| Battle of Rovereto | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part of theItalian campaign of 1796–1797 in theWar of the First Coalition | |||||||
 Battle of Rovereto | |||||||
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| Belligerents | |||||||
 First French Republic |  Austria | ||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||
| Napoleon BonaparteAndré MassénaClaude-Victor Perrin | Paul Davidovich | ||||||
| Strength | |||||||
| 20,000[1] | 20,000[1] | ||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||
| 750[1] | 6,000 killed or wounded, 4,000 prisoners, 25 guns, 7 colours[1] | ||||||
  Battle of Rovereto (Europe) Show map of Europe | |||||||
In theBattle of Rovereto (alsoBattle of Roveredo) on 4 September 1796 a French army commanded byNapoleon Bonaparte defeated an Austrian corps led byPaul Davidovich during theWar of the First Coalition, part of theFrench Revolutionary Wars. The battle was fought near the town ofRovereto, in the upperAdige River valley in northernItaly.
The action was fought during the second relief of thesiege of Mantua. The Austrians left Davidovich's corps in the upper Adige valley while transferring two divisions toBassano del Grappa by marching east, then south down theBrenta River valley. The Austrian army commanderDagobert von Würmser planned to march south-west from Bassano toMantua, completing the clockwise manoeuvre. Meanwhile, Davidovich would threaten a descent from the north to distract the French.
Bonaparte's next move did not conform to the Austrians' expectations. The French commander advanced north with three divisions, a force that greatly outnumbered Davidovich. The French steadily pressed back the Austrian defenders all day and routed them in the afternoon. Davidovich retreated well to the north. This success allowed Bonaparte to follow Würmser down the Brenta valley to Bassano and, ultimately, trap him inside the walls of Mantua.
After being defeated in theBattle of Castiglione on 5 August, the Austrian army underFeldmarschall Würmser retreated north toTrento. Meanwhile, the French army resumed thesiege of Mantua. Pre-dawn attacks on 24 August led byGeneral of Division Jean-Joseph Sahuguet andGeneral of BrigadeClaude Dallemagne pressed the Austrian garrison back into the fortress.[2]
On 26 August orders arrived fromEmperor Francis II to immediately attempt a second relief of the fortress ofMantua. Würmser's new chief-of-staff,Feldmarschall-LeutnantFranz von Lauer therefore drew up plans for an offensive. The division ofFeldmarschall-LeutnantJohann Mészáros near Bassano was reinforced to 10,700 troops. Würmser would lead two divisions from Trento into theBrenta River valley. This route went east, then south to reach Bassano. From that location, the Austrians would turn southwest, join Mészáros, and march to Mantua viaLegnago.[3]
The 17,300-man Mantua garrison was sent orders to stage attacks on the besiegers when the relief army drew close. Feldmarschall-Leutnant Davidovich with 19,600 troops defended Trento.[4] If the French forces facing him weakened, he was to move south on Mantua. Lauer noted that the French army, "had suffered badly during the recent combats, and had not properly recovered, nor received significant reinforcements. However, he drew some dangerous conclusions from this..." Lauer confidently predicted that the French army would remain quiet long enough for the Austrian relief effort to get well underway.[5]
In fact, the French government approved a strategy that sent theArmy of Italy north across theBrenner Pass to link with General of DivisionJean Moreau's army inBavaria. Accordingly, General of Division Bonaparte planned to mass 33,000 soldiers from the divisions of Generals of DivisionClaude Belgrand de Vaubois,André Masséna, andPierre Augereau, then advance to Trento. His remaining 13,500 men covered the blockade of Mantua and the line of the Adige nearVerona and Legnago.[6] Bonaparte instructed Sahuguet and General of DivisionCharles Kilmaine to leave a garrison inPeschiera del Garda and fall back behind theOglio River if they were unable to resist an Austrian attack from the east.[7]
The 4,100-man division Feldmarschall-LeutnantKarl Philipp Sebottendorf moved out on 1 September. It was soon followed byFeldmarschall-LeutnantPeter Quasdanovich's 4,600 soldiers. Davidovich controlled 19,555 troops, but only 13,695 of these were immediately available. He deployed the brigades ofGeneral-majorsJosef Philipp Vukassovich andJohann Rudolf von Sporck near Rovereto, while the brigade of General-majorPrince Heinrich XV of Reuss-Plauen held Trento and some positions west of the Adige. The brigades of General-major Johann Loudon in theValtelline and General-major Johann Grafen in theVorarlberg were not within supporting distance.[4]
Vaubois, with 10,000 men, lay to the west ofLake Garda. He putGeneral of BrigadeJean Joseph Guieu and his brigade in boats, while his other two brigades marched north pastLake Idro toRiva del Garda at the northern end of the lake. Joined by Guieu, Vaubois turned east toward Rovereto. Bonaparte sent Masséna's 13,000 troops advancing directly north up the Adige valley while Augereau's 9,000 men struggled through the mountains north of Verona.[8]
On 3 September, Masséna attacked 1,500 of Vukassovich's troops nearAla and drove them back to Marco on the east bank of the Adige. Vukassovich tried to warn Davidovich, but his superior was away at a conference with Würmser in Trento. Vaubois brushed aside some elements of Reuss's brigade atNago-Torbole and stood poised to attack an Austrian position atMori on the west bank. Meanwhile, Würmser became aware of the French threat to Trento, but he nevertheless pursued his strategy of moving via the Brenta valley.[9]
At dawn, Masséna's division attacked Vukassovich's Austrians at Marco. General of BrigadeClaude Perrin Victor led onedemi-brigade straight up the main road, while General of BrigadeJean Joseph Magdeleine Pijon seized the high ground to one flank. After sturdy resistance, the Austrians pulled back to avoid being cut off. Masséna pursued vigorously, breaking up a number of Austrian formations. When he reached Rovereto, Vukassovich stood firm again until noon-time. Then he fell back towardCalliano with the remnant of his brigade and Sporck's troops. By this time, Vaubois had captured Mori on the west bank.[10]
Davidovich placedColonel Karl Weidenfeld and thePreiss Infantry Regiment 24 in a formidable position in the Adige gorge to cover the retreat of his forces. However, the regiment's morale was poor after suffering casualties and being hustled out of several defensive lines. Aided by artillery fire directed by General of BrigadeElzéar Auguste Cousin de Dommartin, Masséna's troops attacked in heavy columns and broke through. Believing themselves well-covered by Weidenfeld's force, Vukassovich and Sporck allowed their troops to cook dinner when they arrived in Calliano. Without warning, the French interrupted the proceedings by storming into the camp in the late afternoon. The result was a rout of the surviving Austrians.[11]
_-_The_Battle_of_Roveredo%2c_1796_-_THC0069_-_Royal_Holloway%2c_University_of_London.jpg)
The French lost 750 casualties during the day. Austrian losses between from 3,000 and 10,000 killed, wounded, and prisoners, plus 25 cannon and 7 colours captured.[12][13] During the night, Davidovich evacuated Trento and fell back toLavis, a village at the river Avisio and southern frontier of Austrian territory, where he joined Reuss. Masséna entered Trento on the morning of 5 September, followed by Vaubois. At this time, Bonaparte found out Würmser's plan of marching east into the Brenta valley. He discarded the strategy of joining Moreau and adopted a very bold plan.[14]
Far from retiring down the Adige with his whole army, Bonaparte ordered Vaubois to block the gorges north of Trent with 10,000 men, while the remaining 22,000 troops set off in full pursuit of Würmser down the same pass that the Austrians were using. This was an extremely risky course to pursue, for during the operation the Army of Italy would be wholly dependent on what supplies it could seize locally, and even a temporary check on the Brenta might lead to starvation in the midst of the Alps."[15]
On 5 September, Vaubois crossed the bridge of the river Avisio, attacked Davidovich at Lavis and drove him farther north. Satisfied that Davidovich was no longer a threat, Bonaparte sent Augereau's division toLevico Terme on the trail of Würmser. Soon, Masséna's troops followed in Augereau's wake.[16] This set the stage for the subsequent skirmish at Primolano on 7 September and theBattle of Bassano on 8 September.[17]
Media related toBattle of Rovereto at Wikimedia Commons| Preceded by Battle of Würzburg | French Revolution: Revolutionary campaigns Battle of Rovereto | Succeeded by Battle of Bassano |
