On May 10, 1796 (21 Floréal, Year IV), the battle of the Lodi bridge pitted General Bonaparte's army in Italy against the coalition armies commanded by General Sebottendorf, for the capture of the Lodi bridge over the Adda. It victoriously concludes the second part of the Italian campaign.
Campaign before the battle
Bonaparte surprised everyone with his start to the campaign:he separated the Austro-Sardinian armies, during the battles of Montenotte and Mondovi, and forced the latter, forcing the kingdom of Piedmont-Sardinia to sign the armistice of Cherasco, on April 28 , then the Treaty of Paris, on May 15. He then deceived General Beaulieu by crossing, after a small engagement during which General Laharpe was killed, the Po at Plaisance while the Austrian general was waiting for him 80 km further upstream, at Valenza. Beaulieu nevertheless managed to avoid being turned and to cross the Adda and the Mincio but he had to abandon Milan. Bonaparte then borders the Adda at Pizzighetone but the enemy defenses are too strong there. It runs along the Adda to the north and reaches Lodi. It is here that he finds the flaw in the opposing device:the Austrian rearguard, commanded by Sebottendorf, which seeks to destroy the bridge.
Battlefield information
Lodi is located on the right bank of the Adda, a tributary of the Po. In front of the city walls, fishermen's houses and a statue of Saint John Nepomucene face the bridge.
Austrian provisions
Sebottendorf was ordered to remain in Lodi only 24 hours with his 10,000 men, then to fall back at night also on Crema. It has:12 battalions (including an Italian, the 3rd of the Belgioioso Regiment, IR Nr. 44) 14 guns and 16 squadrons (including 1,071 cavalry from the 2nd Neapolitan Brigade, commanded by Ruiz).
It is installed on the left bank where rise the levees forming the dyke. He arranged his soldiers in two lines:3 Croatian battalions at the end of the bridge supported by 14 guns (6 regimental pieces of 3 pdr from the grenz, 6 pieces of 12 pdr and 2 howitzers of 7 pdr from the reserve) positioned on a tongue of alluvium at the foot of the dyke that could beat the bridge, 5 more, 100 paces back. The cavalry is positioned at Fontana (1/2 hour walk from Lodi). This corps entrenched behind the Adda, controls a wooden bridge without a parapet, not very wide (6 to 8 meters), 195 meters long, the only crossing point in the region.
3 battalions are detached to Corte di Palasio, one league downstream, where there is a second passage (probably a ferry or a ford). General Rosselmini with 1 battalion and 2 squadrons remained beyond the bridge, at Lodi, to collect Wukassovitch who joined with his rearguard.
French layout
The bridge must be taken intact because Bonaparte wants to cross the Adda quickly to pursue the bulk of the Austrian army, commanded by General Beaulieu, which is falling back on Mantua. The French artillery batteries are placed on either side of the city, holding the bridge under their fire in order to prevent the enemy from destroying it. Upstream, the cavalry fords to attack the redoubt and force the Austrians to evacuate it. The moment chosen is when the French column, formed in the main street of Lodi, progresses over the bridge.
The Battle
Around 9 a.m., at Zorlesco, the French found the Austrian rearguard. Having to fight the battalion at the gates of the city, they concluded from the very presence of this battalion that the bridge should not be cut. Around 11 a.m., Vukassovich and Carlstadt's 2nd Battalion reached the Lodi Bridge without incident. The battalion and the two squadrons on the right bank also withdrew, without being close enough for the enemy to follow them. Around 12 p.m., Bonaparte ran in person to the outlet of this bridge, and immediately, under enemy fire, placed in battery two mounted artillery pieces of his vanguard on the right of the bridge, along the bank (probably a little under cover), in order to prevent possible work of destruction of the bridge by the Austrian sappers. At the same time, the Austrian Nadasky battalion joined the first line.
With only the vanguard at his disposal, Bonaparte awaited the arrival of reinforcements to try to cross the bridge. Around 5 p.m., a violent cannonade began on both sides, because as the reinforcements arrived (Masséna with his vanguard commanded by General Cervoni), a more imposing battery of 28 guns was formed. under Brigade Commander Sugny, at the foot of the surrounding wall which faced the bridge and along the bank. Heavy fire was opened on the Austrian artillery, which, completely uncovered, seems to have suffered greatly and was forced to withdraw its guns somewhat to the rear to escape very effective salvoes of grapeshot.
Around 6 p.m., Bonaparte resolved to remove the bridge by force:he formed a tight column with his grenadiers and riflemen united, which he hid as close as possible to the outlet of the bridge. The Savoyards under the command of Battalion Commander Dupas, commanding the 2nd Carabinieri (the two carabinieri battalions combined), were given the mission of being the first to cross the bridge. The general-in-chief also sends for a ford to the south, and Beaumont to the north, with his horsemen who should normally emerge in two hours to the right and left of the Austrians, forcing the decision.
As soon as the fire from the enemy batteries slackened, the column of infantry moved on the bridge, supported by the fire of these guns and despite the fire of the enemy guns. The Austrians hold their fire and then fire grapeshot at the first to engage. Around Dupas, it is a massacre, the assault breaks off. Seeing that this halt could ruin everything, the generals reacted, Masséna, Dallemand, Lannes, Berthier and Cervoni, followed by their aides-de-camp, rushed forward to cries of "Vive la République". This charge of the chiefs works wonders. Past the middle of the bridge, Savoyard and Dauphinois riflemen noticed that the depth of the river suddenly decreased. They slip into the flow and continue the attack to the outlet of the bridge, screaming. At the same time, in a few minutes, two companies approach the other bank by the bridge. The first salvo laid down many soldiers, but the smoke hampered the Austrian gunners and the latter were slashed by the riflemen of the 2nd battalion as they reloaded their guns.
Meanwhile, Beaumont fords Mozzanica (half a league north of Lodi), but crossing the pass proves more difficult than expected, and Beaumont cannot cooperate effectively in the attack. The Masséna division follows the grenadiers:Cervoni has crossed the bridge. Joubert crosses and goes to his left. Augereau, who arrives in his turn, also goes on deck. The 25th Chasseurs à Cheval came under the command of General Rusca. Part of the regiment is in charge, together with a corps of light infantry, of going to the Lodi bridge, while a second contingent gallops up to the Adda which has swum across, in order to cut the enemy retreat.
The 25th Chasseurs crossed the bridge first, immediately after the first infantry troops, who scattered right and left across the cut country. The 25th charged the enemy on the high road and captured several pieces of cannon defended by the Austrian hulans and hussars who, charged several times, were obliged to abandon the field. The hunters pursued them and killed them and took many people and horses. The two Austrian lines give way:the Austrian battalions are repulsed without difficulty and the artillery removed. The Austrian cavalry charges but the French oppose a wall of bayonets.
Sebottendorf then rallied his infantry to Fontana under the protection of his cavalry and the Nicoletti brigade. The hussars of the Meszaros regiment halt the advance of the French infantry. The first Beaumont units to arrive on the enemy's right flank are repulsed by the Hungarian hussars. A little to the south, elements of the 25th Chasseurs à Cheval somehow crossed the Adda by swimming. The Neapolitans charge the elements of the Augereau division which was attacking Cantonada. Around 7 p.m., during their retreat to the south, the Neapolitans came up against the Masséna division, which they managed to bypass in order to continue their retreat to Benzona. Infantry fatigue prevented the French from continuing.
Review
French losses are estimated at 500 to 900 men. The Austrians withdrew in good order (the Terzy regiment formed the rear guard with the cavalry) on Benzona, then in the night at Crema. They lost 21 officers, 2,015 men (including 277 Neapolitans), 235 horses, 12 guns, 2 howitzers and 30 caissons.
Bonaparte enters Milan, capital of Lombardy, a few days later. After conquering Piedmont, the French army seizes Lombardy, and eliminates an army of the Emperor of Austria.
Tributes
This battle gave, in 1798, its name to the rue du Pont-de-Lodi in the 6th arrondissement of Paris.
Draa Essamar, a locality in Algeria, bore the name of Lodi at its foundation during the French colonization, in memory of this battle.