Battle of Magnano

Battle of Magnano
	Part of the French Revolutionary Wars
Date	5 April 1799
Location	near Buttapietra, present-day Italy45°21′51″N 10°59′32″E / 45.3642°N 10.9921°E
Result	Austrian victory
Belligerents
French Republic	Habsburg monarchy
Commanders and leaders
Barthélemy Schérer	Pál Kray
Strength
41,000	46,000
Casualties and losses
8,000	6,000
	class=notpageimage\| Location within Europe

War of the Second Coalition:
Italy

50km
30miles

Marengo

12

11

10

9

8

7

6

5

4

3

2

Verona

1

current battle

Napoleon in command

Napoleon not in command

In the Battle of Magnano on 5 April 1799, an

French army led by Barthélemy Schérer. In subsequent battles, the Austrians and their Russian allies drove the French out of nearly all of Italy. This action was fought during the War of the Second Coalition, part of the French Revolutionary Wars

.

Background

After the

Second Coalition.^[2]

In

Feldmarschall-Leutnant Kray. In the Battle of Verona, the French scored a success at Pastrengo and fought a drawn battle near Austrian-held Verona, but the Austrians managed to get across the Adige at Legnago.^[4] To defend Verona, Kray concentrated his army in its vicinity. Schérer's army faced north toward Verona, with the French-held fortress of Mantua

to his southwest. The French general considered crossing the Adige below Verona to flank Kray out of Verona, but heavy rains thwarted his plan. By 5 April, the two armies confronted each other on a rain-sodden field near the hamlet of Magnano, south of Verona.

Battle

Schérer deployed 41,000 soldiers in the divisions of Generals of Division

Claude Perrin Victor, Jacques Maurice Hatry, Antoine Guillaume Delmas de la Coste, Jean-Mathieu-Philibert Sérurier, and Paul Grenier. The French total included 6,800 cavalry attached to the divisions. Kray's 46,000-man army included his own division and the divisions of Feldmarschall-Leutnants Karl Mercandin, Michael von Fröhlich, Konrad Valentin von Kaim, and Johann Zoph.^[5]

Schérer sent the divisions of Victor and Grenier to attack on the right flank. Jean Victor Marie Moreau led the divisions of Hatry and Montrichard to attack in the center. Serurier's division on the left flank struck northwest to Villafranca to protect Moreau's flank. Delmas, with the reserve, marched forward to fill the gap that opened between the French right flank and Moreau as the latter moved north.

Because Kray advanced at the same time as the French, Magnano is a

General-major Prince Friedrich Franz Xaver of Hohenzollern-Hechingen led a reserve division on the right, while Kray held back a second reserve division under General-major Franz Joseph, Marquis de Lusignan

.

On the east flank, Victor and Grenier defeated the outnumbered Mercandin, who was killed. They pressed north toward Verona. Kray committed Hohenzollern's reserve to assist Zoph's right flank division. Serurier engaged in a back-and-forth struggle all day but he finally seized his objective. Moreau pushed back the Austrians in his front, but did not score a notable success. Delmas was late, but he engaged Kaim and drove him back.

One historian writes, "Schérer went into this battle without forming a reserve and was thus unable to react to crisis and opportunities effectively."[6] By this point in the action, Schérer's divergent attacks had spread his troops across a wide front. Kray launched Lusignan's reserve at the so-far victorious French right wing. This attack sent Victor and Grenier reeling back to the south and opened a large gap in the French battle line. Kray sent troops against the exposed right flank of Delmas and drove him back also. During the disorderly retreat, the Austrians managed to cut off and capture one of Victor's demi-brigades.

Result

The French lost 3,500 killed and wounded, including

Feldzeugmeister. The next major action was the Battle of Cassano

on 27 April.

References

Clausewitz, Carl von (2020). Napoleon Absent, Coalition Ascendant: The 1799 Campaign in Italy and Switzerland, Volume 1. Trans and ed. Nicholas Murray and Christopher Pringle. Lawrence, Kansas: University Press of Kansas.
ISBN 978-0-7006-3025-7

Clausewitz, Carl von (2021). The Coalition Crumbles, Napoleon Returns: The 1799 Campaign in Italy and Switzerland, Volume 2. Trans and ed. Nicholas Murray and Christopher Pringle. Lawrence, Kansas: University Press of Kansas.
ISBN 978-0-7006-3034-9

Macmillan

.

Eggenberger, David (1985). An encyclopedia of battles : accounts of over 1,560 battles from 1479 B.C. to the present. maps by Donald T. Pitcher. New York:
LCCN 85006817
.

ISBN 978-1-86227-383-2
.

ISBN 1-85367-276-9
.

Footnotes

^ Rothenberg, p 248. All strengths and casualties are from Rothenberg.
^ Chandler, p 255
^ Eggenberger, p 419
^ Smith, p 149-150
^ Smith, p 151
^ Smith, p 151
^ Smith, p 151. Smith matched Rothenberg's numbers, with the added details of guns, vehicles, and flags.
^ Eggenberger, p 257

External links

Battle of Magnano by J. Rickard
Battle of Magnano by Enrico Acerbi
Media related to Battle of Magnano at Wikimedia Commons

Preceded by Battle of Stockach (1799)	French Revolution: Revolutionary campaigns Battle of Magnano	Succeeded by Battle of Cassano (1799)

[1] Rothenberg, p 248. All strengths and casualties are from Rothenberg.

[2] Chandler, p 255

[3] Eggenberger, p 419

[4] Smith, p 149-150

[5] Smith, p 151

[6] Smith, p 151

[7] Smith, p 151. Smith matched Rothenberg's numbers, with the added details of guns, vehicles, and flags.

[8] Eggenberger, p 257

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