862 



GEKMAN-ITALIAN WAK. 



ployed in the plain. Early in the morning the 

 battle began both upon the western and the 

 eastern banks of the Tione. Upon the western 

 bank the Austrian reserve division, coming 

 from Sandra at 7 o'clock, met the vanguard of 

 the Italian division Cerale and pushed it back 

 upon Oliosi. Against this place the Austrians 

 soon sent an additional brigade of the Fifth corps 

 (from S. Giorgio), while two other brigades ad- 

 vanced upon S. Eocco. At 1 o'clock P. M., 

 Cerale, bravely fighting, had to fall back before 

 overwhelming numbers toward Monte Vento. 

 He himself was wounded ; one of the briga- 

 diers, Villarey, killed. General Durando, the 

 commander of the First corps, tried to rally the 

 division, but was likewise wounded. At two 

 o'clock the Austrians stormed the Monte Vento, 

 and the division Cerale had to retreat to Va- 

 leggio. The pursuit of the Austrians was partly 

 delayed by an advance of the division PianelU 

 from the right bank of the Mincio, which, to- 

 gether with other troops belonging to the First 

 army corps, covered the retreat. After the 

 evacuation of the Monte Vento, the division 

 Sirtori, at S. Lucia (on the Tione), as its left flank 

 was uncovered, had to retreat, amidst uninter- 

 rupted fighting, over Monte Mamaor to Va- 

 leggio. It was 3 o'clock when, thus, the entire 

 left wing of the Italians had been dislodged from 

 its position. On the eastern bank of the Tione 

 the battle had been raging from an early hour 

 in the morning near Custoza. The division 

 Cugia, advancing upon Stafialo, and supported 

 by the division of the crown prince, became 

 engaged with the 9th Austrian corps, which 

 had occupied Casa del Sole and Berettara. 

 The division Brignone, led by La Marmora him- 

 self, while advancing from Custoza upon Monte 

 Godio, was attacked by the brigade Scudier, 

 of the 7th 'Austrian corps. The latter was 

 soon reenforced by the two other brigades of 

 the corps, while it forced the division Brig- 

 none to fall back upon Custoza. The division 

 Govone was ordered to take the place of 

 the division Brignone. Soon the Vth Aus- 

 trian corps received large reinforcements from 

 the Fifth corps, which had been successful at 

 Monte Vento and S. Lucia ; and now the fight 

 raged again between Monte Godio, Stafialo, and 

 Custoza, until 5 o'clock, when, entirely out- 

 flanked on the left, Cugia had to evacuate the 

 heights of the Monte Torre and of Madonna 

 della Croce, and to retreat upon Prabiano and 

 Villafranca. The retreat of the Italians was 

 made in good order. Not until 7 o'clock did the 

 Austrians occupy Custoza. The Italians imme- 

 .diately withdrew their whole force across the 

 Mincio, and subsequently even behind the Oglio. 

 Cialdini, who was to have crossed .the Po in 

 the night from the 25th to the 26th, withdrew 

 his troops from the river, and on the 28th estab- 

 lished his headquarters at Modena, in order to be 

 nearer the main army. The Austrians reported 

 a loss of 960 killed, 3,690 wounded, and about 

 1,000 captured ; while the loss of the Italians was 

 stated at 720 killed, 3,112 wounded, and 4,315 



missing. To the left of the main army of the 

 Italians, Garibaldi, at the head of about 6,000 

 volunteers, was threatening the passes of South- 

 ern Tyrol. One band of volunteers crossed the 

 frontier as early as the 22d, and thus gave to 

 the Austrians a reason for complaining that the 

 Italians had begun hostilities before the tune 

 agreed upon. Several skirmishes took place be- 

 tween the volunteers and the Austrians from 

 June 22d to July 3d, but none of great im- 

 portance ; in one of them, near Bagolino, Gari- 

 baldi himself was wounded. 



The Italian fleet was assembled on the mid- 

 dle of May at Taranto. The chief command 

 was given to Admiral Persano, who divided it 

 into three squadrons a battle squadron, a re- 

 serve squadron, and a coast or siege squadron. 

 On being informed of the declaration of war, 

 the admiral, on the 21st of June, left the port 

 of Taranto, and on the 25th anchored in that 

 of Ancona. The Austrian counter-admiral, 

 TegethofF, who, in 1864, had distinguished him- 

 self in the German-Danish war, made on the 

 26th and 27th a reconnoissance off the port of 

 Ancona, but withdrew without bringing on a 

 fight. 



The War in Bohemia The Advance of the 

 three Great Prussian Armies The Battle of 

 Sadowa or Koniggr&tz. At the time when the 

 Prussians began hostilities against Saxony, Han- 

 over, and Hesse-Cassel (middle of June), the 

 Austrian army in Bohemia consisted of six com- 

 plete army corps, two divisions of heavy and 

 two divisions of light artillery, under the fol- 

 lowing commanders : 1st army corps (Bohe- 

 mian), under Count Clam-Gallas, general of 

 cavalry ; 2d (Austrian and Styrian), under Field- 

 marshal Lieutenant Count Thun-Hohenstein ; 

 4th (Moravia.n and Silesian), under Field-mar- 

 shal Lieutenant Festetics de Tolna ; 6th (Hun- 

 garian), under Field-marshal Lieutenant Bam- 

 ming; 8th, under Field-marshal Lieutenant 

 Archduke Leopold ; 10th, under Field-marshal 

 Lieutenant von Gablentz. The divisions of heavy 

 cavalry were commanded by Prince William of 

 Schleswig-Holstein-Glucksburg and Major-Gen- 

 eral Zaitsek ; those of light cavalry by Prince 

 Francis Lichtenstein, general of cavalry, and 

 Major-General Prince Emerich von Thurn and 

 Taxis. Each of the six army corps was to 

 count 30,000 men and 80 pieces of ordnance ; 

 each cavalry division 2,700 combatants, and 16 

 pieces of ordnance. The artillery reserve had 

 12 batteries or 96 pieces of ordnance. The 

 whole Bohemian army was to consist of 190,000 

 with 640 pieces of ordnance. It was. more- 

 over, to be reenforced by the 3d army corps, 

 under Archduke Ernest, and to form a junction 

 either in Bohemia or in Saxony with 23,000 

 Saxon troops. The whole army was placed 

 under the chief command of Feldzeugmeister 

 Benedek, the most popular general of the Aus- 

 trian army. Chief of the general staff was 

 the Baron von Henickstein, and quartermaster- 

 general, General Krismanich. Austria hoped 

 that the Bavarians, under command of Princa 



