{"document_url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Montebello_(1859)"}
The Battle of Montebello was fought on 20 May 1859 at Montebello (in what is now Lombardy, northern Italy). It was a minor engagement of the Second Italian War of Independence, fought between Piedmontese cavalry and French infantry against Austrian troops. Because of this battle, the Austrian commander-in-chief was obliged to keep some troops to cover the southern part of the front.

Prelude

Feldzeugmeister Ferenc Gyulay, commanding the Austrian 2nd Army, deployed VII Korps along the Sesia, the II and III Korps at Mortara, VIII Korps at Pavia, and V Korps between Pavia and Mortara. Gyulay anticipated a Franco-Piedmontese offensive consisting of a flanking maneuver south of the Po. Marshal Achille Baraguey d'Hilliers' I Corps advanced from Voghera, while Garibaldi advanced from the north. Gyulai assumed they were pressuring his flanks in a manoeuvre sur la derriére.

Battle

General Karl von Urban's IX Korps and Stadion's V Korps moved to stop the French offensive. On 20 May, in the first battle of the war, Forey's division, accompanied by three Piedmontese cavalry regiments commanded by General de Sonnaz, engaged the IX Korps at Montebello. After three hours, failing to stop Forey, Urban withdrew.

Aftermath

On 21 May, Napoleon III received a telegraph stating, "The Austrians have attacked, on the 20th, with approximately 15,000 men the advanced posts of Marshal Baraguey d'Hilliers. They have been repulsed by Division Forey, which conducted itself admirably and liberated the village of Montbello, already famous..." Disconcerted, Gyulai deployed his corps further south.

Austrian order of battle

FML Graf Stadion, commander of V Corps

(9,950 infantry, 230 cavalry and 20 guns)

(6,700 infantry, 225 cavalry and 12 guns)
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Footnotes