THE WAR IN ITALY.

Hawke's Bay Herald, Volume 2, Issue 103, 10 September 1859, Page 3

THE WAR IN ITALY.

("Continued from owr last.) . AUSTRIAN ACCOUNT OF THE BATTLE '.: : . OP MAGENTA; Report oe Cottnt Gyjjxai, Commattdeb ov the ■';- Second AEanr&To His Majesty theEmfeb- ■ v or. •■•;■ ■■rv;:. ■ ■'■•-■ Your Majesty,- I—With1 — With the most profound respect I hasten to forward to your Majesty, by Colonel Wejjssrimmel, of the General Staff, a brief account of" me battle of Magenta, which, at a later period will be completed by a detailed description of an action which was glorious for the arms of your Majesty, though its result was imperfect (gescbmalert.) At 7 o'clopk>,in the morning of the 4th June ■ Lieutenant-G(Meral Count Clam, who was in position at Magenta with about 7,000 of his own men and the 2nd Army Corps, informed me that large masses of the enemy were approaching the tele-de-font which he, a few days before, had quitted, as •it was not adapted for defence. At half-past 8 in the morning, the time at which •Count Clam's report reached me,- the troops were thus distributed : — The division Rejechach of the 7th Corps was at Corbetto, and that under Lieu-tenant-General Lulia at Casteletto. The 3rd Corps was at Abbiate Grass ; the Bth Corps was marching between Binasco and Bestazzo ; and the 9th Corps was on the Po, below Pavia. I ordered the corps to advance immediately, and directed the 3rd and sth- Corps d' Armee to take the enemy in his right flank, should he attempt to make an attack from San Martin o. It was already known to me on the preceding day that the enemy had crossed the Tieino near Turbigo, and I expected the main attack would be made from that place. The Division Cordon, belonging to the Ist Corps, had;;been sent tifrfcardß Turbigo, and, being attacked there afit|||iubsequently at Buffalora, was ob.igedto retrelp??/-i I ordered Lieutenant-General Count Clam to maintain his position at Magenta, and desired the other corps to advance with all speed. The attack of -the enemy began at noon, and, being superior in force, he succeeded in obtaining possessiipn of. the. dam of the Naviglio (a canal) and"ofePonte di jklagenta. He suffered a tremendous loss, but the damand the intersected (coupirt) ground enabled- him to establish himself there- (at Ponte di Magenta) at 2 o'clock. About j this time I had gone with my staff to Magenta, and was making raj dispositions. When the foremost line began to give way the division under Lieutenant-General Baron Iteisehach was ordered to retake Ponte di Magenta. I rode to Robecco to point out to the 3rd Corps the way to the enemy's right flank. Shortly after my arrival at Robecco the retaking of Ponte di Magenta and the capture of a rifled gun were announced to me. The columns of the 3rd Corps, which were full oi confidence, now.advanced. General Ramming led his brigade along the east bank of the NavigUo. The brigade Hartung passed between the canal and Carpengago, and the brigade Durfeid followed them as a reserve. General Wetzhr's brigade was directed towards the road which is in the low ground the Tieino. While these brigades were advancing, the division under LicutenanlGeneral Reischach was again repulsed, although it — and more particularly the brigade under General Lebzeltem — had gallantly withstood several attacks. The brigade Lebzeltern, with the infantry regiment Kaiser at its head, made a splendid attack at Buffaiora. Although the enemy continually brought fresh troops' into his line of battle, the appearance of the 3rd Corps on his flank at first produced a very good effect. The brigade Hartung, being supported by Major- General Durfeld, several times stormed Ponte Vecchio di Magenti. The position was taken, lost, taken again, and at last remained in the hands of the enemy. The 'heaps of corpses' (leichen-massen) prove the determined courage of both parties. After several attacks had been made by that gallant regiment the Kin* of the Belgians, General Ramming' s brigade was obliged to fall back on Rebecco, where" it "remained. Towards evining the sth corps reached the field of battle, and the brigade Prince of Hesse made several gallant but ineffectual attempts to prevent the enemy's advancing- on "Magenta. This last place being attacked by a --superior force, and also by troops coming from tlfe north, the exhausted troops under Count Clam and Prince Lichtenstein were at last obliged to evacuate it. The division under LieutenantGeneral Lillia then advanced, and occupied Corbetta, through which place the retreat was to be made. As the day had begun to close in I had Robecco strongly occupied, und prepared for a fresh attack on the morning of the sth. The enormous loss of the enemy led us to hope that he was much shaken (erschuttert), and the courage on all occasions displayed by our troops induced us to believe that a renewed attack would be successful. As we have prisoners belonging to nearly all the regiments of the French army, it must be concluded that all the enemy's reserves were brought in-to-action. On our side the sth and Bth Corps, and a division of the 3rd Corps, were not engaged, and, being fresh troops, could have turned the scale in our favor. All this I had taken into consideration, and only waited for an account of the exact positions of the troops and their losses in order to make arrangements for renewing the attack. - K I nowjjearn: that the troops of the Ist and 2nd Corps d'Armee, which had suffiered most from the first attacks of the enemy, had already moved to the rear, and could not again be - brought to the field of battle, unless they made a fatiguing march during the night, The troops" in question continued their march at three- in. the morning, so that they musi;: haye' 'reached. 11 v c.--time at f which I. should havi^rlllaredHo send them" to 1 the 'front 'again. ' TJndSrVthese'circumstances, it wasf»£#essary fio'-mwkp-a retreat ; and it was myaim|i^^^^;thec6rpß which were still ready for actionfinwfefi'jin order that they might protect the others.- ; ' ~ '.' . ' Accordingly at five, in the morning the gallant regiment Grand Duke Hesse once more stormed Ponte di Magenta, in order to facilitate the retrograde jnoyementi. It. was the last effort of a brave

regiment-says Lieutenant-General Prince Schwarzenberg in his report — which on the preceding day had had twenty-five officers wounded, and one" staff officer and nine captains killed, without once hesitating to attack, and without displaying irre-i solution ? when repulsed. . . ' )*■ The enemy having been driven hack to Magen-i ta, ah orderly retreat was made. I believe I can confidently conclude that theenemy, in spite of his superiority, paid a high price for the possession of Magenta, and that he will do, your Majesty's army the justice to acknowledge that it did not yield to a brave and numerically superior force until after an heroic contest. "*' I am not able to give any nearer details concerning the action, as under the circumstances, timely returns from the different troops could not be acquired. I believe to be near the truth in saying that we had between 4000 and 5000 killed and wounded, and that the enemy certainly had half as many more. Lieutenant-General Baron Reischach was shot through the hip, and Generals Lebzeltern and Durfeld through the arm. I will not neglect to forward to your Majesty a more detailed account as soon as the separate reports haye j come in, and to mention the names of those who particularly distinguished themselves. .. '■ i ( Gytjxai, Feldzeugmeister. ; ..' Head-quarters, Belgisjoso, June 6, 1859.

It is almost impossible to give, you & correct idea of the impression which the foregoing'^ ulletin has produced here. For the moment the public appears to be stunned, but the military world loudly expresses its indignation that the finest army Austria ever had was entrusted t6' such an arrant bungler as Count Gyulai has proved himself to. be. Such a candid confession of incapacity has perhaps never been made by the conrmander of an army. On the 3rd Connt Gyulai' learnt that a part of the Sardo-Freneh army had crossed the Tieino at Turbigo, and he sent -one division to oppose its further progress ; on tlie following day he is informed that strong bodie? of the enemy are advancing towards Magenta, and he leaves Count Clam, with the 2nd Corps d'Armee and 7000 of his own men, to receive the shock, while he menaces thefright flank of the enemy with the 3rd and sth Corps. In the afternoon the Eeldzeugmeister manages to bring the '3rd Corps into, action ; and towards evening one brigade of the sth Corps makes its appearance ori'the field of bat', tie. Instead of imme Jiate'y sending the division of Lieutenant-Greneral Lillia to the assistance of the "exhausted troops" of Clam aad Lichtenstein, Count Gyulai places it as a reserve in Corbetto. The Commander of the Second Austrian army had two fresh corps (the sth and Bth) and one division at his disposal, but it was his wish to keep them "intact," and accordingly he, at 5 in the! morning of the sthinst., ordered a regiment which > had had thirty-five officers either killed or wounded on the preceding day once again to storm Ponte di Magenta. Well might Prince Schwarzenberg, the commander of the 3rd Corps, remark that it was. the "filial effort" of a gallant regiment. The fact that Count Clam and Prince Edward Lichtenstein took their corps (the Ist and the 2nd) to the rear, without waiting for the ordei s of Count Gyulai, evinces their contempt for his qualifications as a commander-in-chiff. "Nuver," said a veteran commander to me a few hours ago, "was a great and gallant army so badly handled." When in February last I wrote- that "faxiltless patent leather boots and well-waxed moustaches were the prominent characteristics of Count Gyulai; I was. accused of having maligned him, but peo|-lu now compliment me on my perspicacity. . Authentic iuf'cnv.a! ion that the French are in M lan has not yet bven received here, but it cannot be doubted that they are, as the Commander of the Secondary my was at Belgiojoso, on the road to Piacenza, on tho 6th inst. we. ks ago Louis Napoleon told his courtiers that the actors of the Theatre Francais should give their first representation afc Milan on the 10th of June, and he may be able to keep his word if they are now en .route for Lorn I ■"■' ■'■ ■" '■ " ' "' ■■■ " ' —