#872 - First siege of Mantua

“As for Lieutenant Colonel Desaix's troops,” Napoleon said, lightly flicking the reins of his horse, “Do you really think they've been carrying out a sniper mission in Verona all this time?”

Verona is a city north of Mantua. More than a month ago, Napoleon had Desaix lead more than 20,000 soldiers there, putting on a show to delay Wurmser's reinforcements.

Augereau asked in surprise, "Isn't that so? However, Desaix's army did delay Wurmser's southward advance."

“Of course not. Three days after the Austrian reinforcements chose to bypass Verona, I had Lieutenant Colonel Desaix move east of Mantua along the Adige River.”

The Adige River is the second largest river in Italy and is located north of Mantua.

Verona is the most important ferry crossing in the middle reaches of the Adige River. Controlling it would seriously disrupt the supply of Mantua from Austria.

In order to bypass this place, Wurmser had to cross the Adige River at Trent on the northern section, while the left-wing army detoured to Mantua from the southern section of the river.

Of course, if the French army relied too much on Verona and neglected defense, it would be suddenly surrounded by the Austrian army coming around.

But no one expected that Napoleon would simply abandon Verona, this strategic location.

… …

West side of Lake Garda.

Wurmser, riding on his horse, enthusiastically sketched a blueprint for victory to several officers beside him.

Yesterday, Beaulieu had already submitted a report to Vienna, the content of which was roughly that "Wurmser and he jointly repelled tens of thousands of French troops, successfully lifted the siege of Mantua, and seized a large amount of military supplies, and are currently continuing to pursue the French army."

Wurmser admitted that the report was exaggerated, but it didn't matter, because the victory he was about to achieve would far exceed that report.

By then, no one will be able to stop him from being awarded the rank of Field Marshal!

Yes, because his performance in dealing with the Brabant uprising in the Southern Netherlands a few years ago was not satisfactory, he has been suppressed until now and is still only a General.

He is almost seventy years old, and the Italian battlefield can be said to be his last chance for promotion.

At this moment, the sound of a bugle suddenly came faintly from the front.

Soon, an officer rushed to report to Wurmser: "General, our vanguard has encountered the French army. There are about four to five thousand people."

Before Wurmser could react, another cavalryman galloped over and shouted to him: "General, after Colonel Buonarroti engaged the enemy, the enemy has already collapsed and fled."

A staff officer next to him asked in confusion: "Were four to five thousand French troops defeated so quickly?"

“Yes, Captain Ferrari, the enemy hardly formed a line and collapsed at the first touch.”

Wurmser tapped his palm with the handle of his riding crop, looked into the distance, and said: "It seems that we have caught up with Napoleon's rear army."

“Order Buonarroti's regiment to pursue immediately. Oh, let De Luca take 5 squadrons of hussars to assist in blocking.”

“Yes, General.”

Wurmser instructed the staff officer again: "Order to speed up the march and prepare for a decisive battle."

The entire Austrian army immediately picked up speed, as if worried that if they walked slowly, the credit would be snatched away by Kostanovich's regiment in Limone.

Two hours later, another messenger reported to Wurmser: "General, the French army in front is retreating westward. Colonel Buonarroti is asking you whether to continue the pursuit?"

Wurmser smiled and said: "The timid French don't even care about their main force. It seems that the decisive battle will end soon. Let Buonarroti continue to pursue, and the Aquila regiment will become the vanguard."

Napoleon's main force is in the north, and if the French rear team flees west, it is equivalent to selling Napoleon's back to Wurmser.

After another half day, when the Austrian army was only 22 kilometers away from Limone, Buonarroti sent someone to report to Wurmser, saying that the enemy Victor's regiment on the west side had built a defense line near Idro, forming a stalemate with him.

Wurmser frowned in displeasure.

Buonarroti's regiment has nearly 6,000 people, plus 5 squadrons of cavalry, which is 750 cavalrymen, and they have reached a stalemate with four to five thousand fleeing French troops!

Wurmser hesitated for a moment and asked the staff officer beside him: "Have you still not found any trace of the enemy's main force?"

“Yes, General.” Captain Ferrari said, "The hussars advanced more than 2 li to the north and did not encounter the French army."

He was talking about Austrian li, which is roughly equivalent to 16 kilometers.

Wurmser nodded.

The west side of Idro is the Chiese River, which means that Victor's French army has no way out.

Before the decisive battle with Napoleon, resolving this French army can not only avoid it from forming a containment on his flank, but also boost morale with a victory.

Thinking of this, he said to the signal soldier: "The central army is approaching Idro. Let the Ranieri regiment on the left wing assist Buonarroti in eliminating the enemy there as soon as possible. The reserve army is replenished to the left wing."

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“Yes, General!”

Wurmser was only focused on eating Victor's regiment at this time, but he didn't notice that his army had been pulled into a narrow formation running east and west.

Under the cover of the cavalry, 12 6-pound cannons first arrived southwest of Limone, and began to greet the Austrians, who had just deployed their combat formation, with dense shells.

The Austrian army used to enjoy watching the French horse artillery bombard the Prussian army in the Southern Netherlands, but now that the shells were falling on their heads, they realized how painful it was.

The right wing of Kostanovich's line formation began to shrink back after only ten minutes, overwhelmed by artillery fire.

Napoleon did not hesitate to throw in an infantry column to launch an attack there, while using skirmishers to entangle the enemy's left wing.

The French soldiers, equipped with bulletproof inserts, rushed directly to about 60 paces from the right wing of the Austrian army before converting to a horizontal line, and then used two rounds of volleys to completely defeat the already loosened enemy.

Napoleon immediately ordered the few cavalry to follow the defeated soldiers and launch an attack into the depths, while the infantry turned east to cooperate with his central army to form a semi-encirclement of Kostanovich's main force.

When Kostanovich hurriedly transferred the troops on the left wing to the center to reinforce, the French infantry had cooperated with the cavalry to complete the encirclement from the north, that is, behind him.

Napoleon looked at the Austrian soldiers screaming and running away everywhere in the binoculars, and turned his head comfortably and ordered the attendant: "Constant, get me a cup of coffee."

“Do you want me to add brandy for you? General.”

“Oh, yes, thank you.”

Napoleon saw that the horse artillery had moved to the east side of the battlefield, using grapeshot to intercept the Austrian army fleeing there, and could not help but sigh in his heart that commanding such an elite unit to fight was simply a pleasure.