The Combat At Peschiera

6 August 1796

Personal Note and Abbreviations

by Berhard Voykowitsch

I have been an enthusiast of military history for years. Though many periods have attracted my interest during the last years it has narrowed to the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic ones.

Peschiera's impressive main gate, situated at the northern end of town, obliged any income to cross over the river Mincio (in foreground).

In Austria this still is (and probably always will be) a quite lonely affair. Yet when in March 1996 during one of my dropins into the Kriegsarchiv I mentioned "Castigilone" to one of the archive staff's ladies she told me that a young Englishman had done research at the archive on that very battle and had just sent in four magazines containing the fruits of his efforts.

The Englishman was Mr. John Walsh and the magazines were First Empires. I rejoiced that by such an accident I got to know an international Napoleonic forum. Obviously there were many more people in the world sharing my passion.

Mr.Walsh's articles issues 23,24,25 and 26 on the 1796 campaign ended up like this: "Although the battles are fairly well known by name, finding detailed information about them, especially orders of battle, proved almost impossible. It appears that very little has : been written compared to the later battles of the Empire, especially when it comes to information about the Austrian Army.

Therefore, I started to look for the information lacking. I already knew that it is no use to look for this kind of information in books. Information, can only be gathered from the original Austrian flies. Thus I started to work though the 25 boxes of the 1796 campaign. Yet orders even orders of battle turned out to have not been executed, units disappeared .... Thus, it took longer than I at first had thought and the answers drafted grew and grew in size: then by another accident I found French maps taken (stolen?) from French archives by the Austrians during their 1814 occupation of Paris. They are so beautiful and actually reveal the exact French order of battle that I decided to make a whole book of my findings and to put a scan of the maps into it. Castiglione will be out soon and I hope to be able to do all the battles of the 1796 Italian campaign and probably some more.

Abbreviations and Explanations:

bn battalion
sqn squadron
coy. company
IR Infantrie-Regiment,
kB kombiniertes (Grenz)-Batallion, combined Grenz battalion
KR Kurassier-Regiment
DR Dragoner Regiment
LR Chevauxleger Regiment
HR Husaren-Regiment
UR Ulanen-Regiment
AR Artillerie-Regiment
IFC Infantrie-Frei-Corps
db deml-brigade de ligne
dbl demi-brigade legere
rc regiment de cavalerie
rd regiment de dragons
rch regiment de chasseurs
rh regiment de hussards
FM Feld-Marschall. field marshal
GdI General der Infantrie
GdC General der Cavalerie
FZM Feld-Zeug-Meister, master of the field ordnance, In Austria also general of infantry
FML Feld-Marschall-Leutnant, until 1918 the Austrian equivalent for lieutenantgeneral
GFWM General-Feld-Wacht-Melster, up to 1800 the Austrian equivalent for majorgeneral
GM General-Major, majorgeneral
O Obrist, colonel
OL Obrist-Leutnant, lieutenant-colonel
OWM Obrist-Wacht-Meister, up to 1800 Austrian equivalent for major
GD general de division, GB, general de brigade, CB, chef de brigade, French revolutionary equivalent for colonel
MTO Maria-Theresien-Orden highest military order of Habsburg Austria, awarded for acting on own initiative

The Turk War 1788-91, war between Austria and the Ottoman Empire ended by the peace of Sistowa (Austria's ally Russia fought 1787-1792)

Ofen = old name for Buda, western (hill) side of the Hungarian capital Budapest

More Peschiera

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