The Battle of Camposanto
February 8, 1743

(The Battle of the Cemetery)

By Paul R. Petri


Additional Notes From Paul Petri

I was able to locate three different sources for the order of battle listed above. One was in the original Dragona article, a second I obtained from George Nafziger, and the third was in Osterreichischer Erbfolgekrieg Vlll which was kindly provided to me by Dale Wood. I am fairly confident that the Spanish order of baltle is quite accurate. I am not so certain about the Austro-Sardinian forces. It would be safe to say that the Partisan formation and the Eslavones are best guesses, as exact numbers are simply not known.

The Partisan formation is a curious group. I imagine they are some form of militia, however, at the time of this writing I have no uniform or military structure information on these troops. I can only say that they were very adept at loading their weapons as they tied up twelve Spanish line units, the Commander of the Army, and some light infantry formations for the entire length of the battle. So they must have had some idea as to what they were doing. If anyone else has any other information on the battle, I would like to see it sent in for publication in this Journal.

Editor's Note

I regret that space considerations forced me to delete some of the sub-generals and "Marshal de Camps" that Paul had listed in his order of battle. If anyone would like to have the full translated OB, as compiled by Paul, then please send me a self-addressed stamped business size (the large kind please) envelope and I will send you the two page OB for Camposanto.

The abbreviation FLM stands for Feldmarschall and LT is of course Lieutenant. Most of the regiments listed as Sardinian are probably Piedmontese infantry and cavalry. The sovereign was the King of Sardinia, but the Duke of Piedmont, so the convention of naming the troops after the country in which he has a royal title is used throughout.

Finally, after reading Paul's translation, it is my guess that the Eslavones are in fact Slav or Croat infantry in the Austrian service.

The Battle of Camposanto

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© Copyright 1996 by James E. Purky

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