Battle of San Maurizio

After some initial successes, Napoleon's forces were repeatedly defeated by the Austrians, and the simultaneous defection of Kingdom of Bavaria put them in a rather dangerous position. As a result, they were forced to abandon Friuli, retreating westward into Veneto.^[14] Having reached the Adige, they held their ground firmly for months, preventing Austrian forces from crossing the river.^[15] While the situation on the Adige developed into a stalemate, further south in Emilia-Romagna, Austrian forces under General Nugent landed in the Polesine, forming a bridgehead south of the Po.^[16] The situation worsened as the forces of Marshal Murat, who had become King of Naples, moved up the peninsula, advancing into the region without declaring themselves either hostile to or allied with the Austrians or the Franco-Italians. Their position only became clear after 15 February, when they finally declared their entry into the war against Napoleon.^[17] Meanwhile, preparing to deal with the Neapolitan forces as well, Eugene had retreated to the Mincio, while sending General Severoli to manage the situation in Emilia-Romagna, where the Austrians were gaining ground.^[18][19]

On 8 February the inconclusive Battle of the Mincio confirmed the stalemate between the two forces north of the Po.^[20] To the south, however, the Austrian forces had managed to push back the Franco-Italians well beyond the city of Reggio Emilia, aiming to reach Piacenza and Borgoforte, where they could take advantage of a bridge to cross the Po and reach Milan, the heart of the Kingdom of Italy.^[21] Sensing that the front would remain stable on the Mincio, Eugene decided to send General Paul Grenier to Emilia , asking him to resume the offensive and attack the Austrians.^[22] Arriving on site in the last week of February, Grenier carefully examined the front and planned to attack shortly the forces of General Starhemberg, placed in the vanguard and isolated near Parma.^[23]

Meanwhile, Marshal Murat's forces had also reached the region. Their position, in the context of the war, remained rather ambiguous they had not directly intervened in the clashes and had only occupied some cities in central Italy, then pushing on to Bologna towards mid-December, all still in possession of the garrisons of the Napoleonic army.^[24] Murat, in fact, was negotiating with Metternich to change sides and maintain his kingdom at the end of the war the agreement was reached in mid-January and on 15 February the king of Naples made his defection public.^[25] The collaboration between the two armies was however difficult: the mutual suspicions and the different interests of the two parties caused many disagreements between the two commanders,^[26] although the efforts of the two armies had led the forces of Severoli, commander of the Napoleonic forces in Emilia-Romagna, to retreat behind the Taro.^[27]

After a failed attempt by the Neapolitans to cross the Po, the forces of Grenier, sent specifically by Eugene, took advantage of the momentary weakness of the coalition to drive the Austrians of Starhemberg from Parma on 2 March the Franco-Italians crossed the Taro, attacked the Emilian city and drove the Austrians from its interior^[28], taking numerous prisoners^[29] and freeing the territory from enemy forces up to the river Secchia.^[30] In the meantime, to facilitate collaboration with the Neapolitans, the Austrian emperor Francis had sent a letter to Murat, reassuring him of his personal commitment to maintaining the agreements made.^[31] Then the French marshal, in the meantime appointed commander of all the forces of the Coalition in Emilia-Romagna and having obtained the guarantees he was looking for, went on the attack.^[31]

Although Austrian reports estimated Severoli's forces at Reggio in 6,000 men, in reality the Italian general could count on only four French battalions, commanded by General Soulier, and three Italian battalions, distributed between the city and the nearby center of San Maurizio, in addition to the two cavalry regiments of General Rambourgt. These forces, composed mostly of young soldiers and in less than optimal condition due to tiredness and illness, amounted to a maximum of 3,000 men fit for service. The rest of the French forces were behind the Enza, far from the future theatre of battle despite this, Filippo Severoli decided to resist and try to maintain the position.^[8] The Rodano torrent, swollen by snow and rain, would have constituted an important natural defence, behind which Severoli's men would have placed themselves, the first line of Italian defence they barricaded the San Maurizio bridge and sent two companies, one further downstream and one further upstream, to cover further crossings of the river. Two cannons were positioned inside the village church.^[32]

The Gober brigade went to position itself towards Carpi and Guastalla, forming the right of the Austro-Neapolitan deployment; Colonel Gavenda formed the left, heading towards Scandiano, while the centre was formed by the divisions of Carrascosa and Starhemberg, supported by Livron's cavalry.^[33] The fighting began on the morning of 7 March and it was this latter column that attacked the bridge, led by the intrepid Carrascosa the Italian resistance was stubborn, but Severoli's soldiers limited themselves to trying to maintain the position and occasionally respond to enemy artillery fire.^[34] It was during this exchange of fire that Severoli was seriously wounded an Austrian cannonball hit his right leg, shattering it below the knee. The general tried to fight again, but was forced to abandon the battlefield to have his leg amputated before it was too late. The command was passed to General Rambourgt.^[35]

Meanwhile, General Pepe, taking with him two battalions of Neapolitan soldiers and some lancers, rushed against the Franco-Italian left, moving away from the main road and the rest of the Austro-Neapolitan column. After the mounted lancers had crossed the Rhone, he had thick ropes thrown from one side of the watercourse to the other, so as to also allow the infantry forces to pass, otherwise made impossible by the strength of the current and the enormous volume of water. Despite the breaking of some ropes, the rapid intervention of the mounted forces allowed almost all the Neapolitan soldiers to find safety and not drown. Seeing the enemy forces appear on his left, Rambourgt understood that he could not keep the Italians in San Maurizio for much longer and decided to begin to retreat towards Reggio, where he would lead a further resistance.^[36][34]

When the last Austrian maneuvers, aimed at outflanking Reggio and trapping Napoleon's troops, were about to be completed, Murat arrived personally on the battlefield. It is not clear what were the reasons that pushed Murat to his decision, but the king of Naples sent a diplomat, probably General Livron, to negotiate with Rambourgt the coalition army would have committed itself not to occupy Reggio until March 8, allowing all Napoleonic forces to abandon the city in safety. The French general, obviously, hastened to accept Murat's proposal and^[36][37] after five hours of fighting, began to evacuate the city.^[36][37]

The French, during the night, crossed the Enza and joined Gratien 's division. He decided to retreat further, crossing the Taro and placing his vanguard at Castelguelfo. On March 9th the victors of San Maurizio had reached the Taro, occupied Parma and were approaching Piacenza.^[38] On March 10th he entered Reggio, parading along the Corso della Ghiara, today Corso Garibaldi, over 9,000 Neapolitan infantry.^[32] On 25 March he returned to Modena. After the Battle of San Maurizio, the tense relationship between the two sides emerged again, also thanks to the arrival in the region of the English commander Bentinck.^[39] No progress was made for over a month, with the French firmly stuck on the Taro. Only the news of Napoleon's surrender at Fontaineblue spurred Murat to return to the attack again, ordering an offensive on the Taro in the last days before the end of the conflict.^[40]

• History of Italy
• Siege of Venice (1813–1814)
• Lists of battles of the French Revolutionary Wars and Napoleonic Wars