Battle of Castiglione
Second Battle of Castiglione | |||||||
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Part of the Italian campaigns in the War of the First Coalition | |||||||
5 August 1796, approximately 10 hours. Battle of Castiglione. Under the command of Napoleon, Marmont brings artillery onto Mount Medolano while Augereau's division begins the attack in the central plain. | |||||||
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Belligerents | |||||||
France | Habsburg monarchy | ||||||
Commanders and leaders | |||||||
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Dagobert Sigmund von Wurmser Anton Lipthay de Kisfalud Paul Davidovich Karl Philipp Sebottendorf Anton Schübirz von Chobinin | ||||||
Strength | |||||||
Battle: 30,000 | Battle: 25,000 | ||||||
Casualties and losses | |||||||
Battle: 1,300 | Battle: 3,000, 20 guns | ||||||
The Battle of Castiglione saw the
Castiglione was the first attempt by the Austrian army to break the French
Background
- See Castiglione 1796 Campaign Order of Battlefor French and Austrian units and organizations.
Plans
After being defeated at the battles of
On 31 May, Bonaparte tried to rush Mantua, but the attempt failed. By 3 June, the French army invested the place, which was defended by Joseph Franz Canto d'Irles's Austrian garrison and 316 cannons. In June, Bonaparte's army forced the Papal States, Tuscany, Parma and Modena to make peace, extorting large contributions. By taking artillery pieces from the subdued cities, the French general assembled a siege train of 179 cannons for his siege of Mantua.[1] The formal siege began on 4 July.[2]
Bonaparte positioned his 46,000 soldiers to protect the siege of Mantua.
Wurmser devised a four-column plan of attack. He retained direct control over the two central columns. Leading the Right-Center (2nd) Column,
Operations
In late July, the Austrian army advanced from Trento. Wurmser's two center columns defeated Masséna in the difficult rough terrain near Rivoli Veronese on 29 July. For a loss of 800 men, the Austrian inflicted 1,200 killed and wounded, and captured 1,600 men and nine cannons.[5] One of Quasdanovich's brigades drove Sauret's men out of Salò on Lake Garda. A second Austrian brigade pushed a French force out of Gavardo. On 30 July, the other two brigades belonging to Quasdanovich surprised and captured Brescia. Augereau fell back toward Mantua. Masséna retreated to the southern end of Lake Garda.[citation needed]
On 31 July, Bonaparte retreated to the west bank of the Mincio and began concentrating against Quasdanovich. That evening Napoleon ordered Sérurier to lift the siege of Mantua. From 31 July through 2 August, a complex series of operations occurred in the area of Brescia,
On 2 August, Wurmser's 4,000-man advance guard under GM
On 4 August, both armies skirmished. Wurmser arranged for Bajalics to send him a reinforcement of four battalions under Oberst Franz Weidenfeld. He also directed Mészáros to block Sérurier from joining Bonaparte.[9] On this day, the French captured 2,000 Austrians of Quasdanovich's column in Lonato.[citation needed]
Battle
By 5 August, Wurmser had concentrated 20,000 soldiers at Castiglione, including GM Josef Philipp Vukassovich's brigade from the Mantua garrison.[10] Drawing up his army in two lines, he anchored his right flank on high ground near the village and castle of Solferino. The Austrian left held Monte Medolano, a small hilltop crowned by a redoubt and some heavy guns. Bonaparte's forces had swollen to 22,500 in the divisions of Masséna and Augereau. He was expecting to be reinforced by Despinoy during the day. While he pinned Wurmser with a frontal attack, the French army commander arranged for 5,000 men of Sérurier's division to smash into the Austrian left rear. When the Austrian lines were bent into a V-shape, Bonaparte would break the hinge of the enemy's front with an assault on Monte Medolano, led by general Verdier.[11] During this battle Napoleon experimented with the famous "manoeuvre sur le derrières" that would become the key for future success.
In order to draw Wurmser further into his trap, Bonaparte ordered Masséna and Augereau to retreat. When he suddenly pulled the two divisions back, the Austrians obligingly followed. Sérurier's troops, commanded this day by General of Brigade
Results
In the battle, the Austrians suffered 2,000 killed and wounded, plus 1,000 men and 20 cannons captured. The French probably lost between 1,100 and 1,500 men.[14][15] Lipthay was severely wounded. Determined not to let Wurmser remain near Mantua, Bonaparte feinted with Augereau's division against Borghetto. But the real attack was launched by Masséna through Peschiera. This effort forced back Bajalics and GM Anton Ferdinand Mittrowsky. His line of communications to the County of Tyrol threatened, Wurmser ordered a retreat to the north.[13]
Before quitting the area, the Austrian commander reinforced Mantua with two brigades under GM Ferdinand Minckwitz and GM Leberecht Spiegel,[16] sent in much-needed food and evacuated the sick. Wurmser then retreated up the east bank of the Adige to Trento. Bonaparte invested Mantua again. But, without siege guns, he could only blockade the place and hope to starve it into surrender. In the campaign, the French lost 6,000 killed and wounded, plus 4,000 men and their siege train captured. Total Austrian casualties numbered 16,700.[17]
Commentary
Historian David G. Chandler writes,
The form of the battle proves beyond any doubt that Napoleon's master battle plan was already clear in his mind as early as 1796. In subsequent years he might polish and improve its technique—especially the crucial matter of timing the successive stages—but all the elements of the successful attacks carried out at Austerlitz, Friedland or Bautzen were already in existence and in operation at the battle of Castiglione.[18]
In popular culture
The Battle of Castiglione is witnessed by the title characters of the humorous fantasy movie Time Bandits (1981) in an early part of the film.[19]
References
- ^ Chander, Campaigns, pp 88–92
- ^ Smith, p. 118
- ^ Fiebeger, pp 9–10
- ^ Fiebeger, p. 10
- ^ Smith, pp 117–118
- ^ Fiebeger, pp 10–11
- ^ Boycott-Brown, pp. 396–397
- ^ Chandler, Campaigns, p. 194
- ^ Boycott-Brown, p. 398
- ^ Boycott-Brown, pp 391, 398
- ^ Chandler, Campaigns, pp. 194–196
- ^ Chandler, Campaigns, pp. 198–199
- ^ a b Boycott-Brown, p. 401
- ^ Chandler, Dictionary, p. 83
- ^ Smith, p. 119
- ^ Boycott-Brown, p. 406
- ^ Chandler, Campaigns, p. 95
- ^ Chandler, Campaigns, pp. 200–201
- ^ Time Bandits synopsis, BFI's Screenonline
Bibliography
- Boycott-Brown, Martin. The Road to Rivoli. London: Cassell & Co., 2001. ISBN 0-304-35305-1
- Chandler, David. Dictionary of the Napoleonic Wars. New York: Macmillan, 1979. ISBN 0-02-523670-9
- Chandler, David. The Campaigns of Napoleon. New York: Macmillan, 1966.
- Fiebeger, G. J. (1911). The Campaigns of Napoleon Bonaparte of 1796–1797. West Point, New York: US Military Academy Printing Office.
- Schels, J. B. 'Die Operationen des FM Grafen Wurmser am Ende Juli und Anfang August 1796, zum Ensatz von Mantua; mit der Schlacht bei Castiglione.' Oesterreichische Militärische Zeitschrift, Bd. 1; Bd. 2 (1830): 254–97; 41–81, 129–59
- Smith, Digby. The Napoleonic Wars Data Book. London: Greenhill, 1998. ISBN 1-85367-276-9
- Voykowitsch, Bernhard. Castiglione 1796: Napoleon repulses Wurmser's first attack, Vienna: Helmet, 1998. ISBN 978-3901923005
External links
- Media related to Battle of Castiglione (1796) at Wikimedia Commons
Preceded by Battle of Lonato |
French Revolution: Revolutionary campaigns Battle of Castiglione |
Succeeded by Battle of Theiningen |