Second Battle of Bassano
Part of theItalian campaign of 1796–1797 in theWar of the First Coalition
Date 6 November 1796 Location Bassano del Grappa, in present-dayItaly 45°46′N11°44′E / 45.767°N 11.733°E /45.767; 11.733 Result Austrian victory
Belligerents
French Republic	Habsburg monarchy
Commanders and leaders
Napoleon Bonaparte André Masséna Pierre Augereau	József Alvinczi Anton Lipthay Friedrich of Hohenzollern-Hechingen
Strength
19,500–21,000[1]	28,000
Casualties and losses
3,000 dead, wounded and captured	2,823[2]–5,600 dead, wounded and captured[1] 2 guns
class=notpageimage| Location within Europe

War of the First Coalition:
Italian Campaign

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TheSecond Battle of Bassano on 6 November 1796, saw aHabsburg army commanded byJózsef Alvinczi fightNapoleon Bonaparte'sFrench Army of Italy betweenBassano del Grappa andCittadella. The Austrians repulsed persistent French attacks in a struggle in which both sides suffered heavy losses. The engagement, which happened two months after the more famousBattle of Bassano, marked the first tactical defeat of Bonaparte's career and occurred nearBassano del Grappa inNorthern Italy during theFrench Revolutionary Wars. The action was part of the third relief of thesiege of Mantua during theWar of the First Coalition.

See theArcola 1796 Campaign Order of Battle for a list of the major units of both armies.

The second relief of the siege ofMantua ended dismally for the Austrians after General Bonaparte defeatedFeldmarschallDagobert Sigismund von Würmser's field army at theBattle of Bassano on 8 September. After the battle Würmser elected to dash for Mantua. He reached the place safely only to have his 12,000 remaining soldiers driven into the fortress by the French on 15 September. Within six weeks 4,000 Austrians died of disease or wounds in the overcrowded city.

EmperorFrancis II of Austria appointedFeldzeugmeister Alvinczi to assemble a new field army and mount the third relief of Mantua. Alvinczi,Feldmarschall-LeutnantPaul Davidovich,General-Major Johann Rudolph Sporck, andMajorFranz von Weyrother planned the new operation, which called for a two-pronged offensive.^[3] Alvinczi accompanied the 28,000-strongFriaul Corps, led byFeldmarschall-LeutnantPeter Vitus von Quosdanovich, as it advanced from thePiave River toward the west. Feldmarschall-LeutnantPaul Davidovich led the 19,000-manTyrol Corps, which was in the upperAdige River valley.

To face these threats, Bonaparte deployed a 10,500-man division underGeneral of DivisionClaude-Henri Belgrand de Vaubois in the upper Adige valley, 9,500 soldiers led by General of DivisionAndré Masséna at Bassano on theBrenta River, and the 8,300 troops of General of DivisionPierre Augereau atVerona. General of DivisionCharles Edward Jennings de Kilmaine with 8,800 soldiers blockaded Würmser's large garrison in Mantua, with a reserve of 1,600 cavalry troopers and General of DivisionFrancois Macquard's reserve of 2,800 foot soldiers.

Davidovich's column began moving at the end of October. On 2 November, his corps clashed with Vaubois' outnumbered division nearCembra in the north. By 5 November Davidovich pushed the French out ofTrento. Vaubois fell back toCalliano.

On 1 November, the Friaul Corps began crossing the Piave. In the face of Alvinczi's westward advance, Massena pulled out of Bassano early on 4 November. General-MajorFriedrich of Hohenzollern-Hechingen's advance guard soon occupied the town.Feldmarschall-LeutnantGiovanni Provera with two brigades reached the Brenta farther south nearFontaniva to form Alvinczi's left flank.^[4] Bonaparte determined to attack the Austrians and called for Augereau and Macquard to join Masséna in resisting Alvinczi on the Brenta.

Bonaparte accompanied Augereau's division as it advanced north-east fromVicenza to Bassano. Masséna took a more southerly road and clashed with the Austrian left wing at Fontaniva late on 5 November.General-majorAnton Lipthay pulled his troops back to the east side of the river. This set the stage for the battle, which began on 6 November.^[5]

At7 a.m. Masséna attacked Lipthay's brigade at Fontaniva. From morning until6 p.m., the French mounted as many as ten assaults on the Habsburg general's four battalions, with heavy losses on both sides. The 2nd and 3rd battalions ofSplényi Infantry Regiment Nr. 51 gallantly defended the river crossing, losing 9 officers and 657 men out of 2,000 soldiers during the fighting before they were replaced in line by theDeutschmeister Infantry Regiment Nr. 4. Injured when his wounded horse fell on him, Lipthay resolutely remained at his post. In the afternoon, Provera reinforced him with troops from the brigades of Generals-majorAnton Schübirz von Chobinin and Adolf Brabeck as the Austrians successfully held their ground against the French attacks.^[6]

Early in the morning Hohenzollern crossed the Brenta, followed by Quasdanovich's right wing. This wing included General-MajorAnton Ferdinand Mittrowsky's brigade, which recently joined the army by descending the Brenta valley. The Austrians anchored their right flank in the Alpine foothills while their left flank curved back to touch the Brenta. Augereau's division began to arrive in the area in mid-morning and attacked Bassano in the early afternoon before all the Austrians crossed the river. After severe fighting, in which the village ofNove changed hands several times, the action ended at10 p.m. One battalion of theSamuel Gyulai Infantry Regiment Nr. 32 suffered 390, or nearly 50 percent casualties.^[7] Though he issued a report claiming a victory, Bonaparte ordered a retreat that evening.

French casualties totalled 3,000, including 508 men and 1 howitzer captured. Austrian losses numbered 2,823 and two cannons captured. Provera's left wing lost 208 killed, 873 wounded, and 109 captured. Quosdanovich's right wing suffered 326 killed, 858 wounded, and 449 captured.^[2] Though Alvinczi ordered a pursuit, the fast-marching French successfully broke contact and retreated to Verona. On 7 November, Davidovich routed Vaubois at theBattle of Calliano. The two setbacks placed Bonaparte in a dangerous situation, as the two arms of the Austrian offensive threatened to close around him. Meanwhile, Würmser's large garrison remained in his rear.^[8]

Alvinczi continued to press ahead, sending Hohenzollern's advance guard to the outskirts of Verona by 11 November. The following day, Bonaparte unsuccessfully attacked the Austrians at theBattle of Caldiero. The French army commander's troubles were far from over. The deciding action of the campaign was theBattle of Arcole on 15–17 November.

• Siege of Mantua (1796–1797)
• Battle of Calliano, 7 November 1796
• Battle of Caldiero, 12 November 1796
• Battle of Arcole, 15–17 November 1796

• Boycott-Brown, Martin (2001).The Road to Rivoli: Napoleon's First Campaign. London: Cassell & Co.ISBN 0-304-35305-1.
• Chandler, David G. (1966).The Campaigns of Napoleon. New York, NY: Macmillan.
• Fiebeger, G.J. (1911).The Campaigns of Napoleon Bonaparte of 1796–1797. West Point, New York: US Military Academy Printing Office.
• Smith, Digby (1998).The Napoleonic Wars Data Book. London: Greenhill.ISBN 1-85367-276-9.
• Bodart, Gaston (1908).Militär-historisches Kriegs-Lexikon (1618–1905). Retrieved3 February 2023.

• Media related toSecond Battle of Bassano at Wikimedia Commons

• Italian campaign (1796–1797)
• Conflicts in 1796
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• 1796 in the Habsburg monarchy
• 1796 in France
• Battles of the War of the First Coalition involving Austria
• Military history of Veneto
• Province of Vicenza
• Battles commanded by Napoleon

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