battle of castillon first battle to use tanks

Jean-Mathieu-Philibert Sérurier led the force besieging Mantua. Pierre Augereau covered the lower Adige on either side of Legnago. André Masséna guarded the northern approaches with the bulk of his force in the upper Adige River valley on the east side of Lake Garda. Pierre François Sauret held Brescia and the western side of Lake Garda. īonaparte positioned his 46,000 soldiers to protect the siege of Mantua. By taking artillery pieces from the subdued cities, the French general assembled a siege train of 179 cannons for his siege of Mantua. In June, Bonaparte's army forced the Papal States, Tuscany, Parma and Modena to make peace, extorting large contributions. By 3 June, the French army invested the place, which was defended by Joseph Franz Canto d'Irles's Austrian garrison and 316 cannons. On 31 May, Bonaparte tried to rush Mantua, but the attempt failed. The French army occupied the other three, Legnago, Verona and Peschiera. Mantua was one of four famous fortresses known as the Quadrilateral. Plans Īfter being defeated at the battles of Fombio, Lodi, and Borghetto by Bonaparte, the Austrian Army under Feldzeugmeister Johann Peter Beaulieu left almost 14,000 soldiers in the fortress of Mantua and retreated north toward Trento. Although the final flank attack was prematurely delivered, it nevertheless resulted in a victory.īackground See Castiglione 1796 Campaign Order of Battle for French and Austrian units and organizations. But his skill and the speed of his troops' march allowed the French army commander to keep the Austrian columns separated and defeat each in detail over a period of about one week. It succeeded insofar as Bonaparte lifted the siege in order to have the manpower sufficient to meet the threat. To achieve this goal, Wurmser planned to lead four converging columns against the French. The others were Bassano, Arcole, and Rivoli.Ĭastiglione was the first attempt by the Austrian army to break the French Siege of Mantua, which was the primary Austrian fortress in northern Italy. This battle was one of four famous victories won by Bonaparte during the War of the First Coalition, part of the French Revolutionary Wars. The town of Castiglione delle Stiviere is located 10 kilometres (6 mi) south of Lake Garda in northern Italy. The outnumbered Austrians were defeated and driven back along a line of hills to the river crossing at Borghetto, where they retired beyond the Mincio River.

The Battle of Castiglione saw the French Army of Italy under General Napoleon Bonaparte attack an army of the Habsburg monarchy led by Feldmarschall Dagobert Sigmund von Wurmser on 5 August 1796.

Battle of castillon first battle to use tanks