April.
The THIRTY-FIRST, under the command of Colonel Bruce, belonged to this division, and, with the 8th battalion of the Line of the King’s German Legion, dashed in among the enemy the instant of their debarkation, notwithstanding the intersected and difficult nature of the ground, which assisted so materially the obstinate defence of the French. Meanwhile the light company of the THIRTY-FIRST, under Captain Nunn, had carried the battery which covered the enemy’s right, with conspicuous bravery, and dismounted the four guns upon it under a galling fire of musketry and artillery from another battery near that captured.
The THIRTY-FIRST had Captains Stewart and Cruice, three serjeants, one drummer, and thirty-six rank and file wounded; one serjeant and thirteen rank and file killed.
The following extract from Division Orders, dated La Sturla, 14th of April, 1814, bears testimony to the conduct of the corps:—
“The conduct of the troops in the long contested action of yesterday, at La Sturla, was most honorable to them, and Major-General Montresor feels the greatest satisfaction in doing justice to their merits, by publicly declaring his high sense of their persevering gallantry in surmounting the numberless obstacles which the broken and intersected nature of the country presented, in every step, to their advance, whilst it afforded the best shelter to the enemy, who, well accustomed to his ground, defended it with the greatest obstinacy.
“However justly entitled the whole may be to individual distinction, it nevertheless would be unjust not to notice, in particular, the ardour and spirited skill in which the Royal Flotilla, and the detachments of the third Italian Levy, and of the second and third extra regiments, and Royal Marines, began the attack, and the very gallant manner in which the THIRTY-FIRST regiment, and the 8th King’s German Legion, dashed in amongst the enemy after their debarkation, and the conspicuous bravery of the light company of the THIRTY-FIRST regiment, in carrying the battery on the left.”
During the 14th and 15th of April the attacks upon the heights of Albaro were repeated, and on the 17th, while disaffection among the people was rapidly spreading in Genoa, the posts of St. Francisco and St. Martin d’Albaro were carried, and the French retired behind the Bizagno.
By the 18th of April the disaffection in Genoa had reached a crisis, and upon the following day the advance upon the city took place. The THIRTY-FIRST drove the enemy from a strong battery of ten brass guns and two 13½ inch brass mortars, without sustaining any loss.