Battle of Marengo

Battle of Marengo
Part of the War of the Second Coalition
Scene of the battle in which Napoleon, followed by some generals, advances on horseback from the left towards the center of the image. Behind him, a regiment confronts in line the head of the Austrian pursuit coloumn, while Desaix is being mortally wounded at the head of his men. Further to the right, General Zach is captured by some cavalrymen and General Saint-Julien tries to escape the same fate. In the background General Kellermann conducts his famous cavalry charge in the flank of the Austrians. Behind all the action lies the village of Spinetta, in front of the Apennines.
Louis-François Lejeune: The Battle of Marengo
Date 14 June 1800
Location Spinetta Marengo, Alessandria, Piedmont, present-day Italy
Result Decisive French victory
Belligerents
France French Republic Habsburg Monarchy Habsburg Monarchy
Commanders and leaders
Napoleon Bonaparte,
Louis Desaix  †,
François Kellermann		 Michael von Melas,
Peter Ott
Strength
28,000,
24 guns[1]		 30,000,
100 guns[1]
Casualties and losses
1,100 killed,
3,600 wounded,
900 missing or captured[2]
Total: 5,600		 1,000 killed,
5,500 wounded,
2,900 captured,
15 guns captured,
40 colours captured[2]
Total: 9,400
War of the Second Coalition

Ostrach – 1st Stockach – Magnano – Cassano – Winterthur – 1st Zürich – Trebbia – Mantua – Novi – Bergen – 2nd Zürich – Castricum – Genoa – Hohentwiel – 2nd Stockach – Meßkirch – Montebello – Marengo – Höchstädt – Ampfing – Hohenlinden – Mincio – Copenhagen – Algeciras

Egyptian Campaign – Swiss Campaign – Dutch Campaign
French Revolutionary Wars

Italian Campaigns
1st Dego - Loano – Montenotte – Millesimo – 2nd Dego – Ceva – Mondovì – Fombio – Lodi – Borghetto – Lonato – Castiglione – Rovereto – 1st Bassano – 2nd Bassano – Calliano – Caldiero – Arcole – Rivoli – 1st Mantua – Magnano – Cassano – Trebbia – 2nd Mantua – Novi – Genoa – Montebello – Marengo – Pozzolo

The Battle of Marengo was fought on 14 June 1800 between French forces under Napoleon Bonaparte and Austrian forces near the city of Alessandria, in Piedmont, Italy. The French defeated Austrian General Michael von Melas's surprise attack in the last minute, driving the Austrians out of Italy, and enhancing Napoleon's political position in Paris as First Consul of France in the wake of his coup d’état the previous November.[3]

Surprised by the Austrian advance toward Genoa in mid-April 1800, Bonaparte had hastily led his army over the Alps in mid-May and reached Milan on 2 June. After cutting Melas’s line of communications by crossing the river Po and defeating Feldmarschallleutnant (FML) Peter Karl Ott von Bátorkéz at Montebello on 9 June, the French closed in on the Austrian army, which had massed in Alessandria (80 kilometers north of Genoa and equidistant from Turin and Milan). Deceived by a local double agent, Bonaparte dispatched large forces to the north and south, but the Austrians launched a surprise attack on 14 June against the main French army under General Louis Alexandre Berthier.[4]

Initially, their two assaults across the Fontanone stream near Marengo village were repelled, and General Jean Lannes reinforced the French right. Bonaparte realized the true position and issued orders at 11:00 A.M. to recall the detachment under General Louis Desaix, while moving his reserve forward. On the Austrian left, Ott’s column had taken Castel Ceriolo, and its advance guard moved south to attack Lannes’s flank. Despite failing to get the cavalry across on his right flank, Melas renewed the main assault and the Austrians broke the central French position. By 2:30 P.M. the French were withdrawing and Austrian dragoons seized the Marengo farm.[4]

Bonaparte had by then arrived with the reserve, and his right under Général de Division (GdD) Jean-Charles Monnier briefly retook Castel Ceriolo, while Berthier’s troops fell back on the main vine belts. Knowing Desaix was approaching, Bonaparte was anxious about a column of Ott’s troops marching from the north, so he deployed his Consular Guard infantry to delay it. After an initial clash around 4:00 P.M. Oberst Johann Maria Philipp Frimont’s Austrian cavalry destroyed the Guard infantry. The French then withdrew steadily eastward toward San Giuliano Vecchio as the Austrians formed a column to follow them in line with Ott’s advance in the northern sector.[4]

Desaix’s arrival around 5:30 P.M. stabilized the French position as the 9ème Légère (9th Light Infantry) delayed the Austrian advance down the main road and the rest of the army re-formed north of Cascina Grossa. As the pursuing Austrian troops arrived, a mix of musketry and artillery fire concealed the surprise attack of Général de Brigade (GdB) François Étienne de Kellermann’s cavalry, which threw the Austrian pursuit into disordered flight back into Alessandria, having lost about 9,400 killed, wounded, or captured. The French casualties were considerably fewer, but included Desaix. The whole French line chased after them to seal une victoire politique (a political victory) that secured Bonaparte’s grip on power after the coup. It would be followed by a propaganda campaign, which sought to rewrite the battle three times during Napoleon’s rule.[4]

Contents

Background

Napoleon on a rearing white horse pointing his men to continue their advance through a mountain pass.
Napoleon Crossing the Alps by Jacques-Louis David

The Battle of Marengo was the victory that sealed the success of Napoleon's Italian campaign of 1800 and is best understood in the context of that campaign. By a daring crossing of the Alps[5] with his Army of the Reserve (officially commanded by Louis Alexandre Berthier) in mid-May 1800 almost before the passes were open, Napoleon (who crossed on a mule) had threatened Melas's lines of communications in northern Italy. The French army then seized Milan on 2 June, followed by Pavia, Piacenza and Stradella (PV), cutting the main Austrian supply route eastward along the south bank of the Po river. Napoleon hoped that Melas's preoccupation with the Siege of Genoa, held by General André Masséna, would prevent the Austrians from responding to his offensive. But Genoa surrendered on June 4, freeing a large number of Austrians for operations against the French.[4]

On June 9, General Jean Lannes beat FML Peter Ott in the Battle of Montebello. This caused Napoleon to become overconfident. He became convinced that Melas would not attack, and further, that the Austrian was about to retreat. As other French forces closed from the west and south, the Austrian commander had withdrawn most of his troops from their positions near Nice and Genoa to Alessandria on the main Turin-Mantua road.[4]

The Austrian plans

The Austrians planned to fight their way out eastward but — using a local double agent, usually known by his cover of François Toli — attempted to deceive Bonaparte into thinking they would try to march north, cross the Po, and head for Milan, joined by the remaining troops marching up from Genoa. The spy would advise Bonaparte to march via Sale on the northern side of the plain, so that he could be engaged by the Austrian left wing; meanwhile the main force would move through Marengo village in the center, turn north, and fall into the French left flank. Ott arrived from Montebello on 12 June, increasing the Austrian force to 30,000 fit troops, who faced a French force about two thousand weaker under Bonaparte, which arrived at Sale on 13 June.[4]

The preliminary French moves

Napoleon knew that Ott had no way out from Alessandria, but he had no idea on Melas's position. Following his meeting with the spy and fearing that the Austrian general might try to escape, Bonaparte spread his army out in a wide net by sending Louis Desaix with GdD Jean Boudet’s division (6,000 men) south to Novi Ligure and GdD Jean François Cornu de La Poype (3,500 men) north on the other bank of the Po. Further north, from Vercelli to Lake Maggiore, were stationed the divisions of Antoine de Béthencourt and Joseph Chabran and, further to the back, north of Piacenza, Jean Thomas Guillaume Lorge's division.[1] Napoleon's view was confirmed when General Claude Victor-Perrin, supported by GdD Joachim Murat’s cavalry, swiftly evicted FML Andreas von O'Reilly’s Austrian brigade from Marengo village that afternoon. Victor then deployed GdD Gaspard Amédée Gardanne and GdD Jacques Antoine de Chambarlhac’s divisions along the Fontanone stream. Austrian headquarters debated building a bridge to the north to outflank the French, but the lack of pontoons and time forced the Austrians to cross the river Bormida and then launch a single, direct assault across the Fontanone bridge.[4]

The battlefield

Small building with a courtyard surrounded by brick walls and a bell tower in the background.
Torre Garofoli, Napoleon's headquarters before the battle

The battle took place to the east of Alessandria, on a plain crossed by a river forming meanders, the Bormida, over which the Austrians installed a bridgehead. On the plain were spread numerous hamlets which represented strategic points. The three main sites of the battle formed a triangle, with Marengo in the west, Castel Ceriolo in the north, and San Giuliano Vecchio in the east. A small stream, the Fontanone, passed between Marengo and the Bormida. The First Consul had established his headquarters at Torre Garofoli, which was further to the east.[1]

Forces

The 30,000 Austrians and their 100 guns were opposed by 22,000 French and their 15 guns. Meanwhile, after the arrival of Desaix, 6,000 men would reinforce Bonaparte's army. Melas split his army into three corps facing the Bormida, in front of Alessandria. In the north FML Ott (Freidrich von Gottesheim's advance guard plus Joseph von Schellenberg and Ludwig Vogelsang's divisions), in the south FML O'Reilly's division, while himself commanded in the center the most important formation (the divisions of Karl Haddick von Futak, Konrad Valentin von Kaim, Peter Morzin and Anton Elsnitz). In front of the Austrian army were stationed, in and to the south of Marengo, the corps of Victor (Chambarlhac and Gardanne's divisions), supported on the left by François Étienne de Kellermann's cavalry and, further to the northeast, by the corps of Lannes (François Watrin's division, Mainoni's brigade) together with two cavalry brigades. To the east of Castel Ceriolo took position Jean-Charles Monnier's division, supported by the Guard, which formed the reserve. Victor was the one who would bear the brunt of the Austrian attack.[6]

Austrian attack

Half-length portrait of General Melas dressed in a white Austrian general's uniform with a decoration on his chest. Melas has white hair and keeps his right hand on his belt and his left one on a table, while looking to the right.
Michael von Melas led the center of the army during the attack, but he mistakenly believed that the battle was over before the arrival of Desaix.

The Austrian troops advanced from Alessandria eastwards across the Bormida river by two bridges debouching in a narrow bend of the river (the river being not easily crossed elsewhere). Poor Austrian staff work prevented any rapid development of their attack and the entire army had to file through a narrow bridgehead.[7] The movement began about 6:00 A.M. with the first shots fired around 8:00 A.M., but the attack was not fully developed until 9:00 A.M.[4]

The 1,200-man Austrian advance guard, under Colonel (Oberst) Johann Maria Philipp Frimont and a division of 3,300 men under FML O'Reilly, pushed the French outposts back and deployed to become the Austrian right wing, driving the enemy from Pedrabona farm, then heading south to tackle the French at La Stortiglione farm.[4] The Austrian center (about 18,000 under Melas) advanced towards Marengo until halted by GdD Gardanne's French infantry deployed in front of the Fontanone stream.[8] On the Austrian left, 7,500 men under FML Peter Ott waited for the road to clear before heading for the village of Castel Ceriolo well to the north of the French positions. This move threatened either an envelopment of the French right, or a further advance to cut the French line of communication with Milan.[9]

Gardanne's men gave a good account of themselves, holding up the Austrian deployment for a considerable time. When Gardanne's division was exhausted, Victor pulled it back behind the Fontanone and committed his second division under GdD Chambarlhac (this officer soon lost his nerve and fled). The French held Marengo village and the line of the Fontanone until about noon, with both flanks in the air. First, at 8:30 A.M., Melas hurled FML Karl Haddick von Futak's division (four battalions) at Victor's defenses, supported by Frimont’s advance guard battery along the stream.[4] Forced into a funnel by the bad ground and Fontanone stream, Haddick’s attack came under fire from two sides and failed, with Haddick being killed. The Austrian commander then committed FML Konrad Valentin von Kaim's division but this attack was also thwarted by 11:00 A.M. Finally, as the French position was reinforced by François Étienne de Kellermann's cavalry and Jean Lannes's formation was on the way, FML Peter Morzin's elite grenadier division was sent in to attack Marengo village.[10] Melas also committed a serious tactical blunder, detaching Generalmajor (GM) Nimptsch's brigade of 2,300 hussars and two artillery batteries back over the Bormida bridge to block the corps of General Louis Gabriel Suchet, which was mistakenly reported around 9:00 A.M. from Acqui Terme to be approaching Alessandria from the south.[11] Besides delaying the crossing of the Austrian left wing, this also meant that, being 30 kilometers away, Nimptsch's brigade would play no part in the battle.[10]

Stalemate in the center around Marengo

Painted portrait of Kellermann while wearing his French blue general uniform with yellow epaulettes, a red sash, and high collar. His hair and eyes are brown and he gazes to the left of the viewer. Kellermann wears three decorations on his chest.
François Étienne de Kellermann played an important role during the battle.

It took Bonaparte (5 kilometers away from Marengo) until about 10 A.M. to recognize that the Austrian activity was not a diversionary attack to cover the anticipated retreat by Melas. His subordinates had brought their troops up in support of Victor's corps. Lannes's corps had deployed on the crucial right flank. GM Friedrich von Bellegarde’s[12] part of Kaim’s division had crossed the Fontanone north of Marengo and occupied La Barbotta farm. Lannes directed Watrin’s infantry to drive Bellegarde back. They briefly crossed the Fontanone before Austrian reserve guns drove the French back. Kellermann's heavy cavalry brigade and the 8th Dragoons took up a covering position on the left, smashing an attempt by GM Giovanni Pilatti's light dragoon brigade which attempted to cross the steep-sided Fontanone at its southern end to envelop Victor's flank.[10] On the right, GdB Pierre Champeaux was killed trying to stop the progress of Ott's column. A small part of the 6ème Légère (6th Light Infantry) occupied Castel Ceriolo to the north, but soon Ott's lead units took it around 11:30 A.M. and began putting pressure on the French right flank. Ott could not see any sign of the expected main French advance from Sale (to the northeast), so he sent GM Freidrich von Gottesheim’s reinforced advance guard to outflank Lannes north of Marengo.[10] By 11 A.M. Bonaparte was on the battlefield. He sent urgent recalls to his recently detached forces and summoned up his last reserves. As they came up, GdD Jean-Charles Monnier's division and the Consular Guard were committed to extend and shore up the French right, rather than to try to hold Marengo where Victor's men were running short of ammunition.[13]

The Austrians break out across the Fontanone

Toward 12:30 P.M. Lannes moved the rest of his force to face Gottesheim in a hook shape, while Kaim attacked again, but this time against Victor’s wings. A Laufbrücke (small bridge) was thrown over the Fontanone and supported by reserve artillery. GM Christoph von Latterman’s grenadiers crossed to engage Olivier Rivaud de la Raffinière’s two demibrigades defending Marengo village, while Bellegarde and Frimont’s four squadrons split Watrin off. Although Rivaud retook the village, O’Reilly had taken Stortiglione by 2:00 P.M., and in the north, Ott prepared to send FML Joseph von Schellenberg’s column to support Gottesheim. After securing the Fontanone bridge, Pilatti’s cavalry crossed but were again charged and defeated by Kellermann. However, Victor could no longer hold his positions and withdrew southeast to the main vine belt (grape vines slung among mulberry trees), Lannes mirroring the move. The Marengo farm garrison was abandoned and at around 2:30 P.M. Melas led two cavalry squadrons to capture them.[10]

Black and white half-length portrait of General Frimont wearing a full hussar-style dress. His black strands of hair conceal his early baldness. He looks to the left of the viewer and keeps his right hand on a table and his left one on the hip, covered by the pelisse. He has multiple decorations on his chest.
Johann Frimont's troops destroyed the Consular Guard infantry.

At about 2:00 P.M. the French attacked Castel Ceriolo and delayed the advance of Schellenberg’s column by attacking its tail.[10] Aided by Frimont, Ott defeated Monnier and forced two-thirds of his command to retreat to the northeast. About the same time, Marengo had fallen to the Austrians, forcing Napoleon's men into a general retreat.[14] As Austrian troops crossed the Fontanone, their guns bombarded the French infantry in the vines. In a bid to further delay Schellenberg’s advance, Bonaparte committed his main Guard battalion and its artillery, which moved to flank the column. After driving off Austrian dragoons with the aid of GdB Champeaux’s remaining cavalry (under Joachim Murat), they engaged the head of the column. After a 15-minute firefight around 4:00 P.M. the Guard were surprised and destroyed by Frimont’s cavalry.[10]

The French fell back c. 3 km and attempted to regroup to hold the village of San Giuliano. With the French outnumbered (nominally 22,000 troops and 15 guns) and driven from their best defensive position, the battle was as good as won by the Austrians. Melas, who was slightly wounded, and 71, handed over command to his chief-of-staff, General Anton Zach, and Kaim. The Austrian center formed into a massive pursuit column in order to chase the French off the battlefield, with the advance guard commanded by GM Franz Saint-Julien. The column formed up around Spinetta, southeast of Marengo, and advanced down the New Road. However, delays in the flanks led to the Austrian army forming a crescent shape with a thinly stretched central sector.[10] On the Austrian right wing, O'Reilly wasted time hunting down a 300-man French detachment led by Achille Dampierre (which was finally captured) and moved southeast. This took his troops out of supporting distance from the Austrian main body.[15] On the Austrian left, Ott hesitated to press hard against the French because GdB Jean Rivaud's small brigade of French cavalry hovered to the north.[16]

French counter-attack

Black and white map of the battle, featuring Castel Ceriolo in the top-left corner and San Giuliano in the lower-right center. French troops are positioned to the left of San Giuliano and extend until to the right of Castel Ceriolo. The Austrian pursuit coloumn advances from the left towards San Giuliano, but is blocked by the arrival of Desaix and Kellermann's charge.
Situation at the beginning of the French counter-attack

However, Desaix, in charge of the force Bonaparte had detached southwards, had hastened his advance and reached a small road junction north of Cascina Grossa (3 kilometers west of San Giuliano).[10] Shortly before 5:00 P.M., he reported to Bonaparte in person with the news that his force (6,000 men and 9 guns of Boudet's division) was not far behind. The story goes that, asked by Bonaparte what he thought of the situation, Desaix replied: "This battle is completely lost. However, there is time to win another."[17]

The French were fast to bring up and deploy the fresh troops in front of San Giuliano, and the Austrians were slow to mount their attack. Boudet and the 9ème Légère were quickly moved on to the exit from the main vine belt, where they surprised the head of Saint-Julien’s column. As the Austrian infantry deployed on the south side of the road, the 9ème Légère conducted a steady withdrawal for 30 minutes back to Desaix’s position. There he had placed GdB Louis Charles de Guénand’s brigade on the north side while most of the remaining French army (Monnier and Lannes) were forming up north from there. The Austrians deployed three artillery batteries on the north side of the road supported by a dragoon regiment.[10] GdB Auguste de Marmont massed the remaining French cannon against the Austrians as they advanced. Boudet's division advanced in line of brigades against the head of the Austrian column, defeating Saint-Julien's leading Austrian brigade. Zach brought forward GM Franz Latterman's grenadier brigade in line and renewed the attack. Faced with a crisis, Napoleon sent Desaix forward again and ordered a cavalry charge requested by Desaix. The 9ème Légère halted to face the main Austrian advance and Marmont's guns blasted the Austrians with grapeshot at close range.[10] Further back, an Austrian ammunition limber exploded. In the temporary heightening of confusion, Lattermann's formation was charged on its left flank by Kellermann's heavy cavalry (ca. 400 men) and disintegrated. At the decisive moment of the battle, Desaix was shot from his horse.[10] Zach and at least 2,000 of his men were taken prisoners.[18]

Oil painting featuring Napoleon in the foreground being presented by a soldier the body of Desaix. Desaix is wearing a white shirt and his chest is exposed to show the wound. Numerous and curious bystanders surround the scene.
Napoleon is presented the body of Desaix

Murat and Kellermann immediately pounced on the supporting Liechtenstein Dragoons who were too slow to respond and routed them as well.[10] The fleeing Austrian horsemen crashed into the ranks of Pilatti's rattled troopers and carried them away. As the mob of terrified cavalry stampeded past them, the exhausted Austrian infantry of the main body lost heart, provoking a wild rush to the rear. The gun teams fled, pursued by French cavalry, while their whole infantry line advanced westward.[19] The second grenadier brigade under GM Franz von Weidenfeld and some unpanicked cavalry delayed Boudet’s advance long enough for O’Reilly’s cavalry to return, and together with Frimont, they mounted a last defense around Marengo village as night fell, allowing the Austrian center to reach safety behind the Bormida.[20] Ott with the Austrian left failed to intervene and found his retreat through Castel Ceriolo blocked by French troops advancing northwest from the center, but managed to fight his way back to the Bormida bridgehead.[21]

The Austrians had lost heavily in the 12 hours of fighting: 15 colours, 40 guns, almost 3,000 taken prisoner, and 6,500 dead or wounded. French casualties (killed and wounded) were on the order of 4,700 and 900 missing or captured, but they retained the battlefield and the strategic initiative.[2] Desaix's body was found among the slain.[22]

Consequences

Bonaparte needed to depart for Paris urgently and the next morning sent Berthier on a surprise visit to Austrian headquarters.[21] Within 24 hours of the battle, Melas entered into negotiations (the Convention of Alessandria) which led to the Austrians evacuating northwestern Italy west of the Ticino river, and suspending military operations in Italy. Bonaparte's position as First Consul was strengthened by the successful outcome of the battle and the preceding campaign. Austria, however, briefly resumed the war with France in the autumn until their forces north of the Alps were defeated at the Battle of Hohenlinden on December 3 by a French army under General Jean Victor Marie Moreau. A last-gasp victory in reality, it was mythologized in an army bulletin, some international propaganda, and three increasingly glamourized "Official Reports" during his rule. The last of these suggested that he had staged a planned withdrawal retaining control of Castel Ceriolo until reinforcements could arrive to complete the victory. Tales were invented about the Guard and the 72ème demibrigade, which had been under his direct control throughout.[21]

Miscellany

Blue street sign with green edges. It says in white: "1er Arrt" and below "RUE DE MARENGO".
Rue de Marengo in Paris is named to commemorate the battle.

Footnotes

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 Benoît, p. 117
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Benoît, p. 122
  3. ↑ Hollins, p. 605-606
  4. ↑ 4.00 4.01 4.02 4.03 4.04 4.05 4.06 4.07 4.08 4.09 4.10 Hollins, p. 606
  5. ↑ Shosenberg, p. 63
  6. ↑ Benoît, p. 117-118
  7. ↑ Arnold, p. 146
  8. ↑ Arnold, p. 149
  9. ↑ Benoît, p. 119
  10. ↑ 10.00 10.01 10.02 10.03 10.04 10.05 10.06 10.07 10.08 10.09 10.10 10.11 10.12 Hollins, p. 607
  11. ↑ Arnold, p. 151
  12. ↑ The brother of Count Heinrich von Bellegarde
  13. ↑ Arnold, p. 158
  14. ↑ Arnold, p. 162
  15. ↑ Arnold, p. 160
  16. ↑ Arnold, p. 173
  17. ↑ Chandler, p. 269
  18. ↑ Arnold, p. 177-180
  19. ↑ Hollins, p. 607-608
  20. ↑ Arnold, p. 180-181
  21. ↑ 21.0 21.1 21.2 Hollins, p. 608
  22. ↑ Benoît, p. 137

References

External links

 
Articles on the French Revolution
Pre-Revolution · Causes of the Revolution · National Constituent Assembly · Constitutional Monarchy · Convention · Directoire (Council of Five Hundred and Council of Ancients) · succeeded by Consulate