Somehow I ended up at an Internet forum discussing some of the most lopsided military victories of all time, and the Battle of Giornico certainly belongs in that conversation. A small force of at most 600 soldiers at Giornico managed to defeat an army of 10,000 men sent by the Duke of Milan.
On 16 December the Milanese army reached Magadino on Lake Maggiore about 14 km (8.7 mi) from Bellinzona. However, the Confederates had already retired, after a 14-day siege of Bellinzona, to the Gotthard Pass. Only a 175-strong reserve army, reinforced by about 400 soldiers from the Levantina, were guarding the rear at Giornico in the Levantina valley. The entire Milanese army reached Giornico on 28 December 1478 and outnumbered the defenders by about twenty to one. The defenders were able to defeat the much larger force because the Milanese army was confined in a narrow valley, struggling for foothold on the December snow and ice. The Swiss ambushed the army from above, creating confusion by rolling large boulders down the hillside. They reportedly also wore crampons for better foothold. Against this attack, the Milanese army was helpless regardless of their superior number, and they were forced to flee, leaving an estimated 1,400 dead.
