K.K.  IR 18 Line Infantry Regiment Graf Patrick Stuart I, III and IV Battalions

1830 

Commander: Obst Franz Weber von Treuenfels at Verona with his Grenadiers.

K.K.  8th Light Dragoon  Regiment Friedrich Wilhelm Carl Herzog Württemberg –from Tortona

6 Sqns

8th Jäger  Regiment Major General Chubarov – I and II Battalions  – to Bagration        

555

At the fatal hour, 10 a.m., the French moved first. They began to get the “ordre de bataille” along the river bank, while Dąbrowski forded the Trebbia at Rivalta, marching upwards on the slopes, in order to surround the Coalition’s right wing. Many French columns began to pass over the Trebbia, advancing slowly, with cordons of cavalry interposed between the columns. A whole battalion elongated itself in a “tirailleurs” line, on the right bank of the river, in order to support, with musketry and artillery fire, the friendly advance. Each column had a dense chain of skirmisher at their head.

At 10.30 a.m. the Poles came under the fire of the Russian batteries, but the Legion continued to advance. They captured and cleared Rivalta at 11 a.m., while the Russian expellled from the village took cover among the houses of Gazzola, leaving a gap in the line, 1500 meters wide between the left of Bagration and the right of Shvejkowsky, into which ran the Rusca’s Division.  Rusca, had already detached the 55th Demi-brigade with the I Battalion of the 97th line infantry to support the Poles, giving the command of the detachment to Chef Dargoubet (Dagobert?). He had passed the Trebbia at 10 a.m., but was stopped by the fire of Shvejkowsky’s batteries, 14 pieces (mainly 4 pdr. and 8 pdr. guns) which bombarded the thick columns of the French, with the explosions spreading the gravel of the river bed as additional deadly weapons. Soon Rusca’s units were forced to stop their march. They were able to move only after midday, entering the above mentioned gap in the Coalition’s lines. In the meanwhile, the III Battalion of the 55th Line Infantry, led by its Chef Ledru, had left behind the undisturbed Poles, and had reached the village of Tuna. From there, it fell on the flank of the Rozenberg Grenadiers, who were forced to retreat. Prince Constantin, aware of the danger, reformed the line with two battalions of the reserve and closed the breach. 

Victor had made his river passage at 10.20 a.m. but his advance was quickly stopped by the opponent’s skirmishers. Taking frontally Casaliggio with a large column, flanked by the cavalry,[2] in order to link the units with Rusca’s, he had a timid approach to the battle, probably fatigued after three days of continuous fighting. Outflanked by Cossacks  and Russian jägers, they withdrew in a real hurry passing back over the Trebbia. There Victor marched southwards in two columns, under a burning sun, in order to find a more suitable passage point. That “promenade”, under the Russian bombardment, almost caused a complete rout of the fatigued soldiers. So Victor decided to withdraw to more covered positions, practically exiting the battle. At the other side Rozenberg, also on the receiving end of  French artillery fire, stopped on the left bank (at 7.00 p.m. the fire ceased in the Victor’s sector).

The French right, under Olivier, had to advance from 10 a.m. However in these new ivisions there was a definite mood of dissatisfaction, not so far from a mutiny spirit.  It was very difficult to control the 5th Légère, in which the Chef Antoine Chatagnier was doing every effort to reorganize his troops. So Olivier had to wait for Montrichard to move, before beginning his advance. At midday, the French right passed the Trebbia, with Montrichard upset by Olivier’s behaviour and with the Austrian generals Ott and Fröhlich very concerned about how the attack would affect their lunch. Inspite of a strong artillery bombardment, the French right wing advanced, routing the Austrian troops surprised around the field-kitchens. The road to Castel San Giovanni was taken by Montrichard’s column and only the intervention of platoon of the just reorganized Wouwermann Grenadier Battalion, deployed into some ditches, stopped the French advance. On their right Olivier continued to advance, followed by Watrin, in a more extended position who marched until the Po, and was flanked by General Salme’s troops. At 11.30 a.m. the extreme right of the French army accelerated. Maucune, adjudant to Watrin, went forward attacking the Po bank. Jacquelin with the grenadiers of the 62nd Line passed a marsh and engaged the Banater Battalion, forcing them to withdraw and losing their 10 guns.  Behind them was General Salme, riding with an elite patrol of the 19th Chasseurs. Watrin organized all these scattered troops in three columns, with the order to follow the Po and to encircle the enemies. Montrichard turned them towards Campremoldo, with the will to support Victor or Olivier, whenever necessary. His troops were heavily harrased  by the enemy musketry and artillery.

Around 1 p.m. the French right collapsed. Montrichard grouped his troops behind the 5th Legere Demi-Brigade, but waited too long and lost the initiative, while his soldier were heavily harassed by the enemy artillery. While this happened, Prince Liechtenstein gathered his Dragoons and charged. He galloped through the vineyards, jumping over a lot of ditches and violently hit Montrichard on his flank. Olivier’s soldiers, hidden into the channel’s banks, stood firmly, but Montrichard troops were disordered. The 5th Legere, were surpised by the charge, routed and fled back towards the Trebbia. [3] The other troops behind them, followed their avantgarde and retreated in disorder. The Piedmontese Dragoons and Cisalpine Chasseurs were involved in the Liechtenstein’s manoeuver and were overrun by the enemy cavalry. They fought afoot and on horses, with sabres, pistols and even with rocks, collected in the gravel bed of the river. The French were saved by the punctual intervention of the 19th Chasseurs of Bruë, which charged the Austrian Dragoons pursuing the fugitives. So Prince Liechtenstein described his brilliant charge, in a long letter to his wife:

 “The day after, around the 11.30 a.m., while he was at lunch with some Officer and my Aid-de-Champ, we heard the cannons shooting. I took an horse but, after only twenty footsteps, I was in the middle of a chaotic bunch of coaches, men and horses, which were retreating from the line. The chaos was indescribable. I took the Lobkowitz Dragoons and lauched them in the middle of the vineyards and, after having jumped over around 50 ditches, I had the luck to catch the enemies and to attack them by their rear … The enemy positions were covered by trees and bushes; between us extended a sandy terrain, broken by small water channels. There was no time to wait, the enemy in eight minutes could have reached Ott’s camp, and I ordered to charge. The enemies partly fleed away but their guns continued to fire against us, with canisters, while some French cavalry covered their retreat .. I fought there for all the necessary time our infantry needed to reorganize the ranks and to deploy the lines.” (Arch. of H.H. Prince Johann Liechtenstein. Family papers) .  

Olivier did not loose his control and manoeuvered a brigade to face the Russian troops of Förster, advancing by the road side, but was stormed by a rain of cannonballs, which disordered his ranks. He himself had a leg cut off by a cannonball, fainted near Macdonald and was taken away by the “Santé”. Chef Darnaud, of the 30th line, formed a square, stopping for twenty minutes the Russian infantry and allowing the other troops to retreat. Then Darnaud spread his soldiers among the trees and the vineyard engaging a sort of “guerrilla” warfare, while slowly retreating towards the Trebbia, which was reached in the evening. [4] On the French right wing, only Watrin stood on his positions, in front of Calendasco, while Montrichard was routing and Olivier retreating.

Fieldmarshal Suvorov, having realized the Poles’ aims on his right wing, sent against them Bagration’s vanguard, reinforced by a division of Lobkowitz Dragoons; then went to his left wing to support Ott. Grekov and Pasdejev, with the two Lobkowitz squadrons, hit the Poles on both flanks, while the Russian Jägers attacked the column. At 2.00 p.m. Bagration resumed the offensive, counterattacking with the support of his cavalry. The endeavour succeeded, at least, in disordering the entrenched Poles, but with heavy losses. The Poles, profoundly weakened from the morning and previous day, did not sustain the assault; many of them routed and escaped into the hills, pursued by the opponent’s cavalry (they lost a gun, a flag and 400 prisoners). Dąbrowski’s Division, so, was almost annihilated after two days of hard fighting. A curious Polish account overthrew the battle events, stating the Poles as winners, also having them  withdrawn, with the Austro-Russian army in rout. A strange 360° degrees turning view of the facts; the Polish losses, of two days of bloody combats, were real witnesses of somewhat different situation. [5] 

The dangerous advanced positions taken by Rusca were counterattacked in the late afternoon by General Chasteler. He gathered at Casaliggio 2 fresh battalions from Shvejkowsky’s and 3 from the Förster’s Division. With these troop and with the flanking Levenehr Dragoons he assaulted Rusca. The French general did defend at his best for about 20 minutes, but he was forced to go back, towards the Trebbia. It was a slow retreat and only in the evening, Rusca passed the river, leaving the left bank.

Suvorov came by Ott headquarters, escorted by the Cossacks. He ordered Ott’s Division to advance, headed by two fresh grenadier battalions, flanked by his 200 Cossacks, the Archduke Joseph Hussars and 10 dragoon squadrons (Lobkowitz and Levenehr). The earth trembled under the galloping horses. The avalanche of men, horses and cannonballs overran Watrin, forcing him to reach Cascine on the Po bank.  On the left bank of the great river, Colonel Kinsky, come from Mantua, installed an heavy battery and bombarded the Republicans on the opposite bank. At dusk, Watrin passed back over the Trebbia, which waters were described as red for the blood, leaving 351 prisoners in enemy hands. At 9 p.m., the battle definitevely ended with a complete French defeat.  Victor had the main responsibility of the events together with Dąbrowsky and 5th Légère routs, but the Austro-Russian superiority was the real cause which led to the defeat. 

The Losses

That same evening, Macdonald, not hoping anymore for help from Moreau, frontally threatened by Suvorov and on the flanks by Klenau and Hohenzollern, who, passed again the Po, were heading to Modena, Reggio and Parma, wrote a letter to Pérignon, (which however never reached its recipient). He wrote: “… All the division generals of the army of Naples are wounded, other than two; also wounded are forty and more Officers, adjudants and other generals or Chefs. Several demi-brigades have lost from 30 to 40 Officers. More than 12000 men are out of combat; the soldiers do not have more cartridges; the artillery without ammunition. Not having news neither of general in Chief Moreau, neither of general Lapoype, I must withdraw …”(from Chasteler Papers). Macdonald’s withdrawal began the same night. He left the campfires alight in the bivouacs to trick the enemy and marched away with the favour of the darkness, directed towards the Apennins passes.

The French losses described into Suvorov’s reports were the following: 1400 men, dead and 764 prisoners taken during the action of Bagration and Shvejkowsky against the Poles, Rusca and Victor; 400 dead and 126 prisoners taken by Förster in the attack against Montrichard; 600 men and 553 prisoner taken during the Melas/Ott attacks against Olivier, Watrin and Salme. The Coalition’s army captured 7 guns and 8 flags. General Olivier was severely wounded, having a leg amputated by a cannon shot, only Watrin and Calvin having avoided wounds. [6]

Gachot counted 1600 dead laying on the terrain. The Generals Olivier, Rusca, Salme, Cambray (died after the wounds), the adjudants Grandjean, Sarrazin, Liébault, Blondeau with other 502 Officers and 7183 soldiers wounded, were abandoned at Rocco, Sant’Antonio, Gossolengo, Piacenza and into the two camp hospitals of Combarino, recommended to the Austro-Russians and Parma’s Duke mercy. The Austro-Russian lost 5273 men, out of combat: the Austrians having 10 Officers and 244 soldiers dead, 1816 wounded and 497 missing; they lost also 660 horses. The Russians lost 4 Officers and 675 soldiers dead, one General, 1 Colonel, 2 Majors, 35 Officers and 2041 soldiers wounded for a total of 2759 men out of combat.

Austrian losses after the Trebbia – dead, wounded and missing

(source “KA FA Italien 1799 VI 30 A, Totale” in C.Duffy “Eagles over the Alps”, Emperor’s Press, 1999)