The Battle of Montebello took place on June 9, 1800 (20 prairial year VIII) near Montebello in Lombardy. It pitted the vanguard of the French army, commanded by Lieutenant-General Lannes, against Austrian troops, led by Deputy Field Marshal Ott.
Context
At the end of May 1800, General Melas, who commanded the Austrian troops located in northern Italy, had not yet noticed the danger represented for his rear by the reserve army, commanded by Bonaparte. The First Consul, with forty thousand men and a hundred guns, nevertheless managed to cross the Alps, by the Grand-Saint-Bernard pass, and to emerge in the plain of the Po. On May 16, Bonaparte seized Aosta and entered Milan on June 2. Wanting to fight a decisive battle, the First Consul passed on the south bank of the Po on June 6, at Belgioioso, and conquered the strategic pass of the Stradella2. On June 9, the Consul had a proclamation read and decided to go ahead. He dispatches the vanguard of Lieutenant-General Lannes towards Voghera, to reach Alexandria and get ahead of the gathering of the Austrians; several skirmishes take place.
The battle
Strengths present
French Army:Lannes
Corps:Lannes (8,000 men)
Watrin Division
6th Light, 22nd Line, 40th Line.
Forward Guard:General Mainoni
28th Line
attached units:
12th Hussars, 2 batteries, Consular Guard artillery
Corps:Victor (6,000 men)
Chambarlhac Division
24th Light, 43rd Line, 96th Line
Austrian Army:Ott
Division commanders:Vogelsang5, Schellenberg (en), O'Reilly (16,000 men)
Reisky Infantry Regiment (IR) No. 13 (3 battalions)
Stuart IR no 18 (3 bns)
Splenyi IR no 51 (3 bns)
Jellacic IR no 53 (3 bns)
Josef Colloredo IR no 57 (3 bns)
Ottocaner Grenz IR no 2 (1 bn)
Oguliner Grenz IR Nno 3 (2 bns)
Lobkowitz Dragoons No. 10
Nauendorf Hussars No. 8
Archduke Josef Hussars No. 2
Firstfruits
Facing Lannes, he apparently had only General O'Reilly's troops, which numbered only 6,000 Austrians, not enough to prevent him from passing. The rest of the French army is prevented from crossing the Po because of a sudden flood; Lannes then receives from Bonaparte the order to continue without stopping in the direction of Tortona and Voghera. On June 9, the vanguard rushes to enforce the order6.
But on June 4, General Masséna capitulated in Genoa after fierce resistance. On June 8, the Austrian Field Marshal Ott, who had arrived from Genoa thanks to the capitulation of Masséna, joined O'Reilly in Casteggio, thus bringing the number of Austrians to around 16,0007. Lannes, at the head of his 5 to 7,000 soldiers, therefore came up against a force almost three times greater.
Trigger
The Austrians march on Plaisance, intending to clear the road to Vienna. At ten o'clock, General Watrin, who commanded the advanced guard, clashed with the Austrians at Santa Giuletta; he pushes them back to Rivetta. Ott deploys a division on the heights south of Montebello. The latter has several battalions. Lobkowitz's dragoons were assembled further north and, in the rear, other battalions were stationed at Montebello. The Austrian army, determined to stop the French progression, dominates the valley well and has a powerful artillery.
The French attacked Casteggio:two battalions of the 6th line moved to the right to bypass the enemy batteries; General Malher, with the 40th line and the 3rd battalion of the 6th light, went to the heights; the 22nd line attacks the village directly. First repulsed, the French troops, the 28th line and the reserve commanded by Lannes in charge, entered Casteggio. The two hundred men of the 12th Hussars who had been able to cross the Po charged regularly, but Casteggio regularly changed hands6. The French nevertheless managed to fall back in order; it is then three o'clock.
At two o'clock, the Chambarlhac division of the French left wing, commanded by General Rivaud, started from La Stradella and advancing by forced marches, came out onto the battlefield. This intervention marks a turning point and decides the outcome of the battle. The Austrian center, subjected to a violent thrust, shattered. The troops of Lannes pass in second line. Riveaud, on the right at the head of the 43rd line, seizes the heights, surrounds and takes the castle of Lordone or Dordone. Herbin, on the left, also overflows the Austrians with the 24th light. The 96th line, in the center, definitely removes Casteggio7.
The important artillery of Ott is grappling with that of the guard of the consuls. Five hours of fighting are needed to push Ott's forces back towards Montebello where they fight a fierce battle without losing ground. Bonaparte arrives on the battlefield and launches Victor with six battalions on the center; he takes the bridge defended by machine-gun artillery with bayonets. At the same time General Geney, with five battalions and a regiment of hussars, upset Ott's left. Rivaud advancing from the castle of Dordone towards Montebello closes the device. Ott's troops eventually beat a hasty retreat to Castelnuova, ten kilometers west of Voghera.
Consequences
“It was hot, very hot,” Lannes said at the end of the fight, emphasizing the toughness of the battle which lasted nearly eleven hours. General Ott's troops showed great pugnacity during this engagement. Superior in number, they almost got the better of the French. Bonaparte, passing through Voghera and Tortona, after having dispersed his means, debouches on June 13 in the plain of Marengo in front of Alexandria, where Melas is preparing to strike.
Captain Coignet also testifies to the magnitude of the victory:
“Prisoners were taken; we didn't know what to do with them, no one wanted to drive them, and they went off on their own. It was a complete rout. They were no longer firing at us; they ran away like rabbits, especially the cavalry, which had terrified all their infantry… The Consul arrived to see the battle won and General Lannes covered in blood (he was frightening), because he was everywhere in the middle of the fire, and it was he who made the last charge. If we had two cavalry regiments, all their infantry was taken. »
The young French troops competed with the more seasoned Austrian troops. The Austrians came very close to victory but ended up leaving three thousand men lost, five thousand prisoners, six guns and several flags in French hands. This battle is part of the construction of the aura of the French troops, and gave his title of Duke of Montebello to Lannes (June 15, 1808).
Ott rallies the rest of his troops and joins Melas under the walls of Alexandria.