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MARENGO REVISITED
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BICENTENNIAL REVIEW |
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Battle
Summary
The Battle of Marengo began early on the morning
of June 14, 1800, when Austrian Army troops under the command of Lieutenant
General Michael Melas crossed the Bormida River in Northern Italy and attacked
several isolated divisions of a French army commanded by First Consul Napoleon
Bonaparte. Earlier that morning Napoleon had sent part of his strength away to
the north and south in the belief that Melas would attempt to circumvent the
approaching French Army. This inaccurate appraisal of his enemy's intent nearly
spelled disaster, for as the Austrian Army of Italy marched out of their
bridgehead east of the city of Alessandria the French Army lay scattered before
them.
The first serious fighting of the day was actually delayed until
long after dawn because of the constricted Austrian bridgehead and swampy
terrain which lay beyond. Only around mid-morning did Austrian Major General
Andreas O'Reilly's attacking columns deploy and lash out at Lieutenant General
Claude Victor Perrin's infantry, all of whom had been moved into a defense line
which ran along Fontanone Creek. Also in the vicinity was Brigadier General
Francois Kellermann with 600 well mounted French heavy cavalry. Kellermann's
presence on Victor's left flank was to save the situation many times that
day.
As the mid-morning Austrian attacks gained in intensity and scope,
confused fighting broke out on both flanks of Victor's positions. O'Reilly's
command, joined by those of Major Generals Conrad Kaim and Karl Haddik,
continued to be frustrated by a combination of rough terrain and tenacious
French resistance. Far away to the east at Torre di Garrofoli, Napoleon
considered the attack across the Bormida to be an enemy diversion. Fortunately
for Victor, French Lieutenant General Jean Lannes helped to stabilize the
situation by moving Major General Watrin's infantry division and Brigadier
General Champeaux's cavalry into the fight on his own initiative.
| Napoleon's Uniform |
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As the long hot morning passed, brutal fighting
continued to rage among the clogged passages of the Fontanone and the adjoining
groves and houses. Austrian Major Generals Karl Ott and Anton Elsnitz finally
managed the tight passage through the bridgehead area and moved past Lannes'
northern flank toward the town of Castel Ceriolo. Slowly but surely, Melas
managed to crush the French right flank back on itself. All he needed was more
time to develop his attacks against the sturdy defensive positions to which the
French Army tenaciously clung. Back at Torre di Garofoli, increasingly
desperate battle reports and the prolonged rumble of fighting in the direction
of Marengo, coupled with revelations about the state of the Austrian
bridgehead ¹ convinced Napoleon that Victor and
Lannes were indeed facing the main Austrian Army. Once this conclusion was
reached, orders of recall were immediately dispatched to the two divisions of
infantry which had left the army early that morning. Only the infantry division
of Major General Boudet under overall command of Lieutenant General Louis
Desaix was within recall range, and those troops were still hours
away.
Morning turned into afternoon, and the Austrian assaults against
Victor and Lannes' tattered lines were joined by detachments of Ott's men
moving in from the north. Each time the Austrians attacked, they penetrated a
little further into the French defenses until French units began withdrawing on
their own initiative. At that point, a fighting withdrawal began, covered by
numerous stiffly contested cavalry charges by Kellermann and Champeaux's
brigades. As the embattled French line withdrew to the vineyards east of
Marengo, Napoleon arrived with the small units of Consular Guard infantry and
cavalry. As a last resort, both the guard infantry and part of Major General
Jean Monnier's infantry division were thrown into the yawning breaches in the
French lines in a desperate effort to buy time for Victor and Lannes'
withdrawing men. With portions of Monnier's division refusing to move forward,
and the covering troops quickly engaged, often from several directions, the
fact that Napoleon's officers extracted their men from the field of battle
without a complete rout is little short of amazing.
Amazing
withdrawals, however, do not win battles. By mid-afternoon all of the French
divisional commands present on the field limped back toward a new position just
west of San Guiliano. The 70 year old Melas pronounced the French Army beaten
and tasked his chief of staff, Major General Anton Zach, with the pursuit of
their battered foe. At roughly the same time that Melas transferred battle
command to Zach, Napoleon's friend and confidant Desaix arrived with the
encouraging announcement that Boudet's division was not far behind.
The
next phase of the battle carried on into the late afternoon, and was destined
to make history. As French headquarters staffers rode among the formations
whipping troops back to their units, the remaining line cavalry moved into new
positions to support Boudet's division, which entered the battle-line west of
San Guiliano. During the lull in fighting which had enabled French headquarters
to reform the army, Zach and the other Austrian commanders allowed their men
the luxury of a short break to forage for meals. This may have been unavoidable
considering the hot weather and severe casualties suffered by Austrian officers
during the course of the fighting. ²
| French General Louis Desaix |
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Zach finally caught up with the reformed French Army
after a lengthy delay and pursuit. In imitation of the morning's combat Zach
engaged in a head-on assault which attempted to break the reforming French. It
did not go especially well for him. One of the Austrian infantry regiments was
forced back by Desaix's fresh infantry, and after a short delay the attack
resumed only to be met by a full counter-attack from Desaix who led forward
Boudet's division in a desperate assault. The counter-attack began well but
Desaix was suddenly shot from his saddle. Boudet's division continued the
attack, pushing back the Austrians and penetrating their second defense line
until they were forced to stop and engage fresh Austrian grenadiers. At this
moment, as the battle hung in the balance, Kellermann's brigade of heavy
cavalry entered the fray, charging into the left flank of the main Austrian
pursuit column and sabering anyone who wasn't French. To the astonishment of
all, the 2,000 Austrians at the front of the pursuit column threw down their
weapons and surrendered, allowing Zach to be captured in the process.
This singular event changed the entire complexion of the battle. The
surviving French cavalry made a last effort in conjunction with Boudet's
division, which took advantage of the dislocation caused by the beheading of
the Austrian pursuit column. As panic spread among the slowly withdrawing
Austrians a few brave formations maintained a rearguard and managed to hold
Marengo until evening, when they withdrew to their starting positions of that
morning.
So ended the Battle of Marengo, possibly one of the strangest
and certainly one of the most crucial engagements of the Napoleonic Wars. Both
sides fought tenaciously and with great professionalism, both
commanders-in-chief made decisions for which they were later criticized and
both armies continued in periodic conflict for another 15 years. When pondering
the actions of this much studied battle, future readers are asked to keep in
mind the appallingly difficult nature of combat and the benefits of hindsight,
which are rarely apparent to those sweating in combat.  |
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