Battle of Calliano

Battle of Calliano
	Part of French Revolutionary Wars
Date	6–7 November 1796
Location	Calliano, Trentino45°56′N 11°5′E / 45.933°N 11.083°E
Result	Austrian victory
Belligerents
First French Republic	Austria
Commanders and leaders
Claude Vaubois	Paul Davidovich
Strength
10,500	19,474
Casualties and losses
Calliano & San Michele: 4,400	Calliano & San Michele: 3,567
	class=notpageimage\| Location within Europe

The Battle of Calliano on 6 and 7 November 1796 saw an Austrian corps commanded by

siege of Mantua during the French Revolutionary Wars. The battle was preceded by a clash at Cembra on 2 November and followed by actions at Rivoli Veronese

on 17 and 21 November.

Campaign

By November 1796,

Adige valley

from the north.

Forces

See Order of battle for the Battle of Arcole for a list of the major units of both armies, including the strengths and commanders of the Tyrol Corps' six columns.

San Michele: 2 November

Bonaparte badly underestimated Davidovich's strength. To oppose the northern thrust, he deployed a division of 10,500 soldiers under

General of Division Vaubois. The start of Davidovich's offensive led to a series of clashes beginning on 27 October. On 2 November the French attacked the Austrians at Cembra. Although Vaubois inflicted 1,100 casualties on his enemies at the cost of only 650 Frenchmen, he decided to pull back to Calliano when Davidovich resumed his forward movement the next day. The French 85th Line Infantry Demi-Brigade was roughly handled.^[1] The Austrians occupied Trento

on 5 November.

Battle

On 6 November, Vaubois repulsed Davidovich's attacks on his position at Calliano, inflicting losses of 753 men. That night the French general detached several units to cover key positions in the area, weakening his main line. At dawn, the Austrians launched a new attack that was resisted all day, Calliano changing hands several times. Some Grenz infantry worked their way into the rear of the French line and this caused a panic-stricken flight from the field beginning at 4 pm.

The second day of fighting at Calliano cost Davidovich another 1,523 men for a total of 3,567 for the campaign. These heavy losses kept the Austrians from vigorously following up the fleeing Frenchmen.^[2] Vaubois suffered 4,400 casualties at Cembra and Calliano.^[3]

Aftermath

During the day of 8 November, the French soldiers retreated to Rivoli Veronese where they finally rallied. Furious over the misbehavior of his troops, Bonaparte issued an announcement to the army in which he harshly criticised the 39th and 85th Demi-Brigades.

Po River valley, Alvinczi defeated Bonaparte's attack at the Second Battle of Bassano on 6 November, forcing the French main army to fall back to Verona

.

Poor communications continued to plague the Austrian effort. It took two days for dispatches to pass between Davidovich and Alvinczi. Davidovich refrained from attacking the Rivoli position because he believed that André Masséna was present with his division. While Masséna was briefly in command, he did not bring any troops with him. By this time Davidovich probably had 14,000 men, but this includes General-Major (GM) Johann Loudon who was guarding his line of communications with the Tyrol.^[5]

Rivoli: 17 November

Davidovich finally attacked on 17 November, with GM

Generals of Brigade Pascal Antoine Fiorella and Antoine La Valette and 7 cannons. The Austrians lost only 600 men.^[7] This field would be fought over again during the Battle of Rivoli

in January 1797.