Battle of Marengo

Napoleon and the bulk of the Reserve Army arrived between San Giuliano and Tortona on 13 June, after passing the Scrivia, enlarged by recent rains. The console was particularly concerned because of the small numbers of its cavalry: the reconnaissance and perlustration operations of the area were therefore impossible. While not able to rely on the cavalry, Napoleon decided to send Victor's body into avant-garde, asking the general to occupy the town of Marengo and to make a brief search along the Bormida to verify the presence of enemy forces. Victor found himself in front of a weak rearguard, about 3000-4000 Austrians, who managed to drive towards Alessandria without too much difficulty. Gardanne would have wanted to continue the pursuit oltra la Bormida, but the passage on the river was heavily covered by enemy artillery. With regard to his reconnaissance on the Bormida, this resulted in a negative outcome: no trace of other major Austrian departments.^{[25][26][27][28]}

This new information dismissed Bonaparte: if von Melas was not in Alessandria but had left the town of Marengo covered, it could have moved only southward, towards Genoa, where the forces of Hohenzollern were located. Once in Liguria he could then cross the Apennines again and arrive in Mantua after a long march or, thanks to the support of the English fleet, mount a resistance in the Ligurian capital.^[25] As a result, Napoleon decided to send Desaix, just arrived from Egypt, with the Boudet division at Rivalta to cut them off to Novi Ligure, Acqui Terme and Liguria. In the same way, to protect his right flank, he sent Monnier's division towards Castelnuovo Scrivia.^[29] Napoleon, who maintained a certain sense of restlessness, at some point manifested his intention to return to Pontecurone, to receive updates on the divisions of La Poype and Moncey, but the flooding of the Scrivia forced him to remain in Torre Garofoli, his headquarters near Tortona.^[30][31]

The positioning of his troops was the following:

• the Gardanne division, sent forward by Victor, occupied the Pederbona farmhouse,^[32] between Bormida and Marengo;^[28][29]
• the rest of Victor's forces, constituted by the Chambarlhac division, are located in Marengo;
• the cavalry of General Kellermann was behind the village while that of Champeaux covered the road to Sale;
• Lannes was in the plain of Marengo, near San Giuliano, to form a second line of defense a few kilometers behind Victor;
• Monnier and his division remained on the Scrivia;
• Napoleon along with the Consular Guard was in reserve at Torre Garofoli;
• the division under Desaix's command was moving away in the direction of Rivalta.^{[25][28][30][33]}

These forces were accompanied by 40 guns. However, Napoleon for the next day imagined obtaining information about Austrians and clearing his ideas on their intentions, certainly not to engage in battle.^[25] Leaving his men so scattered, the French commander stood at a big risk: if he knew that the Austrians intended to attack him, he would probably have kept Desaix's forces close and would call La Poype from Ticino.^[34]

The army at the beginning of the battle was so composed:^[35]

After the defeat of Ott in Montebello, the French landed on the Austrian army's way to Stradella, which would quickly lead them to Mantua.^[36] As he could no longer escape the enveloping French maneuver without defeating them in open field, von Melas, puzzled on the actions to be taken he summoned a war council on June 12.^[37] The Austrian army officers were able to conceive only three possible plans given the situation:

• cross the Po to Valenza and force a passage on Ticino to Pavia;
• to reach Genoa and prepare for a siege;
• immediately engage in battle with the French.

With little surprise, considering that the first two plans proposed were of difficult realization and poor chances of success, the majority of Austrian officers, including the same von Melas, decided to opt for an immediate fight.^[36] The Austrians could count on about 31000 men, of whom at least 7000 were cavalry, and over 200 cannons:^[38][39] it was, at least theoretically, an army well suited to fight on an open plane like that in front of Alessandria.^[38]

The von Melas plan consisted first of all in moving 8000 men under the command of Ott on the left, to sink towards Sale. He himself, with the main body, composed of divisions of Hadik, Kaim, Morzin and Elsnitz (about 20000 men), he would march on Marengo and San Giuliano, then fold on the left to overwhelm the opposite enemy to Ott. Finally, O'Reilly on the right, advancing with 3000 men on La Stortigliona, would have covered the right of the main body and would have supported him by attacking the enemy on his side,^[40][41] keeping ready to move towards Acqui if anything Suchet's forces were in the south.^[40] Obviously, the loss of Marengo and the withdrawal of the vanguard on the bridgehead of Bormida made more uncertain the success of this plan, based on the assumption that the army would start completely lined up by the right bank of the Bormida.^[41]

It should be noted that not all men at the disposal of von Melas enjoyed full health: the men of Elsnitz, for example, had returned only a few days before the Var, after facing a week of forced marches and fighting against the forces of Suchet. Only a group of 3000-4000 garters were in a position to fight while the rest of his soldiers were relegated to the garrison of Alessandria.^[42]

The army at the beginning of the battle was so composed:

As for the artillery, however, the Austrians brought 92 guns to the battlefield,^[43][44] although they still had about a hundred Alessandria.

Up the map of the arrangement of the battle of Marengo, down the table of the relationship of the confrontation

At five o'clock in the morning of 14 June, shortly after dawn, the imperial army started. The bulk of the Austrian forces had been bivaccinating Alessandria and had to pass the Bormida on a single bridge, slowing down considerably the Austrian attack. The O'Reilly division, anticipated by Colonel Frimont's column, was the first to pass the bridge and attack General Gardanne's outpost near Pederbona. Supported by the fire of 20 cannons, Austrians were right of the French division, which despite everything fought valiantly, and repelled it to nearby Marengo. The fight, which began at 8:00 a.m., lasted for almost two hours before the French were forced to grant land to avoid being encircled. Victor, after hearing the first signs of the clashes, made Chambarlhac prepare for a first concrete resistance. Ott and Elsnitz would head north, form the extreme left of the Austrian side, pointing to Castelceriolo; Hadik and Kaim would go to form the center with their divisions while O'Reilly, after taking the Pederbona cascina, would be placed on the right.^{[29][45][46][47]} Desaix, alerted by the Austrian cannon echoes, stopped his march.^[48] Instead Bonaparte, at least in the beginning, considered them only a diversion of the enemy and did not overly care to investigate what was happening.^[49]

While the Austrians used precious time to deploy properly and place their batteries, the French prepared to defend Marengo. In front of the village there was a canal, the Fontanone, which enlarged from the rains went to form the main line of defense that Victor's body went to protect. Behind the infantry, General Kellermann's cavalry units were placed on the French left and Chapeaux on the right. Further south, instead, near the farmhouse La Stortigliona, a small group of Republican soldiers would try to prevent O'Reilly from continuing in its advanced state. Obviously, these measures would not have been enough to hold the entire Austrian army on place, but they had the sole purpose of earning sufficient time to allow other French divisions to arrive in place and support Victor's efforts.^[50] At 8:00 a.m., the first Austrian attack on the French defences of Fontanone finally arrived: General Hadik, who advanced against Victor's center at the head of the Bellegarde brigade under the protection of five artillery batteries. Behind him, General Kaim was ready to support his effort while Ott, after waiting for the rest of the army to stand and that the road to Castelceriolo was free, moved northward, threatening to circumvent the French line from the north.^[51] Hadik threw his men in addition to the canal, but was welcomed by the bullets and bayonets of the Rivaud brigade, who managed not only to arrest the advance of the imperials but also to hunt them back. Despite the fire of the enemy guns being pointed to the position of Rivaud, on the left of Marengo, the French continued with gunfire and were able to bring back the enemy to the other side in the canal. During this phase of the clashes, General Hadik, who led his troops from the first lines, was struck by a bullet, dying on the blow. His division ended with the withdrawal in disorder and the command of operations on Fontanone passed to Kaim.^[52]

Between 9 am and 10 pm, the first relations arrived before Bonaparte who finally convinced himself that a battle was taking place in Marengo. Immediately, he ordered both the La Poype division and the Desaix division. La Poype, who was in Valenza, received the message too late; Desaix, however, less than a twenty-mile distance, received the message and immediately marched towards Marengo. In turn he sent a courier to Napoleon: he and his division would arrive on the battlefield around 17.^[54] In the meantime, even for the greater Austrian state there were some scratches to be resolved: a report just arrived informed of the presence of General Suchet's forces near Acqui. Not being able to allow the arrival of other French divisions on the battlefield, Melas was forced to detach a body of 2200 men under General Nimsch's command to block the threat.^[48][55][56] In fact, Suchet had not arrived at Acqui and sighted troops were part of a small vanguard.^[48]

In the meantime, Bellegarde's brigade had gathered to itself the remains of Hadik's forces and had sided along the Fontanone, covering Kaim's left. Bellegarde managed to cross the Fontanone, passing in a point north of Marengo, so as to completely evade the French disembarkation of Victor's divisions. His forces occupied the La Barbotta farm. Lannes, who came to strengthen Victor a Marengo's men, brought forward the Watrin division, and engaged against Bellegarde: the Austrians were quickly rejected in addition to Fontanone.^[57] Further south, however, not far from La Stortigliona, General Pilati had managed, with great difficulty, to open a gap between the French lines and to cross the Fontanone with a regiment of dragons. The Austrians were about to charge the French infantry when the providential intervention of Kellermann's cavalry, which had noticed the appearance of the imperials, completely destroyed enemy formation. Only a few of the soldiers of Pilates managed to return to the Austrian bank of Fontanone.^[58] In those same moments, the Republicans who defended La Stortigliona were overwhelmed by the Austrian assault and the cascina fell into imperial hands.^[58]

Unfortunately for the French, Ott had finally managed to get to Castelceriolo, virtually defenseless, and now threatened the side of the French. Lannes sent his cavalry reserves to counter them:^[58][59][60] General Chapeux twice charged the forces of Ott, who also continued their march forward. During one of these charges, Chapeux was severely wounded; he died a few days later.^[29][48][59] Coming back to Marengo, Bellegarde's forces managed to cross the canal and compete for Victor's men. It was General Rivaud who took them away, taking over the village's possession: both Rivaud and the Austrian general Lattermann were wounded at this stage.^[48][61] The Austrian pressure finally began to bear fruit: the artillery of de la Marselle put in extreme difficulty the men of Chambarlhac at Marengo, who was forced to reverse.^[48] In fact, after hours of fighting under the constant bombardment by the enemy artillery and with the ammunition now poor Victor's forces began to yield and, though slowly, they began to fold.^[62] Behind, Victor discovered the left flank of Lannes, whose position became vulnerable. The general immediately gave the order to fold in order to avoid unnecessarily exposing himself to the Austrians.^[63] They began to pour into mass on the other side of Fontanone, forcing the whole French line to retract. Among the prisoners was General Rivaud.^[48]

Around 11 am, Bonaparte finally managed to reach Marengo with reinforcements: he had the Monnier division, the Consular Guard and two cavalry regiments, for a total of 7000 about men, however insufficient to fill the gap of forces between the two sides. A few moments were enough to take a picture of the situation and take appropriate measures: he understood that the main threat was given by Ott's men. He gave his orders to General Dupont and sent the brigade of Carra Saint-Cyr, belonging to the Monnier division, to Castelceriolo to hold them.^{[48][63][64][65]} The impact of the men of this brigade was remarkable: Ott's advance was arrested and the pressure of the Austrians on Lannes' divisions decreased considerably.^[66][67] Later, he dismissed the Consular Guard squarely and sent it against the enemy cavalry of Schellenberg. These measures, although initially effective, failed to stop the Austrian moment: Ott, recalled part of the cavalry, managed to expel Carra Saint-Cyr from Castelceriolo and forced the French to retire to Villanova while the Consular Guard, turned on his side by Gottesheim's men while he was engaged in colliding with the dragons of Lobkowitz, suffered heavy losses and struggled.^{[60][63][65][67]}

With the Victor division now exhausted and in the process of performing a disorderly retreat, Napoleon ordered Murat to protect the center of the line as he could. French conduct during the retreat, especially that of Lannes' men was remarkable: while folding, they continued to respond to Austrian attacks, prolonging the fight for at least two hours,^[63] while the rest of the French forces, especially Victor's, gathered behind San Giuliano.^[64] The French line, which was at least three kilometres, passed from Marengo to San Giuliano, and the forces of Monnier retreated further north towards Villanova, leaving room for Ott's advance.^[68] Even the men of Lannes, tired and demoralized, gathered in front of the same town.^[63] In all this fringe, Bonaparte held a watchful eye on the rear, waiting for the arrival of Desaix or La Poype.^[69][70]

The efforts of Lannes and Bonaparte, in conclusion, were not enough and soon the entire line followed Victor, moving towards San Giuliano with a lot of order.^[69] If the Austrian cavalry had not been heavily weakened during the previous hours, given the destruction of the Pilate brigade and Nimsch's removal, Commander von Melas could have attempted a bypassing manoeuvre and ended the confrontation with a rapid victory.^[68] Elsnitz led several charges against the retreating French forces, but Republicans resisted.^[64] He believed that he had the victory at hand, towards two o'clock in the afternoon von Melas, exhausted by the heat and was slightly wounded during the battle, retired to Alessandria to lay down a report of his victory, leaving command on the field to his chief major state, General von Zach. Around four o'clock in the afternoon, the replacement of von Melas continued in advance, bringing his army over Cascina Grossa, while the French, almost a kilometre distant, continued in their retreat.^[71] By now his men waited for only two possible orders: to continue the march or to stop on the battlefield and celebrate victory.^[72]

Von Zach brought his 6000 men at the Republican positions in column: before there was the Brigade Saint-Julien, followed by the grenadiers of Lattermann and the dragons of Lichtenstein; behind them, about half a kilometer westward, there was the Kaim division, with the brigades Knesevich, Bellegarde and de la Marselle. At the same distance, even further back, was the reserve, consisting of the Weidenfeld grenades and a cavalry brigade. On the sides, de Briey took the road to Cassina Grossa with three battalions while, further north, Ott continued towards Villanova, then taking the direction of Villa Ghilani.^[72] This provision, in addition to requiring different time to be adopted,^[70] He left the individual brigades too far away from each other to be able to support one another.^[73] They were the four in the afternoon when he began his movement: the imperials were tired, especially the departments from Nice and Liguria, and not even arranged in a good order, but convinced that the French were now defeated and unable to react moved towards San Giuliano.^[70]

The French, on the other hand, were demoralized and exhausted. Lannes, retired between Villanova and Buschetta, was exchanging a few cannon shots with the vanguard of Frimont and Ott; Victor, taking advantage of San Giuliano's throat, had gathered 2 or 3 thousand men under the protection of the cavalry of Kellermann and Champeaux; Monnier had folded following the rest of the army. The cavalry brigade of Rivaud, which had left Sale, finally went towards Piovera.^[74] The forces of General Desaix began to be seen near San Giuliano: their appearance was enough to make the morale of other republicans impede. Desaix came immediately to interview with other officers: the opinion of the majority was to accept defeat and save the remaining troops but neither Napoleon nor the commander of the Boudet division were of this view. Specifically, Desaix believed that there was still enough time to resume the fight and end the day with a victory.^[75] Using his usual charisma and energetic style, Napoleon turned directly to his men saying:

Bonaparte immediately enlisted the division of Desaix and the rest of his troops around San Giuliano. Desaix was deployed in front of the main road, the one on which the Austrians advanced. On his right there were Lannes, Monnier and the Consular Guard; behind him was Victor. Kellerman's cavalry brigade was placed on the left and behind Desaix, and the Champeaux brigade on the right and behind Lannes.^[75][76][77] All the remaining cannons, which were added to the Boudet division, were put to the right of Desaix and entrusted to General Marmont.^[73]

When von Zach and his soldiers were sufficiently close to San Giuliano, Marmont opened fire of his battery against them, hitting them repeatedly. At the same time, escaping from the village, the entire division of Desaix poured on the first two rows of the Austrian avant-garde. Completely surprised by the mass of soldiers who had just arrived against them, they gave themselves to a disorderly escape, leaving Lattermann's grenadiers to suffer shock with the French. Von Zach, who personally commanded the brigade temporarily stopped the French. The same cannot be said of Lichtenstein's cavalry, which was loaded by Kellermann quickly diluted. Unfortunately, Desaix, who had been leading his troops and bravely led the attack from the first lines, was struck by a bullet to the heart, dying on the blow. The general's death prompted the Republicans to fight more vigorously, in an attempt to avenge their commander.^[78][79] The Boudet division struggled to have reason for Lattermann's grenadiers until Kellermann's cavalry, after liberating the Austrian counterpart, rushed on their side: far from other departments and hard pressed, almost 2000 Austrians laid down their weapons. Among the captured was von Zach himself.^[78][80][81]

The success of the Boudet division dragged the rest of the French army: Lannes, having seen the successes of his colleague, moved quickly into the space between Kaim and Ott, then turning his attention to the troops of the first commander: the vanguard of Kaim, formed by the brigade Pilati, seeing first the cavalry of Lichtenstein beat in retreat and then standing before the rapidly advanced French, gave their example. Kaim tried to deploy his battalions but Kellermann charged them, throwing them into the disorder and making prisoners inception. The rest of the Austrian army, without any indication and equally surprised by the unexpected attack of the Republicans, fled, trying to reach the bridges on Bormida and return to Alessandria. In less than an hour, the French resumed the ground that the Austrians had severely conquered in a struggle lasting throughout the rest of the day. The advance of the French did not stop and soon arrived to Marengo, where Melas, who was franticly back on the battlefield, had collected his forces and hoped to maintain his position. It was not so: the French divisions arrived quickly and expelled the remains of the imperial army, forcing the few Austrian departments remaining in the plain of Alessandria to abandon the position and return to the walls of the nearby town. Only the forces of O'Reilly and Weidenfeld remained temporarily in Spinetta. They also began to lose ground: they initially defended near the Pederbona but with the passing of time they were forced to retreat beyond the Bormida.^[81][82][83] The same was that of Ott: being against the forces of Lannes, Monnier and Rivaud, he continued to retreat, always in perfect order, until he reached the gates of Alessandria, where he returned before being further attacked by the French after helping the last battalions left outside the walls to fold with order.^[81][82][84] At ten o'clock in the evening, all Austrians had returned to Alessandria.^[85]

Napoleon, as soon as he received the news of his friend Desaix's death, was tremendously discouraged. Desaix's body remained lost for a long time between the thousands of soldiers who fell into battle, but was later identified because of his clothing, being in fact the general usually wearing civilian clothes under the uniform. Napoleon took care of tumulating his friend in the hospice of the Piccolo San Bernardo hill, letting it be a place at the height of his fellow fallen into battle, making erect a monument to his memory.^[86] Curiosously, that same day, in Egypt the commander Kléber, friend and close collaborator of Desaix, was killed by a Syrian student.^[87]

For a fortuitous case, General Soult, after the surrender of Genoa, was to Alessandria, where he was admitted to treat some serious injuries suffered during the siege of the Ligurian city. Close enough to hear the noise of the battle, he described his experience in his memoirs, in which he tells about his dialogue with an Austrian doctor shocked by the outcome of the battle. After the Austrian surrender, in order to continue on-site care, he was treated as a prisoner of war.^[98]

A Spinetta Marengo, fraction of Alessandria, stands the Marengo Museum, located inside Villa Delavo. The Museum of the Battle of Marengo is the oldest Napoleonic museum in the world, founded in 1847 inside Villa Delavo in Spinetta Marengo; recounts the political and military preparation for the event of 14 June 1800, and analyzes the causes and effects of the battle, both for pre-unification Italy and for the whole of Europe. Every year a historical re-enactment of the Battle of Marengo is organised, consisting of movements of troops in costume, with the participation of the Italian and French Napoleonic clubs. The museum has an enclosed park with inside a chapel of the unknown soldier containing some remains of 2000 Soldiers died only on the day of June 14, 1800 in the battle. In the park there is also a 4 meters high column with a Napoleonic eagle on top of the battle era. It was first removed under the Austrian domination and then found by Gabriele D'Annunzio is not known as in the city of Rijeka and relocated in 1922 in the park of the museum of Marengo during the Kingdom of Italy.

Napoleon tried to make sure his victory was not forgotten, so in addition to the propaganda campaign, he entrusted General Chasseloup with building a pyramid on the site of the battle. On May 5, 1805 a ceremony took place on the field of Marengo. Napoleon, dressed in the uniform that he wore on June 14, 1800, together with Empress Josephine sitting on a throne placed under a tent, cured a military parade. Chasseloup gave Napoleon the foundation stone, on which it was written: "Napoleon, emperor of the French and king of Italy, to the ridge of the defenders of the homeland who lost the day of Marengo". This pyramid was actually part of a very ambitious project aimed at glorifying Bonaparte's conquests in Italy. The field of Marengo had to become the site of a "citizenship city" whose avenues, so called by Italian battles, converged towards the pyramid. In the end, the project was abandoned in 1815 and the stones recovered by farmers. It was also removed the column erected in 1801, except to be restored in 1922.

In the territory of San Giuliano Vecchio, in via Piacenza, near the area called already at the time of the battle "Vigna Santa", is situated a small memorial dedicated to the valiant general Desaix dead in the battle.^[99] General Louis Charles Antoine Desaix, based on the most reliable testimonies of the time, was killed by a muskete bullet in the area between Cascina Grossa, San Giuliano Vecchio and Torre Garofoli. The general was found at the evening of 14 June 1800 dressed only in a white shirt, robbed of other garments, from his Savary field helper and transported by them wrapped in a cloak in rump to a horse until Napoleon's headquarters in Torre Garofoli.

Out from Alessandria in the direction of Spinetta Marengo, just before the bridge on the Bormida river, there is a platanum, called for the purpose of the Platian Napoleon, that the tradition wants was planted in 1800 by Napoleon to honor the approximately 2000 dead soldiers on the day of battle and 10000 wounded by both sides, of which 7000 They died later because of the serious injuries and infections that medicine of time could not cure.^[100] A plaque near this platano attests its historicity. It is over 200 years old and is about 40 meters tall; its leafs cover an area of approximately 400 m2 when it is spring/summer.

The "Pool alla Marengo", prepared with shrimps of river, eggs and mushrooms, was cooked for Napoleon who was greedy of chicken; the tradition wants that, short of supplies, the cook of French troops Dunand had opted for this strange combination that the French general found of his taste.

The steward also prepared a dessert with the few things available in the kitchen. In fact, having at its disposal the corn flour processed a dessert that called "polenta", made also with raisins, almond paste and maraschino. Pleasant to Napoleon this sweet developed in Alessandria and later (in 1900) it was called "Polenta del Marengo" and finally patented.

It is said that General Lasalle composed Fanchon, considered the song of Napoleonic soldiers, also known as The Madelon de Marengo or Le Chant des Marie-Louise, during the meal that followed the battle and in which Bonaparte participated.^[101]

The Battle of Marengo is also a composition for piano or organ of the French composer Bernard Viguerie. It is a descriptive music that narrates, in fact, the Battle of Marengo: it is divided into several episodes explained by short texts. It is curious to note what Vigurie writes on the second page: "The cannon shots will be expressed by laying the right arm and two flat hands above the three octaves of bass to make all the notes sound ring indistinctly, and it will support the sound as long as the vibrations are almost damped".^[102]

The Battle of Marengo also makes the background to Tosca by Giacomo Puccini, who recalculates the alternation of the moments: good part of the first act (starting from the air of the sacristan "All here the singing..." and, especially, the final) rotates around the preparation and subsequent development of the Te Deum of thanks for the alleged victory as announced by the untimely dispatch of von Melas; in the second act, in the middle of the dramatic scene of torture of Cavaradossi, the subsequent news of the definitive defeat of Austrians, marks the acme and the subsequent dissolution of the scenic action (air: "Vittoria, victory..." of Cavaradossi).

In honor of the battle a march was made, entitled Marche de la garde consulaire à Marengo.^[103]

In January 1989 he went out on the weekly Mickey Mouse (n. 1731) a story, entitled Mickey Mouse and the chicken at Marengo, in which the battle of Marengo is the setting. The story in question, written and illustrated by Giampiero Ubezio, sees Mickey and Goofy go back in time to the day in which the clash between the French and the Austrians took place, to solve the mystery behind this battle.^[104]

Sergio Bonelli Editore published, in February 2015, a comic book entitled The Battle of Marengo, written by Pasquale Ruju and illustrated by Franco Saudelli. Protagonists of the comic book, part of the series The stories, they are two boys, one of whom tells the other the story of one of her ancestor during the battle between the Austrians and the French.^[105]