Battle of Arcole

Battle of Arcole

Part of: French Revolutionary Wars

The Battle of the Arcole Bridge

date	November 15. bis 17th November 1796
place	Arcole
output	Withdrawal of Austria

Parties to the conflict
France	Austria
Commander
Napoléon Bonaparte Pierre Augereau André Masséna	Joseph Alvinczy Peter by Quosdanovich Giovanni de Provera
Troop strength
24,000 men, 18,000 of them in combat	48,000 men, 24,000 of them in combat
losses
3,500 dead and 1,300 prisoners wounded	2,200 dead and wounded 4,000 prisoners 11 cannons

The Battle of Arcole took place from November 15 to 17, 1796 during the Italian campaign between the French under General Napoleon Bonaparte and the Austrians under Feldzeugmeister Joseph Alvinczy near Arcole in Italy . Austrian relief troops for the fortress of Mantua , which was enclosed by the French, marched in two columns to Verona . After three days of fighting, the Austrians, who had been victorious for two days, had to evacuate their positions and retreat by bypassing their southern flank.

prehistory

After the defeat of the French army under General Moreaus in the battle of Schliengen , the French had to return to the western bank of the Rhine. General Moreau withdrew with his main power at Hüningen across the Rhine into Alsace , which made it possible for the Austrians to send considerable reinforcements to Italy.

The Austrian Field Marshal von Wurmser had to flee after several defeats on September 13th with the rest of his troops in the fortress of Mantua , which he originally tried to terrorize. In October 1796 the Austrians deployed a new relief army. Feldzeugmeister Alvinczy had the supreme command of 48,000 men, who had the order to relieve the trapped troops in Mantua again. Alvinczy, in consultation with his chief of staff, Franz von Weyrother, had divided up his army in a similar way to the previous relief attempt in September. A column of 22,000 men under General Davidovich advanced along the Adige river through Tyrol and, after several skirmishes, stopped on November 17th on the Compara and Castelnuovo line. The main power of the Austrians with 24,000 men under General Quosdanovich - with whom the Commander-in-Chief Alvinczy was - advanced through Friuli via Pordenone , Bassano, Vicenza and Villanuova and reached Verona on November 11th . To intercept the Austrian relief army, Napoleon Bonaparte advanced with 24,000 men on the left bank of the Etsch and on the right bank of the Alpon.

March

Sketch of the parade

The French troops initially thrown against the Austrians were thrown back on November 12 at Caldiero by the Austrian avant-garde under the Prince of Hohenzollern-Hechingen, losing 2,000 men. Alvinczy wanted to cross over to the right bank of the Adige , but was attacked by the French beforehand. Bonaparte left the blockade of Mantua to the division of General Vaubois and turned with the rest of the troops against Alvinczy, whose troops were cleared at Vago. The Tyrolean Corps under Davidovich had advanced to Verona on the right bank of the Adige river and concentrated between Lake Garda and Rovereto in order to establish the union with the Friulian Corps.

To relieve the Mantua fortress, the Austrians had built a pontoon bridge over the Adige river on the night of November 15 and started the crossing at Zerio. The brigade of Prince Friedrich Xaver von Hohenzollern-Hechingen led the avant-garde in the direction of Verona . On the right wing stood the division of FML Peter Quosdanovich between San Bonifacio, Soave and Castelletto. The left wing was led by Lieutenant Field Marshal Marchese Giovanni de Provera's division , Colonel Sticker's brigade in the first meeting and Major General Schubirz's brigade in the second . At Montebello there was a reserve brigade under Major General Mittrowsky with 4,054 men. Bonaparte ordered his divisions Masséna and Augereau along the western bank of the Adige, they built a bridge over the river at Ronco. The Austrian brigade of Colonel Count Brigido secured the section of the river between Ronco and Zevio at Arcole.

The French Vaubois division defended positions taken at Rivoli with 8,000 men . A French garrison of 3,000 men under General Macquard remained in the fortress of Verona . Bonaparte made the decision to attack the enemy individually before uniting, he pulled reinforcements from the French blockade corps in front of Mantua and opposed the Friulian corps. Bonaparte managed the crossing at Ronco, and led about 18,000 men to the right bank of the Adige to attack the enemy on the southern flank. The Massenas division numbered 7,900 men, the Augereau division comprised 6,500 men, as a reserve 2,600 men were posted behind it.

Course of the battle

15th of November

Joseph Alvinczy (Album du Centenaire)

Bonaparte leads the attack over the bridge

At dawn on November 15, French pioneers under Colonel Andréossy had built a pontoon bridge near Ronco . The left bank offered little space for large numbers of troops. The right bank of the Alpon, which flows south from Villanuova into the Adige, was delimited by morasses, through which only an accessible dam ran in a north-westerly direction to Arcole and St. Bonifacio. On the northern flank Austrian troops stood under the Prince of Hohenzollern near Verona to protect themselves against an attack from the city on the right. In the center, General Alvinczy led the brigades of Lieutenant Colonel von Gavasini and Major General Brabeck to the river to attack the French pontoon bridge. They encountered troops from the Masséna division, which was deployed between Belfiore and Ronco. First the Austrians were driven back to Belfiore. Augereau's attack is aimed at Arcole. Alvinczy had four Croatian battalions under Colonel Wenceslaus Brigido ; these defended with two battalions each Arcole and Porcil, which was attacked by the French brigade under General Bon . Brigido threw every available man into battle against the brigades that had drawn up under Verdier and Verne and was reinforced by the main Austrian power. By midday, troops under Major General Mittrowsky had adequately strengthened Brigido's positions. Generals Bon, Verdier, Verne and Jean Lannes were wounded by Augereau's officers . The French attack stalled completely. General Jean Guieu tried in vain to break through to the Alpon at the mouth of Albaredo . The Upper General Bonaparte then appeared in front of the bridge at Arcole, personally seized a flag and marched to the bridge at the head of his grenadiers who were again advancing. At the same time, however, the Austrians led a sortie and pushed the French back to the east bank. Attacked at the front and rear, Augereau's troops became confused. Bonaparte's troops were pushed into the swamp, but were rescued by his grenadiers as they retreated. Despite the strong fire from the Austrians, he remained unharmed, his aide-de-camp , Colonel Jean-Baptiste Muiron, was killed in the process. In the evening General Guieu crossed the river at Albaredo to stab Davidovich's position in the back. Later, the French succeeded in taking another attempt at Arcole. However, the newly conquered terrain was unusable for defense. Bonaparte, uncertain of what had happened further north before Verona, Rivoli, and Mantua, did not dare to maintain this precarious position. He then retreated to Ronco and pulled the Guieu Brigade back from Arcole across the Adige, but a garrison held a bridgehead on the Austrian side of the river. General Augereau's attack on the Arcole bridge had failed completely on the first day.

November 16

November 16th did not lead to any other result either, as the day before the fighting was again carried out on the marshy dams of the river. Alvinczy reinforced Mittrowsky in the focal point near Arcole with the Schubirz brigade pulled forward to a total of 14 battalions and instructed him to press ahead with a counterattack south of Arcole and to push in the French bridgehead there. On that day, the northern standing Division Massena gained advantages against the troops of the FML Provera and pushed the Austrians back to Caldiero, but again all Augereau attacks on Arcole were in vain. In the evening the situation of the French at Arcole was again rather precarious. During the night part of Augereau's division crossed the Alpon below Arcole and began to bypass the Austrian position.

November 17th

On November 17th, too, the Austrians initially had an advantage; Provera's troops held themselves in Belfiore while Mittrowsky continued to maintain the positions at Arcole. In the center the French withdrew under Massena, while the French tried to get in the back of the Austrians in the extreme south. Alvinczy drew the Hohenzollern Brigade, detached from Verona, closer to his main force at Caldiero. At about 8 o'clock in the morning part of Augereau's division was on the left bank of the Alpon, and the Austrian artillery fire could no longer displace them there either. A French column advancing on the embankment towards Arcole was thrown back again and fled back to Ronco. Bonaparte had ambushed a half-brigade of the Massena division to the right of the dam and fell into the flank of the pursuing Austrians so much that they fled back to Arcole. Arcole could be captured again by the French. On the left bank of the Alpon, the bypass column met stubborn resistance. 900 men with 4 cannons appeared in front of St. Bonifacio and threatened the backs of the Austrians at St. Stephano. The fear of being cut off as a result eventually prompted their withdrawal to Villanuova.

consequences

The French casualties at Arcole numbered 3,500 dead and wounded, and a further 1,300 men fell into Austrian captivity. The Austrians had about 2,200 dead and wounded, but lost an additional 4,000 prisoners and 11 cannons. On the French side, General Robert was fatally wounded, while the Austrian Major General Rosselmini died on November 19 near Vicenza.

At the council of war on the morning of November 18, Alvincy and his remaining 16,000 men decided to remain in the theater of war. On November 21, the Austrians reoccupied Caldiero, but were unable to proceed after French countermeasures. When the news got through that the column under Davidovich had also been thrown back by the French on November 20 at Rivoli, the Austrians began their retreat to the Brenta on the evening of November 23 . A surprising loss of Wurmers from Mantua on November 23rd cost nearly 800 wounded. When he learned that Davidovich was in full retreat, Wurmser's troops were forced to retreat to the fortress.

The following defeat of Alvincy against the French in the battle of Rivoli on January 14th and 15th, 1797 ended Austria's last attempt to liberate the fortress of Mantua , which was besieged by France . The occupation under Field Marshal Dagobert Wurmser had to capitulate, but the handover did not take place through direct acts of war, but primarily through an epidemic that claimed numerous victims on both sides. The fortress surrendered on February 2, 1797, Field Marshal Wurmser and 500 men were given free retreat, around 16,000 were taken prisoners of war, including 6,000 sick.

literature

• Hans Eggert von der Lühe: Militair-Conversations-Lexikon Volume 1, C. Brüggemann Verlag, Leipzig 1833, pp. 234-236
• GA von Erdmannsdorf: The campaign of 1796 in Italy , Fabricius and Schaefer publishing house, Magdeburg 1847, p. 322 f.
• Adolphe Thiers : History of the French Revolution , Volume 2, published by Georg Wigand, Leipzig 1838, p. 486 f.

Individual evidence

1. ^ August Fournier: Napoleon I. A biography. 4th edition Vienna / Dresden 1922, p. 113f.

Web links

Commons : Battle of Arcole  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Coordinates: 45 ° 21 ′ 0 ″  N , 11 ° 17 ′ 0 ″  E