BATTLE OF MONTEBELLO.

Colonist, Volume II, Issue 191, 19 August 1859, Page 2

BATTLE OF MONTEBELLO.

It was not till the 20th of May that the two opposing armies shewed signs of being about to commit themselves to some decisive conflict. From the relative position of the two sides, as described above, it will not be regarded as unnatural that the Austrians should become suspicious of the designs of the allied French and Sardinian force upon the left flank of their army. The points upon which the advance of the French and Sardinians was most dreaded were Pavia and Piacenza. General Stadion, therefore, who was posted either in or near the latter place, resolved to discover whether it was threatened by any considerable force of the allies; and for this purpose he set out, on May 20, with a reconnoitring force of 25,000 men, to advance from Stradella, on the road to Voghera, as far as Casteggio and Montebello. How promptly his curiosity was satisfied will be seen from what follows. For the sake of fairness, we give both a French and an Austrian resume of the fate of the reconnoitring expedition. First comes the French account:—The advanced posts of the allied army, consisting of 800 Sardinian horse, supported by two batteries, occupied a position near Montebello, on the great road between Alessandria and Piacenza, and five miles eastward of Voghera. The division of General Forey, consisting of four brigades of about 9000, and forming part of Baraguay d'Hilliers' corps d'annee, lay a short distance behind. Suddenly, about 11 o'clock on Friday morning (May 20), an Austrian division of 25,000 men was seen advancing in echelon from the eastward. It was in three columns, and led, some say, by Count Stadion; others, by Baron Zobel. Its right was in advance of its left, and stretched towards Branduzzo—a village about two miles north of Casteggio; its centre was the attacking force, whilst its left, supported by a powerful artillery, advanced along the great road. The attacking force at once fell upon the Sardinian cavalry, under Colonel de Sonnaz, who with his 800 'men had to make head against an overwhel-. ming force. At first the French general, thinking it was a mere reconnaisance, advanced with only 500 men, but finding the force of the enemy, he pushed on his first brigade, and directed the other two to follow leaving his second brigade, with some of the National Guard, in reserve. In the meantime a desperate struggle had ensued. For' an hour, it is said, young Colonel de Sonnaz, with his brilliant cavalry, sustained the shock of the enemy. But even after the arrival of the first Frencli reinforcements the battle did not slacken. The attack was obstinate; the numbers were unequal and so quickly did the shot and shell fall upon the centre of the allies that they were compelled to_ retire. Just as General Beuret was leading on his men to the attack an attempt was made to turn the allied right—but in vain. The Austrian centre, assailed by the allies in front, and broken by the destructive fire of the new imperial artillery, fell back, so that the allies re-occupied their ground. But in fhe meantime General Forey had arrived. With his Zouaves, his Chasseurs d'Orleans, and several battalions of the line which arrived rapidly on the field by railway, the general dashed against the enemy, whilst the light horsemen of Montferrato, under Colonel Morelli, charged in flank; the second brigade assailed the right, and the artillery poured in a destructive fire. The attack was irresistible; and so the Austrians, about 5 o'clock in the afternoon, after six hours' fighting, began to'retire. They divided themselves into two bodies—the one retiring eastward on Stradella, the other northward on Casatisma* In short, the day was won. The Austrian narrative, that is i the official report of General Gyulai* commander-in-chief, is very clear, and apparently as impartial as can be expected: "lordered>" says General Gyulai, "a great reconnaissance on the right b; ek of the Po, because information received from the advanced posts established along the Sesia and the Po gave reason for supposing that the enemy projected a movement with a considerable force by Voghera against Piacenza." Accordingly, three brigades were directed from Pavia to the tete-de-pont of Vaccarizza. Other troops were concentrated at or near this spot, some of them even being brought from Piacenza. The whole was under the orders of Lieutenant-Field-Marshal Stadion, Lieutenant-Field-Marshals Baunigarten and Urban commanding divisions* Urban advanced along the main road, close to the mountains, Baumgarten along the plain to Urban's right. There is no necessity for us to go into the details. Suffice it to say that Urban carried Casteggio'and^Montebello, where it is fair to believe that the French were too weak for effective resistance, and that he to Genestrello, the next village oh the road to Voghera, before the Frencli brought him to a stand. The Austrian general says that he there found the enemy in superior force, but that the resistance of the French was overcome "by the brave Chasseurs of the 3rd and 4th battalions of the regiments of Hesse and Dom Miguel, which, in spite of a great loss, soon remained masters of the height and of the village of Genestrello." But now the French began to receive their much-needed reinforcements. The railway was continually bringing up troops, which took part in the action, so that Lieutenant-Field-Marshal Urban and the Brigade Gaal were driven back behind Montebello. After an obstiunte combat, Montebello was evacuated by the whole Austrian force. The Brigade Bils and the Brigade of Hesse coming up protected the Austrian retreat. The French did not molest the repulsed division of General Urban, and the corps, " haying remained some time at Casteggio without being attacked, reached the tete-de-pont at night, and repassed the Po on the morning of the 21st of May." According to General Gyulai/ the troops who penetrated to Genestrello and bore the brunt of the fight under Urban, amounted to five battalions with six guns, and a division of Hussars. " There it was that the battle was most bloody, the losses most considerable, and the snemy's force equal to three times our own. _At Montebello a larger force was engaged. lhe Austrian general gives his opinion (of course derived from his subordinate, or from general rumor) rf the enemy's prowess. The fighting was close

and sharp ; the Austrian artillery coming up id - the enemy inflicted and suffered heavy losses; but, "remarkable fact—we had but few wounds from the enemy's artillery—almost all their shots failed, although we were veiy near them. [This is quite a different account from that given by the French, - who declare that it was their artillery which won the day. while the Austriana. did nothing but by f their rifles.] " The enemy's infantry," continues the general, "fires very well. His cavalry de- , serves a less favorable judgment. It constantly shewed itself inferior to our. Hussars and our , Hulans, and declined any serious conflict." Then comes the estimate of the French numbers, which is, of course, immensely exaggerated. "It is certain that 12 regiments of infantry, several batta-. lions of Chasseurs, a regiment of French cayalryy , as well as a Piedmontese brigade and the regiment of cavalry of Novara, were, under fire, and that strong, reserves were "echeloned. Lieutenant- . Field-Marshal Stadion raises the number of the enemy which opposed him to 40,000 men at the least." The Austrians confess to a loss of 294 killed, 718 wounded, and 283 missing—in all closa. on 1300, of whom 200 are prisoners. [The French . state their loss at about 700.]