Napoleon was interested in, but control of the routes to and from the
Tyrol.
The new Austrian army was commanded by Count Dagobert
Wurmser, who had been detached from the Rhine with 25,000 to
reinforce Beaulieu. The combined army of so,ooo men made rendezvous
at Trent and marched on Mantua in three columns, the right via Chiesa,
the centre converging on Montebaldo between the Adige valley and Lake
Garda, and the left through the Adige valley itself. The Austrians scored
some early successes, leaving Napoleon temporarily despondent, and took
Lonato on 31 July. But Wurmser made the cardinal error of concentrat
ing on the relief of Mantua (whose fall he mistakenly thought imminent)
instead of uniting the three wings of his army. This allowed Napoleon to
indulge his favourite strategy of the 'centre position', where a numerically
inferior army got between two sections of a superior army to defeat them
piecemeal. Napoleon threw the enemy out of Lonato with heavy losses on
3 August: three divisions of the Austrian right and part of the centre were
forced to surrender. Wurmser then belatedly moved to support his right
but was caught at Castiglione (5 August) before his left could come up. In
a tough, brutal action, which Napoleon always considered Augereau's
finest hour, he punctured the Austrian centre at Castiglione (5 August),
while Napoleon routed the left wing. Because of Wurmser's blunders,
Napoleon had been able to achieve local superiority of 27,000 against
21,000.
The Lake Garda region had seen a week of hard fighting. Including the
'mopping up' operations until 12 August, the French inflicted 25,000
casualties, and took 15,ooo prisoners, nine standards and seventy pieces
of cannon. On their own side they lost s,ooo wounded, 6oo dead and
1,400 prisoners. On the other hand, Wurmser's advance had forced
Napoleon to break off the investment of Mantua, losing 179 guns in the
process, including all his heavy artillery. Wurmser could now do little for
Mantua. After leaving two fresh brigades in the city, he returned to
Trent to lick his wounds. Napoleon resumed the siege but, without the
big guns, the blockade was less effective than before. Hearing of the
victories, and mistakenly thinking Moreau was achieving similar results
on the Rhine, the Directory ordered Napoleon to pursue Wurmser and
attempt the link with Moreau which they had previously vetoed.
Napoleon ignored the Directory's orders. Even if he had wanted to
collaborate with Moreau, the idea was chimerical as there was no secret
code allowing the two commanders to communicate. Besides, his men
were exhausted and in need of rest and recreation, and he could scarcely
advance to the Brenner pass with Mantua still in his rear. Even more
marcin
(Marcin)
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