The Combat At Peschiera

6 August 1796

Introduction

by Berhard Voykowitsch

1.1 Place of events within the Napoleonic Wars

"Peschiera? Combat of Peschiera? Never heard of it" would be the common answer even of a Napoleonic enthusiast to a question regarding Peschiera. Avid readers of AON might remember that there was some fighting in connection with the 1814 battle of the Mincio there. Yet the combat of Peschiera was the dot to the "i" (to use a German proverb) to Napoleon's success in the midsummer 1796 Castiglione campaign - a subcampaign of Napoleon's famous First Italian Campaign 1796-97. Little is still known about the engagements of the 1796 campaign especially as regards units involved on both sides, unit strength and losses. Making use of the vast material of the Kriegsarchiv in Vienna, Austria I found the Austrian orders of battle and the Austrian reports. A visit to the French Service Historique de l'Armee de Terre (SHAT) at the Chateau de Vincennes in Paris allowed me to establish the same standard of research for the French side.

The general access will be supplemented by some translations of French and Austrian reports to give the sub-unit commander's view. Their style (e.g. length of sentences, abbreviations and orthography) was retained to transmit the late 18th century smell.

Peschiera. The photograph shows the northeastern corner of the fortress as Bajalich's troops might have seen it if they had penetrated that far. Austrian Gen. Bajalich blockaded Peschiera 31 July - 6 August 1796 when he was defeated by Massena's troops emerging from the fortress. In the foreground the Mincio flows silently his way. The photograph allows to guess what a tremendous obstacle the Mincio presented to a siege. When the Austrians laid siege to the fortress in 1799 they could do this only on Peschiera's southern front. The Mincio not only covers Peschiera's northern front; as the map shows another arm goes right through the fortress!

For those readers who want to supplement their knowledge on the Castiglione campaign I suggest a reread of John Walsh's article on the Castiglione campaign in First Empire 23. The West Point Military Atlas of the Napoleonic Wars and Chandler's Campaigns of Napoleon also offer good surveys.

1.2 The Site of the Combat

Peschiera's southern front. Wheras the additional forts Napoleon built from 1805-1814 as well as an Austrian fort built after 1850 have falled victim to railway construction, the core pentagon fortifications of Peschiera persis until today and offer a perfect example of a bastionized system ofthe Italian manner.

Today Peschiera is a thriving summer resort of the Lake Garda tourism. in spite of this, the beautiful five star early modern times fortifications have survived. Although a small fortress its site in the midst of the Mincio made Peschiera a strong place difficult invest. This was proven by the long siege it endured when the Austrians had to retake it during the 1799 campaign in Italy. In 1796 it was a fortress of the officially neutral oligarchic Republic of Venice. Its ramparts were in a bad condition and it was manned only with a mini-garrison of Venetian invalids. When the Austrian after their defeat at Lodi (10 May 1796) retreated behind the Mincio they overawed the Venetian garrison. When the French managed to break through the Mincio-line (action of Borghetto 30 May 1796) the Austrians retreated into the Tirol to await reinforcements from Germany under Wurmser. Peschiera was left without garrison and thus fell into French hands.

More Peschiera

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