| Battle of Calliano | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part of theItalian campaign of 1796–1797 in theWar of the First Coalition | |||||||
| |||||||
| Belligerents | |||||||
 First French Republic |  Austria | ||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||
| Claude Vaubois | Paul Davidovich | ||||||
| Strength | |||||||
| 10,500 | 19,474 | ||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||
| Calliano & San Michele: 4,400 | Calliano & San Michele: 3,567 | ||||||
  Location within Europe | |||||||
TheBattle of Calliano on 6 and 7 November 1796 saw an Austrian corps commanded byPaul Davidovich rout a French division directed byClaude Belgrand de Vaubois. The engagement was part of the third Austrian attempt to relieve the Frenchsiege of Mantua during theFrench Revolutionary Wars. The battle was preceded by a clash atCembra on 2 November and followed by actions atRivoli Veronese on 17 and 21 November.
By November 1796,Napoleon Bonaparte's FrenchArmy of Italy had reducedField MarshalDagobert Sigmund von Wurmser's Austrian garrison ofMantua to near-starvation. EmperorFrancis I of Austria appointedFeldzeugmeisterJozsef Alvinczi to lead a new army in smashing though the French blockade. Alvinczi planned to advance on Mantua from the east with the 28,000-manFriaul Corps, whileFeldmarschal-Leutnant Davidovich led 19,000 soldiers of theTirol Corps down theAdige valley from the north.
SeeOrder of battle for the Battle of Arcole for a list of the major units of both armies, including the strengths and commanders of the Tyrol Corps' six columns.
Bonaparte badly underestimated Davidovich's strength. To oppose the northern thrust, he deployed a division of 10,500 soldiers underGeneral of Division Vaubois. The start of Davidovich's offensive led to a series of clashes beginning on 27 October. On 2 November the French attacked the Austrians at Cembra. Although Vaubois inflicted 1,100 casualties on his enemies at the cost of only 650 Frenchmen, he decided to pull back toCalliano when Davidovich resumed his forward movement the next day. The French 85th Line Infantry Demi-Brigade was roughly handled.[1] The Austrians occupiedTrento on 5 November.
On 6 November, Vaubois repulsed Davidovich's attacks on his position at Calliano, inflicting losses of 753 men. That night the French general detached several units to cover key positions in the area, weakening his main line. At dawn, the Austrians launched a new attack that was resisted all day, Calliano changing hands several times. SomeGrenz infantry worked their way into the rear of the French line and this caused a panic-stricken flight from the field beginning at 4 pm.
The second day of fighting at Calliano cost Davidovich another 1,523 men for a total of 3,567 for the campaign. These heavy losses kept the Austrians from vigorously following up the fleeing Frenchmen.[2] Vaubois suffered 4,400 casualties at Cembra and Calliano.[3]
During the day of 8 November, the French soldiers retreated to Rivoli Veronese where they finally rallied. Furious over the misbehavior of his troops, Bonaparte issued an announcement to the army in which he harshly criticised the 39th and 85th Demi-Brigades.[4] Meanwhile, in thePo River valley, Alvinczi defeated Bonaparte's attack at theSecond Battle of Bassano on 6 November, forcing the French main army to fall back toVerona.
Poor communications continued to plague the Austrian effort. It took two days for dispatches to pass between Davidovich and Alvinczi. Davidovich refrained from attacking the Rivoli position because he believed thatAndré Masséna was present with his division. While Masséna was briefly in command, he did not bring any troops with him. By this time Davidovich probably had 14,000 men, but this includesGeneral-Major (GM) Johann Loudon who was guarding his line of communications with the Tyrol.[5]
Davidovich finally attacked on 17 November, with GMJoseph Ocskay von Ocsko moving from Monte Baldo and GMJosef Philipp Vukassovich advancing from the Adige River gorge. The Austrians gained the Rivoli plateau and steadily forced the outnumbered French back. Again, the brittle morale of the 85th Line snapped and the result was another rout of Vaubois' division.[6] On this occasion, the French lost 800 killed and wounded, plus 1,000 captured includingGenerals of BrigadePascal Antoine Fiorella and Antoine La Valette and 7 cannons. The Austrians lost only 600 men.[7] This field would be fought over again during theBattle of Rivoli in January 1797.
The Tyrol Corps' victory came too late. Bonaparte fought and won theBattle of Arcola on 15–17 November. When Davidovich realized that theArmy of Italy was moving his way in great strength, he pulled back to Rivoli on 20 November. The next morning, he ordered a retreat to the north. A short time later, he received a note saying that Alvinczi's army was back in the field. Davidovich told his troops to reoccupy their positions at Rivoli, but by this time the French were upon them. In the ensuing action, French losses were about 200. The Austrians lost 251 killed and wounded. In addition, the French captured 608 soldiers, 3 cannons, and a bridging train.[8] One authority gives Austrian losses as 1,500 men and 9 guns.[9] When Alvinczi heard that his colleague was in full retreat up the Adige valley, he withdrew to theBrenta River, ending the campaign.
Media related toBattle of Calliano at Wikimedia Commons| Preceded by Second Battle of Bassano | French Revolution: Revolutionary campaigns Battle of Calliano | Succeeded by Battle of Arcole |
