Battle of Novi (1799)

The 1799 campaign in Italy began with the Battle of Verona, a series of costly but indecisive clashes around Verona on 26 March.[18] At the Battle of Magnano on 5 April, the Habsburg Austrian army of Paul Kray triumphed over the Republican French army of Barthélemy Louis Joseph Schérer. While suffering losses of 4,000 killed and wounded and 2,000 captured, Kray's Austrians inflicted casualties of 3,500 killed and wounded and captured 4,500 men, 18 artillery pieces and seven colors from the French.[19] Two days later, a distraught Schérer begged to be relieved of command, but before that happens, he would be defeated again in the small battle with Alexander Suvorov at Lecco on 26 April. Michael von Melas arrived to take command of the Austrian army from Kray on 9 April. Hearing that 12,000 Austrians were approaching from the Tyrol to the north, Schérer abandoned the line of the Mincio River on 12 April. Leaving 12,000 troops in the fortress of Mantua and 1,600 more in Peschiera del Garda, the demoralized French commander ordered his crippled army to withdraw. As the soldiers fell back, the skies opened up and turned the retreat into a sodden nightmare.[20]

On 15 April 1799, the veteran Russian field marshal Alexander Suvorov formally took command of the combined Austro-Russian army in Italy.[21] On 27 April Suvorov defeated the French, now under Jean Victor Marie Moreau, at the Battle of Cassano, and then in the First Battle of Marengo (Battle of San Giuliano) on 16 May. At Cassano, the Allies suffered 2,000 casualties while the French sustained losses of 2,500 killed and wounded plus 5,000 soldiers, 27 guns and three colors captured; the next day a 3,000-man French division was trapped and surrendered at Verderio Superiore,[22] however, the Russians subsequently lost the Battle of Bassignana on 12 May. After the battle of Cassano, the next major action was the Battle of the Trebbia from 17 to 20 June where Suvorov's 37,000-strong Austro-Russian army (only up to 32,656 troops involved) mauled Jacques MacDonald's 33,000-man French army, which had earlier broken through Austrian positions in the Battle of Modena[lower-alpha 11] on 12 June. The Allies suffered 5,500 casualties at the Trebbia, while inflicting 16,500 on the French including the taking of 7,000 prisoners.[13] On 20 June, just as the battle of the Trebbia ended, the Second Battle of Marengo (Battle of Cascina Grossa) took place, where the Austrians suffered a setback. Nevertheless, Coalition forces successfully besieged a number of key fortresses in the meantime. Peschiera fell on 6 May,[24] Milan was captured on 24 May[25] and Turin fell on 20 June after a nine-day siege.[26] Suvorov and his Austrian allies had evicted the French from almost all of Italy, while Archduke Charles, Duke of Teschen beat André Masséna's French army at the First Battle of Zurich on 4–6 June.[27]

Alexander Suvorov

A day after defeating MacDonald at the Trebbia, the Allies captured the 17th Light Demi Brigade, 1,099 men, six guns and three colors. On 22 June Suvorov halted pursuit by his army, exhausted by continuous marching and fighting. At first a division was allowed to follow the French,[28] but this was soon reduced to an Austrian advanced guard under Johann von Klenau which went on to clear the Grand Duchy of Tuscany of enemy forces. On 20 June, Moreau and 14,000 French troops left the security of the mountains to defeat Count Heinrich von Bellegarde and 11,000 Austrians in the Second Battle of Marengo. Bellegarde withdrew to the west after suffering 2,260 casualties but Moreau soon scampered back to the safety of the Apennines after hearing news of the Trebbia.[29] French casualties numbered 1,000 killed and wounded in this encounter.[30]

By 27 June, Suvorov moved his main army west to cover the sieges of Alessandria and Tortona while Kray was still reducing Mantua.[29] Suvorov and his Austrian chief of staff Johann Gabriel Chasteler de Courcelles planned to evict the weakened and battered French forces from Genoa and the Italian Riviera. However, instructions soon arrived from Vienna squelching any notion of offensive operations. Emperor Francis and his foreign minister Johann Amadeus Francis de Paula, Baron of Thugut insisted that the Italian fortresses must first be captured. In fact the emperor and Thugut were suspicious of Russian designs on Genoa and Tuscany, areas which they considered to be in Austria's sphere of influence. For his part, Suvorov was annoyed with Viennese officials for trying to direct the war from long distance.[31]

Repeated military defeats shook the public's faith in the French Directory. The Coup of 30 Prairial VII occurred on 18 June which pushed Emmanuel-Joseph Sieyès and Paul Barras into leading roles and elevated Jean Baptiste Bernadotte to the post of Minister of War.[32] There were two major forces in Italy, the 19,000-strong Army of the Alps under Jean Étienne Championnet and 40,713 men of the Army of Italy. The French government placed its hopes on Barthélemy Catherine Joubert to retrieve the situation as the new commander of the Army of Italy. Not only was Joubert a talented general, but he was believed to be lacking political ambitions and thus not a threat to the government. When Joubert arrived in the theater on 4 August, Moreau gracefully stepped aside and offered his assistance.[33]

Modern map of Alessandria Province in Italy shows the locations of Novi Ligure, Alessandria, Tortona, Gavi and Acqui Terme.

The Allies successfully wrapped up the siege of Alessandria on 21 July and the Siege of Mantua on 30 July. These important events released 30,000 Coalition troops for field operations. Suvarov placed Konrad Valentin von Kaim with 14,000 Austrians to guard the west of Piedmont and Karl Joseph Hadik von Futak with 11,000 more to observe the alpine passes into Switzerland to the north. Klenau with 5,000 troops at Sarzana was watching the southeast side of Genoa. Kray was ordered to join the main army as quickly as possible. The rest of Suvorov's army was deployed in the area of Alessandria and Tortona.[32] In the meantime, Chasteler was seriously wounded by a canister shot on 17 July during the siege of Alessandria[34] and replaced by another Austrian, Anton von Zach.[31] Despite the pain of his injury, Chasteler produced a new plan for ousting the French from the Ligurian mountains. This plan was put on indefinite hold when the news of the impending French offensive became known.[32]

Barthélemy Joubert

The Army of Italy was fortunate in having capable generals. Catherine-Dominique de Pérignon led the left wing while Laurent Gouvion Saint-Cyr directed the right wing. Both became Marshals of France under Napoleon along with Joubert's chief of staff Louis Gabriel Suchet and division commander Emmanuel Grouchy. Joubert's generals wished to wait for Championnet's army to come up on their left around 20 August before advancing. However, Joubert believed that his orders to attack from the Directory were imperative and refused to delay.[35] Saint-Cyr's wing moved north through the Bocchetta Pass and Gavi. At Serravalle Scrivia they besieged a castle held by four companies of Austrians. This position had been captured by Pyotr Bagration's 2,100-man Russian advance guard as recently as 9 August. Pérignon's wing had farther to march. This French column pushed some of Bellegarde's troops out of Terzo then swung east through Acqui Terme, Rivalta Bormida and Capriata d'Orba. Saint-Cyr arrived alone at Novi Ligure on 13 August, but Suvorov declined to attack, hoping to lure the French into the plains where his superior cavalry and artillery might prove decisive. That same day contact was established with Pérignon's approaching troops.[36]

Kray's troops reached Alessandria on 12 June and Suvorov planned to launch them into an attack on Pérignon's wing early on the 14th. This proved to be impossible, but Kray managed to join Bellegarde's force and he promised to attack on 15 August. Meanwhile, the division of François Watrin moved down from the hills in the direction of Tortona, giving every indication that the French offensive was still in full swing. Joubert had hoped that he was facing only 8,000 enemies. But he was stunned to see that he was facing at least 36,000 enemies including Kray's corps in the plains below. Both Pérignon and Saint-Cyr counseled retreat, but Joubert put off a final decision until the next day. Meanwhile, Suvorov assumed that the French army would soon descend into the plains. When the French came forward, Kray and 27,000 soldiers would cut into their left flank while Bagration's 5,700-man Russian advance guard would turn their right flank. With luck the two forces would link hands behind the French. Once the turning movements were well developed, Wilhelm Derfelden's 9,850 Russians and Melas' 8,800 Austrians would join the battle. Farther north, Johann Baptist Alcaini's 5,260-strong force besieged Tortona, covered by Andrei Grigorevich Rosenberg's 8,270 Russians.[37]

Jean Victor Moreau

Joubert did not plan on fighting at Novi Ligure, but the position that his troops held was well-suited for a defensive battle. Facing north, the French held an arc of high ground from Serravalle on the right to Pasturana on the left. In the center, Novi was surrounded by a wall and ditch dating to the Middle Ages. One weakness of the position was that the deep ravines of the Riasco and Braghena streams cut across the rear, obstructing any retreat. Kray had the Allied right wing in movement before dawn with Bellegarde on the right and Ott on the left. Seckendorf on the far right aimed for the place where the Riasco stream emerged from its ravine. The crackle of muskets began at 3:20 am as the Austrian columns bumped into French picket lines. This provoked a great racket in the French camps as their surprised troops rushed into formation. At first light, the Allies saw that the heights were crowned by the blue lines of French infantry. Instead of striking the flank of an enemy army on the move, the Austrians of the right wing were making a frontal attack on a strong position.[40]

Peter Karl Ott

On the extreme French right, Dombrowski's division blockaded the Austrians in Serravalle Castle.[43] Next in line was Watrin's division which was still deployed in the low ground to the east of Novi. Gardanne's brigade held Novi while the rest of Laboissière's division lined the heights behind the town. Farther to the left was Lemoine's division and then Grouchy's division on the far left. The left was braced by the reserves of Clausel, Partouneaux and Richepanse.[40]

At the foot of the plateau, Ott and Bellegarde deployed from marching columns into lines. At first their assault enjoyed some success against their sleep-groggy opponents. However, the slopes were steep and obstructed by vineyards, forcing the Austrians to redeploy into column. Pérignon brought Clausel and Partouneaux to the assistance of Grouchy, while Saint-Cyr sent Colli's brigade from the right wing to help Lemoine. Moreau took charge of the French center in the contest against Ott.[44] In this phase of the battle Joubert was fatally hit while leading a counterattack by the 26th Light Demi Brigade. Despite mounting losses, the Austrian infantry bravely and repeatedly struggled forward in columns. As they reached the top of the slope and tried to redeploy into line, they were struck by French counterattacks and forced back. At last, Ott's columns were overthrown by the 26th Light and 105th Line and Kray's entire wing fell back to the bottom of the heights to reform.[45]

By 9:00 am Kray and his officers managed to reorganize their troops when an order arrived from Suvorov to renew the attack. Once more the Austrians attacked the heights and once more they were defeated with loss. While Clausel and Richepanse helped repulse Bellegarde's division, Partouneaux counterattacked Ott. Encouraged by his success, Partouneaux unwisely charged down into the plain where his troops were scattered by four squadrons of the Archduke Joseph Hussars and Kaiser Dragoons. Partouneaux was among those captured. After the repulse of his second attack, Kray massed a 40-gun battery with which he bombarded any French troops who dared to line the crest. But the Austrian general refused to launch more attacks until the rest of the army joined the fight. Suvorov had planned to encircle a French army in motion. The unexpected circumstances threw the Allied plan out of gear.[45]

Louis Lemoine

Suvorov realized that every man must be thrown into the battle. Bagration's command belatedly attacked Novi at 10:00 am. As the Russians moved forward they were subjected to an intense artillery barrage. Bagration's troops were able to press back the French skirmish lines but were foiled when they encountered Novi's city wall. Moving to their right, they ran into Quesnel's brigade of Laboissière's division defending the heights. As the Russians pushed forward they were attacked in flank by Gardanne's men from Novi and even by Watrin's troops from the French right flank. Miloradovich's division was sent into the fray but every Russian assault on the French center came to grief. Bagration's Cossacks found employment by luring French skirmishers into the plain and then killing or capturing them.[46]

Michael von Melas

In due course, Derfelden's division arrived at the front and was hurled into a new attack near Novi. Kray's wing attacked once more and his attack stalled. Around 11:30 am Suvarov directed the Allied left wing under Melas to advance. However, Melas declined to attack Novi as ordered. Instead, he carefully reconnoitered the ground and decided to assault the French right flank. The Austrian sent Nobili's two battalions and two squadrons south along the east bank of the Scrivia River toward Serravalle to guard against any French threat from that direction. The remainder of the left wing moved down the west bank of the river with Mittrowsky's brigade on the left and the grenadier brigades on the right. Melas instructed Lusignan's brigade to attack to the east of Novi while Loudon's brigade made a wider sweep to the east.[39]

Around 3:00 pm the most recent Austro-Russian attack was repulsed from the line of heights. By this time Watrin had positioned his division on the heights to the east of Novi. Lusignan's grenadiers made three frontal attacks on Watrin without breaking through. Meanwhile, Loudon's grenadiers approached Watrin's right flank and Mittrowsky's command threatened an even deeper envelopment. In the face of the new attacks, Watrin's division crumbled. Saint-Cyr threw the 106th Line Demi Brigade into a counterattack which stopped the Austrians and captured Lusignan, who was wounded. By 5:00 pm, Watrin and the 106th were finally beaten by superior numbers and retreated. On the opposite flank Kray attacked again between 3:00 and 4:00 pm.[39]

Around 5:30 pm the entire French position started to disintegrate. The Paar Grenadier Battalion drove Colli's 68th Line from the crest near Novi. The troops of Derfelden and Melas broke into Novi at about the same time, driving out most of Gardanne's men. Laboissière's division managed to follow Watrin's men in their escape. But at about this time the French army split into two halves which were not reunited until three days later.[47] As the French left started to pull back, the Allies closed in for the kill, unleashing their cavalry. Earlier, Bellegarde had posted a battalion and four squadrons near Pasturana on the far right. Now, as the French retreated they had to negotiate the streets of Pasturana, the Braghena Gorge immediately to the south and Bellegarde's small force.[48]

The entire French left wing had to squeeze through the blockage. The Russians took no prisoners, killing every Frenchman that they caught. If a French soldier survived as a prisoner, it was because he was taken by Kray's Austrians. In the melee Grouchy tried to rally his men but was cut down and captured. Pérignon was also taken prisoner after suffering three wounds including a deep saber cut above his left eye. Colli and at least 2,000 other French soldiers and 21 artillery pieces were captured, mostly in the bottleneck at Pasturana. As night fell, the French army streamed away and the exhausted Allies stopped. Near midnight, some of Gardanne's men were discovered hiding out in Novi and the Russians went through the town again. Having accomplished their purpose, they began looting and Suvorov ordered his drummers to beat assembly to stop the pillage.[48]

André Massena's victory at Zurich ruined the new Allied strategy.

Years later when Moreau was asked about Suvorov, he replied:[49]

"What can you say of a general so resolute to a superhuman degree, and who would perish himself and let his army perish to the last man rather than retreat a single pace."

Historian Digby Smith called Novi, "one of the bloodiest battles of the era" and the casualties bear this out. Smith claimed that the Allies sustained about 900 killed, 4,200 wounded and 1,400 captured or missing (6,500 totally), plus three guns. Russian generals Aleksey Gorchakov, Tyrtov and Chubarov were wounded. The French lost 1,500 killed, 5,500 wounded and 4,500 prisoners — 11,500 totally. The Allies also captured 37 guns, 40 munition wagons and eight colors.[16] Christopher Duffy stated that one Austrian account admitted a sum of 799 killed, 3,670 wounded and 1,259 missing, though this adds up to less than the 5,754 reported total. Kray's wing alone had 710 killed, 3,260 wounded and 1,175 missing. The Russians suffered 2,496 casualties. The two sets of figures add up to a total Allied loss of 8,250. Duffy gave French losses as 6,500 to 6,643; evidently this is only the killed and wounded.[50] Statistician Gaston Bodart noticed 11,000 Frenchmen out of 35,000 and 9,000 allies out of 50,000.[15] Gunther E. Rothenberg asserted that both sides lost 7,000 killed and wounded, while the Allies had 2,000 missing or prisoners and the French had 4,000 prisoners or missing plus 37 guns.[13] David G. Chandler rounded the casualties to 8,000 Allied and 11,000 French.[51] According to Spencer C. Tucker, 11,000 were killed on the French side, and 9,000 on the Allied side.[14] Michael Clodfelter estimated Allied losses at 8,750, of which 6,050 Austrians were lost including captured, and the Russians lost 2,700 men. The French losses Clodfelter assessed at 9,663, of which 6,663 men were KIA and WIA, and about 3,000 were taken captive. 37 guns were lost.[12] According to David Eggenberger, the Coalition lost 8,000 men in the attack, while the French lost 11,000.[9] According to Aleksandr Bogolyubov , Coalition losses amounted to 8,000 men, and French casualties, including those soldiers who fled after the battle, totaled 16,000 and all the wagons.[52] According to another version, together with the dispersed, the losses amounted to only 15,100, but it's based on assumptions.[7] According to Ivan Rostunov , general irretrievable and sanitary losses of the French reached 20,000 soldiers and officers (also including the retreat that followed; i.e. those who deserted, stragglers, died under various circumstances, taken prisoner, battle-wounded and sick who were hospitalized, etc.).[53] Bagration was awarded the Order of Alexander Nevsky while Derfelden earned the Order of St. Andrew.[50]

Once the soldiers of the French left wing got clear of the Braghena Gorge, they quickly left the battlefeld far behind. The right wing, however, was in a difficult spot because it was unable to withdraw through Gavi and Nobili's command blocked its escape route via Arquata Scrivia. Saint-Cyr was unable to dislodge the Austrians with Dombrowski's men and finally shoved Nobili out of the way by using Watrin's division. Suvorov brought up Rosenberg's corps to the battlefield but did not launch a pursuit. The Russian commander in chief still planned to evict the French from Genoa and the Italian Riviera, but orders soon arrived sending troops elsewhere. Klenau's command to the southeast of Genoa was diverted to secure Austrian control of Tuscany. A French offensive seized Valais in southwest Switzerland, routing some of Hadik's troops. Suvorov detached Kray to the north with 10,000 Austrians to help.[54]

On 25 August, Suvorov's hopes to conquer Liguria were dashed forever when fresh instructions from Emperor Francis reached him. A new strategy put forward by the British and approved by Czar Paul and the Austrians directed Suvorov to take command of a new Russian army assembling in Switzerland. This army would be formed by joining the Russian troops in Italy to another Russian army in Germany under Alexander Korsakov. The army was to invade France through the Jura Mountains. When Korsakov arrived in Switzerland, Archduke Charles, Duke of Teschen immediately moved north into Germany with the main Austrian army. The strategy's timing failed. Charles left Switzerland too early and Suvorov reached Switzerland too late.[55] André Masséna wrecked the Allied plan when he defeated Korsakov at the Second Battle of Zurich on 26 September 1799.[56]

• Battle of Cassano (1799)
• Battle of Bassignana (1799)
• First Battle of Marengo (1799)
• Battle of Modena (1799)
• Battle of the Trebbia (1799)
• Second Battle of Marengo (1799)
• Battle of the Gotthard Pass (1799)

• Chandler, David G. (1979). Dictionary of the Napoleonic Wars. New York, N.Y.: Macmillan. ISBN 0-02-523670-9.
• Clausewitz, Carl von (2020). Napoleon Absent, Coalition Ascendant: The 1799 Campaign in Italy and Switzerland. Vol. 1. Translated by Murray, Nicholas; Pringle, Christopher. Lawrence, Kansas: University Press of Kansas. ISBN 978-0-7006-3025-7. Retrieved 6 June 2023.
• Clodfelter, M. (2017). Warfare and Armed Conflicts: A Statistical Encyclopedia of Casualty and Other Figures, 1492-2015 (4th ed.). Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland. ISBN 978-0-7864-7470-7.
• Duffy, Christopher (1999). Eagles Over the Alps: Suvarov in Italy and Switzerland, 1799. Chicago, Ill.: The Emperor's Press. ISBN 1-883476-18-6.
• Rothenberg, Gunther E. (1980). The Art of War in the Age of Napoleon. Bloomington, Ind.: Indiana University Press. ISBN 0-253-31076-8.
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• Tucker, Spencer C. (2009). A Global Chronology of Conflict: From the Ancient World to the Modern Middle East [6 volumes]: From the Ancient World to the Modern Middle East. ABC-CLIO. ISBN 978-1851096725.
• Eggenberger, David (1985). An Encyclopedia of Battles. New York: Dover Publications. ISBN 0-486-24913-1. Retrieved 28 June 2023.
• Latimer, Jon (December 1999). "War of the Second Coalition". Military History: 62–69.
• Bodart, Gaston (1908). Militär-historisches Kriegs-Lexikon (1618-1905) (in German). Vienna and Leipzig: C. W. Stern. Retrieved 27 May 2023.
• Orlov, Nikolay Aleksandrovich (1892). Разбор военных действий Суворова в Италии в 1799 году [Analysis of Suvorov's military actions in Italy in 1799] (in Russian). St. Petersburg: Тип. Тренке и Фюсно. ISBN 9785998994289.
• Rostunov, Ivan I. (1989). Генералиссимус Александр Васильевич Суворов: Жизнь и полководческая деятельность [Generalissimo Alexander Suvorov: Life and military activity] (in Russian). Moscow: Voenizdat. ISBN 5-203-00046-8.
• Bogolyubov, Aleksandr N. (1939). Полководческое искусство А.В. Суворова [The art of military leadership of A.V. Suvorov] (in Russian). Moscow: Voenizdat. ISBN 978-5-4484-0277-7.
• Arsenyev, Konstantin; Petrushevsky, Fyodor (1897). Brockhaus and Efron Encyclopedic Dictionary (in Russian). Vol. XXI. Нибелунги — Нэффцер. Friedrich A. Brockhaus (Leipzig), Ilya A. Efron (St. Petersburg). Retrieved 30 May 2023.
• Velichko, Konstantin; Novitsky, Vasily; Schwarz, Aleksey von; Apushkin, Vladimir; Schulz, Gustav von (1914). Sytin Military Encyclopedia (in Russian). Vol. XVII. Нитроглицерин — Патруль. Тип. Т-ва И. Д. Сытина. Retrieved 28 June 2023.

Maps:

• "Battle of Novi, 15 August 1799";
• "Position of the troops after the Battle of Novi, 17 August 1799".

Media related to Battle of Novi at Wikimedia Commons