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On the night of 17 August 1689, 900 men ferried across the Lake of Geneva to the village of Yvoire. From there they proceeded by forced marches, climbing hills and scaling mountains, across the 130 miles which separated them from the Waldensian Valleys.

Preceded and followed by hostages taken in the villages along the way so as to avert any resistance, the commando column moved forward relentlessly, the exhausted and wounded left lying in the road. The surprise and the daring itinerary made it possible to avoid an encounter with Savoy troops, their only clash with French soldiers being at Salberstrand in the Susa valley on the night of the 23rd.

In spite of heavy losses the Waldensians were victorious. Seeing this “foreign legion” descending upon them, the Catholic people in the valleys abandoned their homes and took flight toward the plains to the east. The Germanasca Valley was freed without a struggle.

At Prali it was necessary to regroup and count losses. Casualties to this point numbered 30%, including those killed in action, wounded left along the road, scouts captured by the enemy, and some French who deserted. Henry Arnaud then seized the occasion of the liberation of the former Waldensian Church from its Catholic “idols” to preach a sermon on a text from Psalm 129, in which he sought to interpret for his companions the significance of the venture they were engaged in. This Protestant rampart to which they had come thus far, he said, had to be fully reconquered in order that Gospel preaching might once more be present in Catholic Piedmont. Theirs was not a march of nostalgia, but a combat by soldiers doing the will of the Lord. As one soldier recorded in his diary:

It is not possible to recount all that we suffered in the mountains, but our zeal was rekindled by the thought of returning to our homeland, there to reestablish the reign of Jesus Christ while we destroyed the idols of the anti-Christ.

This same determination was reaffirmed high in the Alps, during the course of an assembly when a pact of union was signed [see “The Covenant of Sibaud”]. It was appropriately called a “covenant,” an expression borrowed from the Puritans that well reflects the temper of the times.

Here was a Protestant mini-army, carrying out its mission in the great anti-French battle. But it was an army of Waldensians, nourished by that community conscience which had been created by centuries of intensive struggle and debate. Outwardly, the soldiers could be identified by the little orange ribbons on their caps or jackets, the emblem of the House of Orange, leader of the anti-French coalition.

The exchange of vows between officers and men in this little army, however, was far from routine, expressing that solidarity which characterized Waldensian spirituality. It was not by chance that of two written texts that were the guiding lights of the undertaking, one was the Bible and the other a book of instructions on guerrilla warfare by one of their most daring and successful fighters from the 1655 resistance, Josue Janavel.

This little popular militia thus hurled a considerable challenge to their opponent, Catinat, and his army: a military challenge, because it represented the danger of an insurrection; but above all an ideological challenge, because this non-professional guerrilla army was not fighting merely for conquest, but to make a reality of its ideals.

“Liquidate the Waldensians immediately!” was the response of Catinat. Things did not turn out as he had ordered, however, and by winter the guerrilla force was well established in Piedmont. It became necessary to leave the Waldensian bands in their strongholds—on the crags overlooking the village of Balziglia.

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