14 January 1797, afternoon
Lusignan's column
Lusignan’s column stands on the heights south of Rivoli, across the French line of retreat. Brune’s brigade engages it from the front, while Rey’s division, coming up from Castelnuovo, and Victor’s reserve brigade arrive and fall on it. The column is crushed, and Lusignan flees west with fewer than 2,000 men.
The French lose 3,200 killed and wounded and 1,000 captured. The Austrians lose 4,000 killed and wounded and 8,000 men and 40 guns captured, and some accounts give up to 10,000 prisoners. One authority puts the total losses at 5,000 French and 14,000 Austrians. On the next day Joubert and Rey pursue Alvinczi, and the remnants of his columns flee north up the Adige valley in confusion.
General Bonaparte and his staff review Austrian prisoners in Italy, painting by Édouard Detaille, 1883Wikimedia Commons, Édouard Detaille, Public domain (Detaille Bonaparte in Italy 1797.jpg)
Sources
- David G. Chandler, The Campaigns of Napoleon (1966).
- Digby Smith, The Napoleonic Wars Data Book (1998).
Prev: The fight at the gorgeNext: La Favorita