A series of Austrian and Russian victories in the spring of 1799 drove the French armies from north and northeast Italy. The commander of the combined Austro-Russian armies, Suvorov massed his forces opposite the fortress city of Alessandria. After a Russian force received a costly repulse in the Battle of Bassignana, Moreau sent General of Division Claude Perrin Victor's division to discover the Austro-Russian positions. After the action, Moreau sent half of his army into Genoa while taking the other half to the west. Meanwhile, Suvorov marched his troops up the north bank of the Po River to capture Turin.
Background
The start of the 1799 campaign saw the Austrian army of FeldzeugmeisterPaul Kray facing the French Army of Italy under General of Division Barthélemy Louis Joseph Schérer. The drawn Battle of Verona on 26 March[9] was followed by the Battle of Magnano on 5 April, when Kray's 46,000 men won an important victory over 40,500 French soldiers.[10] The demoralized Schérer left 6,600 men to the garrison of Mantua and abandoned northeast Italy. The Siege of Mantua lasted until the end of July, but other garrisons that Schérer left behind were soon forced to surrender. Counting garrisons and battle losses, the Army of Italy had only 28,000 soldiers.[11] At this time, Suvorov arrived with 24,551 Russian soldiers and took command of the combined Austro-Russian army.[12]
Schérer resigned and handed over command of the army to Moreau on 26 April 1799. The next day, Suvorov attacked and won the Battle of Cassano. General of Division Jean-Mathieu-Philibert Sérurier and 2,400 men of his division were isolated and forced to surrender that evening.[12] Moreau with General of Division Paul Grenier's division retreated west all the way to Turin, then crossed to the south bank of the Po River and marched east again. Victor's division crossed the Po at Casale Monferrato and took position near the fortress city of Alessandria. When Grenier joined Victor there on 7 May, Moreau mustered about 20,000 troops. The French were deployed between Alessandria on their right and Valenza on their left.[13] At this time, Catherine-Dominique de Pérignon led a division from France to occupy Genoa.[14]
On 6 May 1799, Suvorov's left wing crossed the Po at Piacenza and moved southwest toward Bobbio, threatening to cut Moreau off from Genoa. Suvorov's main body crossed the Po farther west.[15] On 7 May, a 13,865-man Austrian corps was at Castel San Giovanni while General-majorPyotr Bagration with the 5,862-man Russian advance guard was at Voghera, both on the south bank of the Po. General Andrei Grigorevich Rosenberg with 10,571 soldiers was at Dorno with a 3,075-man advance guard at Lomello, both on the north bank. General-major Josef Philipp Vukassovich and 5,100 Austrians were farther west, also on the north bank. On 9 May, Suvorov's chief of staff, the Austrian General-major Johann Gabriel Chasteler de Courcelles and two battalions chased the French out of the town of Tortona, though its citadel held out. Wanting to mass his army on the south bank, Suvorov issued orders to Rosenberg to cross the Po at Alluvioni Cambiò, downstream from the confluence of the Po and Tanaro rivers.[16]
Probably urged by Grand Duke Constantine Pavlovich of Russia, who had just arrived at the front and was anxious to fight, Rosenberg ignored Suvorov's instructions and crossed upstream of the point where the Tanaro flowed into the Po. The result was that Rosenberg's advance guard ran into strong resistance from Grenier's division. In the Battle of Bassignana on 12 May 1799, Moreau gave the Russians a drubbing and forced them to retreat to the north bank of the Po. Though Suvorov was fully aware of Constantine's culpability, the official responsibility for the fiasco was placed on Rosenberg's shoulders.[17]
During this time, the Army of Naples under General of Division Jacques MacDonald was moving north from southern Italy and entering the calculations of both Moreau and Suvorov. On 10 May 1799, MacDonald reached Rome where he left 2,568 of his least fit men under the command of General of Division Gabriel Venance Rey. On 26 May, the Army of Naples reached Florence where it met troops under General of Division Paul Louis Gaultier de Kervéguen. The French troops moved through an area where the local people were in rebellion, such that one column of 3,000 French lost 600 men as casualties. Altogether, MacDonald wielded a field army of 36,728 troops in the infantry divisions of Generals of Division Jean-Baptiste Olivier, Jean-Baptiste Dominique Rusca, and Joseph Hélie Désiré Perruquet de Montrichard, and Generals of BrigadeFrançois Watrin, Jan Henryk Dąbrowski, and Jean-Baptiste Salme. This array would soon be joined by Victor.[18]
Battle
Franz de Lusignan
As early as 10 May, the Cossack regiments of Denisov, Grekov, and Molchanov, supported by the Kalemin Grenadier Battalion, cleared the French from Marengo. The Austrians were massed east of the village of San Giuliano while Bagration's Russian vanguard was at Novi Ligure. Starting on 13 May, Suvorov began edging his south bank forces toward the north because he intended to cross the Po and march west toward Turin. He wanted his troops to begin crossing the Po at Alluvioni Cambiò on 16 May, but other events intervened.[2] Earlier, Moreau believed that Suvorov was going to march against MacDonald, but now he thought that the Russian was not going south after all. From 13–15 May, the French commander concentrated his army behind the Bormida River, throwing a bridge of boats across the stream. On 16 May, Moreau sent Victor on a strong reconnaissance east toward Tortona.[15]
Jean Victor Moreau
The French crossed the Bormida at a point called The Cedars. At 8:00 am they split into two columns with General of Brigade Louis Léonard (Luigi Leonardo) Colli-Ricci on the left and General of Brigade Gaspard Amédée Gardanne on the right. The 74th Line Infantry acted as an advance guard. Colonel Louis Gareau with two battalions guarded the Bormida bridge.[2] The French cavalry crossed the river upstream. Altogether the French employed 7,500 troops in the operation. General-major Adrian Karpovich Denisov, commanding the Cossack screen captured a French officer and learned that the enemy incursion was substantial. He sent appeals for help to Bagration. The 74th Line quickly brushed aside the Cossacks and drove the Allied outposts from Marengo, Spinetta, and Cascina Grossa.[4] The outposts were manned by General-major Andreas Karaczay's Advanced Guard, but these troops did not otherwise participate in the ensuing action.[2]
General-major Franz Joseph, Marquis de Lusignan, acting division commander in the absence of Michael von Fröhlich, deployed seven battalions and six squadrons of the Lobkowitz Dragoon Regiment Nr. 10. Soon Bagration came up with his Russians and the Allies formed two lines about 2,500 feet (760m) west of San Giuliano. As the two sides advanced toward each other, the French sang the Marseillaise while the Austrian military bands played.[4] Lusignan placed the Weber and Pertussy Grenadier Battalions on the right and the Stuart Infantry Regiment Nr. 18 and Morzin Grenadier Battalion on the left. In second line were the Paar and Schiaffinati Grenadier Battalions. A skirmish line was formed by taking ten soldiers from each company in the front line. Two squadrons of the Lobkowitz Dragoons and some artillery were posted on each flank, with more dragoons in reserve.[2]
Denisov reported that the French troops maintained a rolling fire by platoons. He claimed that Bagration's troops hung back in a wood and that neither the Cossacks nor the Austrian dragoons were willing to charge the French infantry. This caused the Austrians to bear the brunt of the combat and they were hustled to the rear by the French.[4] Another account stated that Bagration's troops helped repulse the initial attack, but around noon the Allies began to retreat. Finally, Feldmarschall-LeutnantKonrad Valentin von Kaim's 4,800-man Austrian division came up on the left flank. The Cossacks claimed to have wiped out a squadron of the French 1st Hussars, taking 78 prisoners.[2]
At about 4:00 pm, Moreau realized he was heavily outnumbered and issued the order to retreat. The French carried out their withdrawal in good order. They defended Marengo very stoutly, using the manor house and the streams in the vicinity.[8] The French relinquished Marengo at 5:00 pm, crossed the Bormida, and dismantled their bridge by 6:30 pm.[2] Suvorov appeared and demanded to know why the French were being allowed to escape. By this time, the French had reached a position where it was impossible to cut them off.[8] In another account, Suvorov got to the battlefield earlier and tried to rally the Austrians, who were retreating at that time.[2]
Result
Alexander Suvorov
Historian Christopher Duffy stated that Allied casualties were between 480 and 710, while French losses were between 500 and 1,500.[8] A second source asserted that the Allies lost 43 dead, 404 wounded, and 273 missing for a total of 720. The French lost 569 dead and wounded.[2]Digby Smith gave Austrian losses as 97 killed and 250 wounded, and Russian losses as 27 killed and 80 wounded. These figures give a total Allied loss of 124 killed and 330 wounded, or 454 casualties, while French losses are estimated at 500 casualties. On the French side 8,000 troops were engaged, while there were 9,000 Austrians and 7,500 Russians involved in the action. Smith wrote that a French battalion was cut off near the river and that many soldiers drowned.[5] Other sources do not mention this incident.[2][8][19]Gaston Bodart stated the same number of French, and 11,000 Coalition. He gave 150 Coalition losses and 500 French.[6]
Moreau's reconnaissance-in-force failed to reveal his opponent's intentions through unlucky timing. If the French army commander attacked the following day, Suvorov would have been gone.[20] The 16 May battle convinced Moreau to abandon the Italian plain and get his army to the south side of the Ligurian Alps.[8] Assuming that Suvorov intended to remain where he was, Moreau sent Victor with 7,000 infantry, 200 cavalry, but no artillery on a march to join Pérignon in Genoa. Since Piedmont was in revolt against French occupation, Victor's troops had to fight their way through the insurgents, arriving in Genoa on 22 May.[19] Another 2,000-man column under Louis Lemoine moved from Gavi to Genoa.[21]
With Grenier's division, most of the cavalry, and all of the artillery, Moreau tried to get through the mountains but was prevented by the insurgents.[8] Instead he moved west to Asti on 18 May 1799 and then circled south of Turin. He ensured that a convoy from Rivoli and Pinerolo made it across the Mont Cenis Pass. However, he failed to secure a mass of artillery in the Turin arsenal.[19] With about 10,000 men, Moreau marched south to Cherasco and Cuneo. Turning east to Mondovì, the French found that the rebels had captured Ceva. With Emmanuel Grouchy commanding a flank guard, the French column wended its way through the mountains to Loano on 6 June, from which they shipped their artillery to Genoa. Grenier's troops reached Genoa around 12 June. Historian Ramsay Weston Phipps compared this circuitous march to the movements of "a frightened hen".[21]
Suvorov's army crossed to the north bank of the Po and was in Chivasso by 25 May 1799. The Allied army drove the French from Turin into the citadel on 27 May and seized a large number of heavy cannons in the arsenal. These weapons would soon help the Austrians reduce the French garrisons of Alessandria, Tortona and other places.[21]Heinrich von Bellegarde's Austrian corps marched from Switzerland to the area of Alessandria, replacing Suvorov's troops.[22]
A month after the first battle of Marengo, the Second Battle of Marengo (20 June) would occur here, a minor setback for the Allies. It happened literally alongside the Battle of the Trebbia (17–20 June).
Forces
French order of battle
Jean Victor Marie Moreau's forces at First Marengo[2]
The Battle of Marengo was fought on 14 June 1800 between French forces under the First Consul Napoleon Bonaparte and Austrian forces near the city of Alessandria, in Piedmont, Italy. Near the end of the day, the French overcame General Michael von Melas' surprise attack, drove the Austrians out of Italy and consolidated Bonaparte's political position in Paris as First Consul of France in the wake of his coup d'état the previous November.
The Battle of Novi saw a combined army of the Habsburg monarchy and Imperial Russians under Field Marshal Alexander Suvorov attack a Republican French army under General Barthélemy Catherine Joubert. As soon as Joubert fell during the battle, Jean Victor Marie Moreau immediately took overall command of the French forces. After a prolonged and bloody struggle, the Austro-Russians broke through the French defenses and drove their enemies into a disorderly retreat, while French division commanders Catherine-Dominique de Pérignon and Emmanuel Grouchy were captured. Novi Ligure is in the province of Piedmont in Northern Italy a distance of 58 kilometres (36 mi) north of Genoa. The battle occurred during the War of the Second Coalition which was part of the French Revolutionary Wars.
The Battle of (the) Trebbia was fought near the rivers of Tidone, Trebbia, and Nure in northern Italy between the joint Russian and Habsburg army under Alexander Suvorov and the Republican French army of Étienne-Jacques-Joseph-Alexandre Macdonald. Though the opposing armies were approximately equal in total numbers, the Austro-Russians severely defeated the French, sustaining about 5,500 casualties while inflicting losses of 16,500 on their enemies. The War of the Second Coalition engagement occurred west of Piacenza, a city located 70 kilometres (43 mi) southeast of Milan.
André Masséna, Prince of Essling, Duke of Rivoli, was a French military commander during the French Revolutionary Wars and the Napoleonic Wars. He was one of the original 18 Marshals of the Empire created by Napoleon I. He was nicknamed l'Enfant chéri de la Victoire. He is often considered as one of the greatest generals of the Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars.
The Napoleonic Wars continued from 1799 with the French fighting the forces of the Second Coalition. Napoleon Bonaparte had returned from Egypt and taken control of the French government, marking the end of the French Revolution. He prepared a new campaign, sending Moreau to the Rhine frontier and personally going to take command in the Alps, where French forces had been driven almost out of Italy in 1799.
Jean-Mathieu-Philibert Sérurier, 1st Count Sérurier led a division in the War of the First Coalition and became a Marshal of the Empire under Emperor Napoleon. He was born into the minor nobility and in 1755 joined the Laon militia which was soon sent to fight in the Seven Years' War. After transferring into the regular army as an ensign, he was wounded at Warburg in 1760. He fought in the Spanish-Portuguese War in 1762. He married in 1779 after a promotion to captain. A newly minted major in 1789, the French Revolution sped up promotion so that he was colonel of the regiment in 1792. After leading Army of Italy troops in a number of actions, he became a general of brigade in 1793 and a general of division the following year.
The Italian campaigns of the French Revolutionary Wars (1792–1801) were a series of conflicts fought principally in Northern Italy between the French Revolutionary Army and a Coalition of Austria, Russia, Piedmont-Sardinia, and a number of other Italian states.
The Battle of Cassano was fought in 1799 from 27 to 28 April near Cassano d'Adda, which about 28 km (17 mi) ENE of Milan. The clash is part of the battle of the Adda River or the so-called forcing of the Adda, which on the first day of 26 April resulted in a minor victory for the Russians under the Count Suvorov over Barthélemy Schérer's French forces at Lecco. Then, on the second day, Suvorov's Austrians and Cossacks prevailed over Jean Moreau's army, who replaced Schérer as supreme commander, and trapped his isolated division on the third. The action took place during the War of the Second Coalition, as part of the larger conflict known as the French Revolutionary Wars.
The Battle of Montebello was fought on 9 June 1800 near Montebello in Lombardy. During the lead-up to the Battle of Marengo, the vanguard of the French army in Italy engaged and defeated an Austrian force in a "glorious victory".
The Italian and Swiss expedition of 1799 was a military campaign undertaken by a combined Austro-Russian army under overall command of the Russian Marshal Alexander Suvorov against French forces in Piedmont and Lombardy and the Helvetic Republic. The expedition was part of the Italian campaigns of the French Revolutionary Wars in general, and the War of the Second Coalition in particular. It was one of 'two unprecedented Russian interventions in 1799', the other being the Anglo-Russian invasion of Holland.
Count Paul Grenier joined the French royal army and rapidly rose to general officer rank during the French Revolutionary Wars. He led a division in the 1796-1797 campaign in southern Germany. During the 1800 campaign in the Electorate of Bavaria he was a wing commander. Beginning in 1809, in the Napoleonic Wars, Emperor Napoleon I entrusted him with corps commands in the Italian theater. A skilled tactician, he was one of the veteran generals who made the Napoleonic armies such a formidable foe to the other European powers. After the Bourbon Restoration he retired from the army and later went into politics. Grenier is one of the Names inscribed under the Arc de Triomphe.
The Battle of Genola or Battle of Fossano was a meeting engagement between a Habsburg Austrian army commanded by Michael von Melas and a Republican French army under Jean Étienne Championnet. Melas directed his troops with more skill and his army drove the French off the field, inflicting heavy losses. The War of the Second Coalition action represented the last major French effort in Italy during 1799. The municipality of Genola is located in the region of Piedmont in northwest Italy a distance of 27 kilometres (17 mi) north of Cuneo and 58 kilometres (36 mi) south of Turin.
The Battle of Bassignana saw a Russian corps led by Andrei Grigorevich Rosenberg, who was under the influence of Grand Duke Constantine, attempt to establish a bridgehead on the south bank of the Po River in the presence of a French army under Jean Victor Marie Moreau. The French rapidly massed superior strength and attacked. After several hours of hard fighting, the Russians abandoned their foothold with serious losses. This War of the Second Coalition action occurred near the town of Bassignana, located in the angle between the Po and Tanaro Rivers, about 19 kilometres (12 mi) northeast of Alessandria, Italy.
The Battle of Mannheim was fought between an Austrian army commanded by Archduke Charles, Duke of Teschen and a French army under Jacques Léonard Muller. Most of the French Army of the Rhine had retreated to the west bank of the Rhine River, leaving the division of Antoine Laroche Dubouscat to hold Mannheim on the east bank. Despite assistance by Michel Ney, Laroche's division was beaten and driven out of the city when attacked by Charles and a much superior force. The War of the Second Coalition action occurred in the city of Mannheim, today located in the state of Baden-Württemberg in southwest Germany about 80 kilometres (50 mi) south of Frankfurt.
Andreas Karaczay de Vályeszáka or Andreas Karaiczay de Wallje Szaka or András Karacsaj de Válje-Szaka served in the Austrian army beginning in the Seven Years' War. In 1788–90, he fought in the Austro-Turkish War at Khotyn, Valea Seacă, Focșani, and Rymnik. In 1789 he was promoted to general officer, appointed Proprietor (Inhaber) of an Austrian cavalry regiment, and became a friend to the famous Russian General Alexander Suvorov. He fought in the French Revolutionary Wars until 1795 when he retired because of "war fatigue". Suvorov recalled him to action in 1799 when he fought at the Trebbia, Alessandria, and Novi. He led the Austrians at Second Novi. After being badly wounded at Stockach in 1800, he retired from his military offices in 1801.
The Second Battle of Marengo or Battle of Cascina Grossa saw French troops under General of Division Jean Victor Marie Moreau clash with a force of Austrian soldiers led by Feldmarschall-Leutnant Heinrich von Bellegarde. The early fighting between Emmanuel Grouchy's division and Bellegarde was inconclusive. However, late in the day Moreau committed Paul Grenier's French division to the struggle and the Austrians were driven from the field. This War of the Second Coalition battle occurred near Spinetta Marengo which is just east of Alessandria, Italy.
The Battle of Amsteg saw a Republican French division under General of Division Claude Lecourbe face a brigade of Habsburg Austrian soldiers led by General-major Joseph Anton von Simbschen. Lecourbe's offensive began on 14 August when six columns of French infantry advanced on the upper Reuss valley from the north and east. By 16 August, Lecourbe's forces had driven Simbschen's Austrians from the valley and seized control of the strategic Gotthard Pass between Italy and Switzerland.
The Battle of (the) Linth River saw a French division under General of Division Jean-de-Dieu Soult face a force of Austrian, Imperial Russian, and Swiss rebel soldiers led by Feldmarschall-Leutnant Friedrich Freiherr von Hotze in Switzerland. Soult carefully planned and his troops carried out a successful assault crossing of the Linth River between Lake Zurich and the Walensee. Hotze's death early in the action disorganized the Allied defenders who were defeated and forced to retreat, abandoning supplies accumulated for Field Marshal Alexander Suvorov's approaching army. On the same day, General of Division André Masséna's French Army of Helvetia defeated Lieutenant General Alexander Korsakov's Russian army in the Second Battle of Zurich and a French brigade turned back another Austrian force near Mollis. Both Korsakov's Russians and Hotze's survivors, led by Feldmarschall-Leutnant Franz Petrasch withdrew north of the Rhine River.
The battle of (the) Gotthard Pass, also known as the battle of the St. Gotthard Pass or the battle of the St. Gotthard, saw an Imperial Russian army commanded by Field Marshal Alexander Suvorov supported by two Austrian brigades attack a French division under General of Division Claude Lecourbe. The same day brought clashes at the Oberalp Pass and Hospital (Hospental).
Jean-Baptiste Olivier enlisted in the French Royal Army as foot soldier in 1781. During the French Revolutionary Wars he was promoted general of brigade, fighting at Kaiserslautern, Fleurus, and Neuwied. He famously observed the action at Fleurus from a hot air balloon. In 1799 he transferred to the Army of Naples as a general of division. He fought at the Trebbia where he was severely wounded, losing a leg. During the Napoleonic Wars he held military commands in the interior and was appointed Baron of the Empire and Grand Officer of the Légion d'honneur. He died in 1813. Olivier is one of the names inscribed under the Arc de Triomphe.
Duffy, Christopher (1999). Eagles Over the Alps: Suvarov in Italy and Switzerland, 1799. Chicago, Ill.: The Emperor's Press. ISBN1-883476-18-6.
Phipps, Ramsay Weston (2011) [1939]. The Armies of the First French Republic and the Rise of the Marshals of Napoleon I: The Armies of the Rhine in Switzerland, Holland, Italy, Egypt, and the Coup d'Etat of Brumaire (1797-1799). Vol.5. Pickle Partners Publishing. ISBN978-1-908692-28-3.
Orlov, Nikolay Aleksandrovich (1892). Разбор военных действий Суворова в Италии в 1799 году[Analysis of Suvorov's military actions in Italy in 1799] (in Russian). St. Petersburg: Тип. Тренке и Фюсно. ISBN9785998994289.
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