Colli appointed General Jean-Gaspard Dichat de Toisinge with 8,000 troops and 15 cannon to hold the position. Bonaparte planned to send the division of MG Jean-Mathieu-Philibert Sérurier in a head-on assault against San Michele while MG Pierre Augereau's division crossed the Tanaro to flank the position from the north. MG André Masséna's division hovered in the mountains north of Ceva, threatening a northwestward lunge to cut Colli off from Turin. MG Henri Christian Michel de Stengel was ordered to march the cavalry to support Sérurier. The division of MG Amedee Emmanuel Francois Laharpe watched the Austrians who were regrouping at Acqui Terme.