Pizzighettone Siege
Corps – May
6-7, 1799
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Division Major General Konrad
Valentin Kaim
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K.K. Hungarian
Grenadier Battalion Oberleutnant Ferdinand Pers
garrison at Lodi and Pizzighettone
199
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K.K. IR 24 Rifle Rgt (former
Preiss)
1424
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(Battalions I – II – III)
- Commander: Oberst Carl Philipp von Weidenfeld
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K.K. IR 32 Hungarian Rifle
Regiment. Graf Samuel Gyulai
1482
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Commander: Oberst Franz Posztrehowsky
von Millenburg - (I-II-Battalions ) III Battalion to
Mantua
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K.K. IR 36 Rifle Regiment. Fürst
Carl Fürstenberg
2576
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(I-II-III Battalion ) Commander: Oberst
Conrad von Thelen
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VII Combined Battalion Grenzregiment
Warasdiner of Varazdin
627
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K.K. 5th Hussar Regiment 6 Sqn. Cdr.
ObstLt. Freiherr Andreas Szörenyi
826
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Pizzighettone Garrison after the Fortress Was Taken –
May 20, 1799
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K.K. Hungarian
Grenadier Battalion Oberleutnant Ferdinand Pers
garrison in Lodi and in Pizzighettone
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199
Notes
[1] Marquis
François de Chasseloup-Laubat (August
18, 1754 - October 3, 1833), , was born at St Semi. (
Lower Charente), of a noble family, and entered the French engineers
in 1774. He was still a subaltern at the outbreak of the Revolution,
becoming captain in 1791. His ability as a military engineer was
recognized in the campaigns of 1792 and 1793. In the following
year he won distinction in various actions and was promoted successively chef-de-bataillon and
colonel. He was Engineers chief at the
Mainz siege in 1796, after which he was sent to
Italy
. There he commanded and organized the lines’ positions
of Bonaparte. He was promoted general-de-brigade before the end
of the campaign, and was subsequently employed in fortifying
the new French Rhine border.
His work as Engineers’ Chief in the army
of
Italy
(1799) had good results, and he was made general-de-division after
the battle of
Novi. When Napoleon began his new campaign in 1800 to retrieve the
1799 disasters, Chasseloup was again chosen as the Chief of Engineers.
During the era of peace (1801-1805) he was mainly ordered to reorganize
the defenses of northern
Italy
, and, in particular, those ine
Mantua’s area. His masterpiece was the large
Alessandria fortress by the
Tanaro
River.
In 1805 he remained in
Italy
with André Masséna, but at the end of 1806, Napoleon,
leading the Polish Campaign, called him to his Grande Armée,
with which he served during the campaign of 1806-07, directing sieges
at Colberg, Danzig and
Stralsund. During the Napoleonic domination in
Germany
, Chasseloup reconstructed many fortresses, in particular
Magdeburg. In the 1809 campaign he was again in
Italy
. In 1810 Napoleon made him a State Advisor. His last active campaign
was the Russian of 1812.
Retired from active
service, in 1814 he was occasionally engaged for inspections and
construction of fortifications. Louis XVIII made him a peer of
France
and a knight of
St Louis. He refused to join Napoleon during the Hundred Days, but
after the second Restoration he voted in the chamber of peers against
the condemnation of Marshal Ney. As an Engineer, Chasseloup was a
supporter of the old bastioned system, though with some modern views,.
He followed in many respects the works of the Engineer Bousmard,
published in 1797 and who fell, as a Prussian officer, during the
Danzig defence of 1807 against Chasseloup's own attack. His ideas
were applied at
Alessandria, which had many upgrades of the bastion outline, with,
in particular, the masked tenaille flanks, which served as extra
flanks of the bastions. The bastions themselves were carefully entrenched.
The usual “Rivellino” (ravelin) was replaced with an
heavy casemated caponier (à la Montalembert), and, like Bousmard's,
the true ravelin became a large and powerful fort built outer, beyond
the glacis.
[2] Oberst
Johann Schröckinger von Neudenberg,
(died 26 July 1808), provisional Generamajor on March 6 (26?)1800,
confirmed on 22 April1800, retired in 1805.
[3] A brigade from the Tyroler Armée was attached as Armée
Reserve. (Johann Baptist) Giovanni
Battista Reichsgraf von Alcaini was born in
Venice on August 18, 1748. On January 24, 1794 he was named provisional
major general and confirmed in that rank on February 12, 1794.
In 1799 he was 55 years old; from September 1, had the provisional
rank of Field Marshal Lieutenant and was confirmed on October 2,
1799. He died on October 8, 1800, from the severe wounds suffered
during Tortona siege.
[4] Major General Friedrich
Alexander Wilhelm Freiherr von Seckendorf-Aberdar,
(2 August 1743 – 11 June1814). Had the provisional nomination
to major general from 1 May 1 1794 but on May 30 his promotion
was official. He followed FML Wurmser in Italy often employed
as Staff organizer, cavalry reserve commander and adjudant. He
did not stay in Mantua, but remained in Tirol where he participated
to the deployment of the right wing at Rivoli, January 14, 1797,
in the place of FML Davidovich. He was with Mélas during
the 1799 campaign often performing rearguard or siege tasks.
On September 12, 1799 he was provisionally named Feldmarschalleutnant,
rank confirmed a month later, October 2, 1799.
Placed on the Napoleon Series: July 2007
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