Arcole falls

During the night French engineers float pontoons into the Alpone and bridge it near its mouth. On 17 November Augereau’s division crosses and fights north along the eastern dike, joined later by a battalion and some cavalry from Legnago. Two of Masséna’s demi-brigades under General Jean Gilles André Robert attack along the western dike, while Masséna beats Provera near Belfiore again in the early afternoon.

At 3 pm a large Austrian column surges out of Arcole and drives back Robert’s troops. Augereau’s men see it and fall back as well, and by 4 pm they have recrossed the Alpone. Masséna then comes up from the west with reinforcements, ambushes the Austrians on the western dike and drives them back towards Arcole. Augereau crosses again, and at about 5 pm the two divisions fight their way into the village, helped by a lieutenant and 25 Guides who ride into the Austrian rear blowing bugles.

Augereau at the bridge of Arcole on 15 November 1796, painting by Charles Thévenin, 1798Wikimedia Commons, Charles Thévenin, Public domain (Charles Thévenin - Augereau au pont d'Arcole.jpg)

The French push north towards the main road, where Schübirz’s brigade holds them off while Provera’s division escapes east. The French lose 3,500 killed and wounded and 1,300 captured, and General Robert is mortally wounded. The Austrians lose 2,200 killed and wounded and 4,000 men and 11 guns captured. On the same day Davidovich drives Vaubois from Rivoli, but Bonaparte turns against him and forces him back up the Adige, and on 23 November Alvinczi retreats to the Brenta.

Sources

David G. Chandler, The Campaigns of Napoleon (1966).
Martin Boycott-Brown, The Road to Rivoli: Napoleon’s First Campaign (2001).
Digby Smith, The Napoleonic Wars Data Book (1998).

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