Battle of Novara (1849)

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Battle of Novara
Tactical representation of the Battle of Novara, map from 1871
Tactical representation of the Battle of Novara,
map from 1871
date March 23, 1849
place Novara
output Victory of the Austrians
Parties to the conflict

Sardinia kingdomKingdom of Sardinia Sardinia

Austrian EmpireEmpire of Austria Austria

Commander

Wojciech Chrzanowski
Giovanni Durando
Duca di Genova

Josef Wenzel Radetzky
Konstantin d'Aspre
Archduke Albrecht

Troop strength
57,000 men and 122 guns 45,000 men, about 6,000 horsemen and 186 guns
losses

2,392 men, 578 dead and 1,405 wounded and 409 prisoners

3,217 men, 410 dead, 1,850 wounded and 963 missing

The Battle of Novara, painting by Albrecht Adam from 1858
An ossuary commemorates the battle

At Novara (in northern Italy , between Turin and Milan ) the Austrian troops under Field Marshal Radetzky defeated the troops of the Kingdom of Sardinia-Piedmont on March 23, 1849 .

background

The uprisings against the restoration of absolutism that broke out all over Europe in 1848 were directed in northern Italy against the rule of the Austrian Empire, which was perceived as foreign rule . In the course of the uprising in Milan, King Karl Albert of Sardinia-Piedmont had placed himself at the head of the Italian unification movement and declared war on Austria. After some initial successes and the victorious Battle of Goito , the Piedmontese failed on July 25, 1848 in the Battle of Custozza . One reason for this was the fact that Austria held the strategically important fortresses - the so-called fortress quadrangle Mantua - Peschiera del Garda - Verona - Legnago . In March 1849, Karl Albert made one last attempt to force the Austrians at least to withdraw from Lombardy . A total of 73,000 Austrian soldiers faced about 97,000 men of the Piedmontese army in the March campaign , but not all of them took part in the final battle of Novara.

Deployment and preliminary skirmishes

For domestic political reasons, the Piedmontese had appointed a Polish general, Adalbert Chrzanowski , to command their troops, who neither knew the country nor knew the Italian language. Due to disputes between Chrzanowski and his subordinates, the Piedmontese failed to march on Milan immediately after the start of the war and to take the initiative. The numerical inferiority of the Austrians was offset by the proven leadership of Radetzky and his staff.

Radetzky seized the initiative and marched with his troops from Milan to Pavia on March 18 , whereby he succeeded in leaving the Piedmontese in the dark about his future direction. On March 20, Karl Albert had the Ticino crossed by a division and entered Magenta . At the same time, however, about 30 kilometers south of Radetzky's army crossed the river at Pavia and forced the enemy to continue the campaign. The area immediately north of the Po , on which Radetzky continued his march, was not occupied because of a refusal of orders by General Girolamo Ramorino , whose Lombard division remained isolated south of the Po. General Ramorino had to hand over his 5th Division to Major General Fanti and was later sentenced to death for treason. The bulk of the Piedmontese under Karl Albert had to give up their advance on Milan and hurry back to Trecate in order to strengthen their now unprotected south wing at Vigevano and Mortara .

On March 21, the Austrian I. Corps under Count Wratislaw encountered the Piedmontese south of Vigevano and pushed them back north to Sforzesca and Gambolo, where the Piedmontese 2nd Division under General Bes was able to hold out for the time being. Towards afternoon the Austrian II. Corps under FZM d´Aspre reached the battlefield and let the enemy lines attack with its 'Brigade Benedek ' despite the onset of dusk and pushed back in the battle of Mortara . The majority of the Piedmontese then withdrew to Novara and thereby lost contact with the western armies that were still in the area around Alessandria .

Radetzky was so confused about the illogical tactical behavior of his opponent that he almost maneuvered himself into defeat. At first he wanted to advance directly with his main body to Vercelli , where he suspected the main power of the Piedmontese. He had therefore only sent the II Corps to Novara, which could be stopped there by the superior Piedmontese without great difficulty. Again, the Piedmontese did not use their tactical advantage to counterattack and left the initiative to the Austrians.

The battle on March 23rd

The next day, on March 23, the decisive battle of Novara took place. The Piedmontese had withdrawn in the morning on the heights south of Novara between the Agogna and the steep drop of the wide Terdoppio valley. About 57,000 Piedmontese with 122 cannons faced the advancing Austrians, who in turn were able to bring 60 battalions and 42 squadrons, about 45,000 men, 6000 horsemen and 186 cannons to the next battle. From west to east the Sardinian 1st, 2nd and 3rd Divisions stood in the front, the reserve division under General Viktor Emanuel of Savoy was behind the western wing, the Sardinian 4th division under the Duke of Genoa was in reserve behind the eastern wing. The mountain brigade under Major General Solaroli stood as an additional reserve east of Novara. At the center of the battle was the strategically important ridge of La Bicocca, which was taken and lost several times by both sides.

FZM Konstantin d'Aspre , commanding general of the II Corps

Around 11 o'clock in the morning the Kolowrat brigade, as head of the II Corps, met the opposing advance troops before Olengo and initiated the battle. The brigade under FML Archduke Albrecht immediately attacked the heavily occupied La Bicocca in vain. At around 1 p.m. FZM d´Aspre had to deploy its second division (Schaaffgotsche) and the III. Corps (FML Appel ) ask for support. Field Marshal Radetzky was with the III. Corps, which was approaching about 5 kilometers further south via Vespolate to the north on Olengo and could not reach the battlefield before 3 p.m. At around 9.30 a.m. the Austrian IV Corps (FML von Thurn-Valsassina ) was advancing across Confienza towards Casalino on the right wing of the enemy. The I. Corps, which stood at Robbio on the south wing, could no longer take part in the battle at all. The 1st Reserve Corps under FML von Wocher , following this Corps von Albonese, heard the cannon thunder of the battle and, like the III. Corps on the Agogna to the north in order to be able to intervene in the final phase of the battle.

At about 1 p.m. Aspres' attack against the positions of the Sardinian 3rd Division under General Perrone stalled completely. The 4th Division under the Duke of Genoa started a counter-attack, the Piedmontese General Giuseppe Passalacqua was killed in Austrian artillery fire, General Perrone was fatally wounded and died a few days later. The Aspre corps was pushed back into its starting position as far as Olengo until 2 p.m. The Duke of Genoa only broke off the pursuit because the Commander-in-Chief Lieutenant General Chrzanowski ordered him to await the counterattack of the center (2nd division under Bes) and the western wing division (1st division under Durando ). However, other Piedmontese generals refused to carry out his orders during the battle, which in turn hampered the uniformity of a targeted defense.

At around 3 p.m. the vanguard of III. Corps, until 4 p.m. the Teted Division under Major General Count Lichnowski could be assigned to the front for a counterattack. Again three Piedmontese brigades were deployed against the western attack group of the Austrians, but the reinforced troops of Archduke Albrecht's division and the brigade under Major General Alemann were able to reject them decisively. At around 5 p.m., at the focal point of the battle at La Bicocca, the Austrians, reinforced to 21,000 men, fought against the mass of 29,000 Piedmontese. At around 6 p.m., the approaching Austrian IV Corps (FML Thurn) intervened on the western front. Before sunset the battle was decided in Radetzky's favor. Finally, the Austrians took the ridge of La Bicocca by storm after a Chevauxlegers - Division in the Brigade Degenfeld important Piedmontese artillery had turned off and unplug so the brigade Culoz on the Agogna Bridge and could come into the right flank of the Piedmontese. 400 Piedmontese were captured in one fell swoop. The energetic Piedmontese operation remained localized, on the strategic level the Piedmontese leadership showed enormous deficits. Radetzky continued the III. Corps not yet deployed division of the Prince Taxis to pursue the defeated enemy. On March 24th, the city of Novara was shelled by the Austrian IV Corps until the final surrender. Then the above-mentioned Chevauxlegers division moved into the city at the head of the Austrian troops.

Consequences

Radetzky's meeting with Viktor Emanuel in Vignale on March 24th

King Karl Albert saw himself as an obstacle to a quick peace, gave thanks for the lost battle in favor of his son Viktor Emanuel II that evening and went into Portuguese exile . Radetzky went on March 24th at noon via Novara to Vignale, where the meeting with the new king took place, on March 26th the negotiated armistice was signed. The conditions were quite mild because Radetzky wanted to prevent further popular uprisings. On March 28, Radetzky left the battlefield with the I. Corps and returned to Milan on March 29. The uprising in Brescia was brutally suppressed on March 31st by FML Baron Haynau .

The first Italian War of Independence , initiated in March 1848 with the popular uprising in Milan, ended definitively at the end of March 1849 with the Battle of Novara. The Imperial State of Austria had regained full control of Lombardy and Veneto . The popular uprisings in Venice and Rome were also suppressed by the Austrians until the late summer of 1849. It had become clear that the Piedmontese could not force Austria to withdraw from northern Italy without extensive preparations and, above all, without a major ally. In the period from 1849 to 1859, the Kingdom of Sardinia-Piedmont carried out the necessary reforms and gained France as an ally. The following Sardinian War with the victorious Battle of Solferino created the basis for Italian unification ( Risorgimento ) in 1859 .

Comment on the battle

General Schönhals , Quartermaster General of the Austrian Army (1848/49), on the Piedmontese army: “Your artillery consists of elected people, good and well-trained officers, has good material and is superior to ours in caliber… The cavalry is not a contemptible weapon. Your first link is armed with lances. However, the use of this weapon requires a very skilled rider, so we do not want to say that this introduction is directly an improvement. Your school of equitation, however, is a very good one ... At Santa Lucia, both sides fought with great bravery. The Piedmontese attacked with great vivacity and impetuosity - both Piedmontese and Austrians performed many deeds of great personal courage ... The Piedmontese army has the right to remember the day of Novara without having to blush. "

Sardinian-Piedmontese Army

122 battalions, 44 squadrons, 156 guns, a total of 97,540 men

Commander in Chief: Wojciech Chrzanowski

Chief of Staff: General Alessandro La Marmora , Chief of Operations: General Luigi Fecia di Cossato

Brigade Aosta (GMj. Lovera): IR 5 and 6

Brigade Regina (GMj .. Trotti) IR 9 and 10

Brigade Casale (GMj. Boyl): IR 11 and 12

Combined Brigade (GMj. Enrico Morozzo de La Rocca) IR 17 and 23

  • 3rd Division (Ettore Perrone) (11,810 men)

Savoy Brigade (GMJ. Molland); IR 1st and 2nd

Brigade Savona (GMj. Ansaldi); IR15 and 16

Brigade Piedmont (GMj.Giuseppe Passalacqua): IR 3 and 4

Brigade Pinerolo (GMj. Luigi Damiano); IR 13. and 14

Guard Brigade (GMj. Biscureti): 1st and 2nd Guard Regiment

Brigade Cuneo (GMj.Busetti): IR 7 and 8

  • Light Brigade : General Paolo Solaroli, IR 30 and 31 (5,670 men)

Not involved in the battle:

1st Lombard Brigade (GMj. Fanti ): IR 19th and 20th

2nd Lombard Brigade (GMj.Gianotti): IR 21 and 22

  • Avant-garde Brigade : Colonel Belvedere, IR 18, 1st and 5th Bersaglieri Battalions (4,670 men)

Brigade GMj. Collobianca

Brigade GMj. Montale

Austrian Army

73 battalions, 46 squadrons, 226 guns, a total of 72,400 men

Commander in Chief: FM Count Josef Wenzel Radetzky

Chief of Staff: FML Heinrich Ritter von Heß , Quartermaster General: FML Karl Schönhals

Division Johann Franz Schaaffgotsch (Brigade Liechtenstein , Brigade Simbschen , Brigade Bianchi )

Division FML Archduke Albrecht (Brigade Kolowrat , Brigade Stadion , Brigade Benedek )

Division FML Lichnowski (Brigade Maurer , Brigade Alemann )

Division FML Friedrich Hannibal von Thurn und Taxis (Brigade Poppović , Brigade Thun )

Division FML Schwarzenberg (Brigade Wimpffen , Brigade Archduke Siegmund )

Division FML Striker (Brigade Archduke Ernst , Brigade Schaaffgotsche )

Division FML Karl von Culoz with Brigade Grawert and Brigade Degenfeld-Schonburg

Not involved in the battle:

Division FML Haller (Brigade Strassoldo , Brigade Clam-Gallas )

Division FML Wohlgemuth (Brigade Görger , Brigade Festetics )

  • IV Corps (11,630 men)

Division FML Franz von Wimpffen (Brigade Cavriana , Brigade Liechtenstein )

memory

In 1862 the Novaragasse in Vienna- Leopoldstadt (2nd district) was named after the battle. The victorious generals remember the 3rd district road since 1864, the Radetzkystraße and since 1876 the Radetzkyplatz . In Linz the Novaragasse is named after the battle.

The sailing frigate SMS Novara (built in 1850) and the rapid cruiser SMS Novara (built in 1912) referred to the battle of Novara with their names.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Gustav Ritter Amon von Treuenfest, History of the Dragoon Regiment Field Marshal Alfred Fürst Windisch-Graetz No. 14 , Vienna 1886
  2. ^ Friedrich Engels : The Armies of Europe , 1855.