The Sun.
London, England, 1848-08-02 00:00:00

ITALY.

LOMBARDY AND PIEDMONT.
THE GREAT BATTLES BETWEEN THE
AUSTRIANS AND ITALIAN S.-NEW
SARDINIAN MINISTRY.

The battle between the Austrians and the Pied-
montese has been long and severe, and victory has
finally declared for RADETZKY, who has succeeded in
effecting the object he had in view, and in forcing
CHARLES ALBERT to retire beyond the Mincio. On
the 23d the Austrians, who seem to have taken the
Piedmontese by surprise, were completely victorious.
They swept the whole country before them. On the
24th they were attended in their positions by the Pied-
montese, and driven further, leaving 2,500 prisoners
in the hands of the Italian army. On the 25th the
battle was renewed, and continued until night, when
the Piedmontese army retired in good order, taking
with them their prisoners. The headquarters of
CHARLES ALBERT were, on the 2Gth, at Goito.
The following is the Piedmontese official account
of the events of the 25th :
" TO HIS EXCELLENCY THE :►SINISTER OF WAR.

" Principal Head-quarters, Goito, July 26, 1848.
" I have already had the honour to inform your Excel-
lency of the battle of Staffolo, which ended so gloriously
for the royal army on the 24th instant; the loss
of the enemy, better known on the following day, was
1,200 prisoners, among whom were thirty-eight officers
and an immense number of killed. On the morning of
the 25th General Bava undertook an evolution, from
which great success was confidently expected. The
strong but short defence made by the enemy, in the ex
cellent position occupied on the preceding evening, led
As to believe that his forces, if not inferior to those with
which we intended to attack him, were not certainly in
great number, and it was in that supposition that yes-
terday morning the Brigade of Aosta pushed forward
on Valeggio, whilst the division of the Duke of Savoy
was to have reached the:rear, from the heights above Stat-
folo, following up the hills. At the same time the Royal
division, commanded by the Duke of Genoa, was to march
from Somma Campagna to Ogliosi to attack the bridge
that the Austrians had formed on the Mincio at Salionae.
Whilst all these attacks were to be in operation, the Ge-
neral commanding the secondcorpsof the army had orders
to attack Valeggio also from the right bank of the Mincio.
In all the rencontres our soldiers had with the Austrians,
these latter were constantly beaten. But the two divi-
sions of the' Duke of Savoy and the Duke of Genoa
had to sustain such impetuous assaults from the enemy,
that they were unable to reach the point where they
were to co-operate with the brigade Sommariva to the
attack of Valeggio. The support, moreover, that the
General commanding the second corps of the army was
to have given, was entirely missed, as the soldiers were
exhausted by the fatigues of the preceding days.
" Under existing unforeseen circumstances his Majesty
ordered the force to retire on Villa Franca, and the retro-
grade movement was accomplished in such a manner, that
the enemy did not dare to follow us; the obstinate resist-
ance however, which we met with yesterday, without reap:
ing any great advantage from the valour of our soldiers,
as had so many a time previously happened, clearly de-
monstrated to his Majesty that the adverse forces had
increased so much, that our position at Villa Franca was
no longer tenable, and he consequently ordered that all the
army should retire on the right of the Mincio, concen-
trating at Goito, where his Majesty has fixed to-day his
head-quarters, which movement was complied with this
morning in a most orderly manner. The enemy, Bimost
at our heels on the right side and behind our columns,
only dispatched after us a few Hulans, who kept a re-
spectful distance from us.
6' We know our losses as yet very incompletely, either
of this day or of the various combats of the preceding
days. As soon as I shall be able to obtain an exact ac-
count of them, I shall do myself the honour to commu-
nicate it to your Excellency. lam happy to say, even
from this moment, that our losses have not been consi-
derable, although we have to deplore the death of Major-
General commanding the Brigade of Savoy, Chevalier
D'Aviernoz, which took place in the combats of St.
Giustina; and of a few other officers, the Chevalier
Boy I, Major-General commanding the Brigade Cuneo;
and Chevalier Giustiniani, Major in the royal corps of
the General Staff, were lightly wounded.
" The Chief of the Staff,
" SALASCO."

The correspondent of the Journal des Debats, at
the head-quarters of CHARLES ALBERT, gives the fol-
lowing account of the battle of the 25th :

" VILLA FRANCA, JULY 25.—The fighting has been
going ou all day. The Austrians have displayed against
us such an immense amount of force that we regard as
a victory our having vigorously sustained the check, and
preserved our position on the Mincio.
" The King, as I have informed you this morning,
attacked the enemy with a corps of 20,000 men ; but,
contrary to all expectation, after an hour's fighting, we
saw coming up against us 45,000 Austrians, in such a
manner
rt hatinplace of being the assailants, we found
ourselves attacked along the whole length of our
line, from Somme Campagna to Valeggio. The
bssttle lasted from eight in the morning till five
in the afternoon, and on both sides the struggle
was a desperate one. Our troops, although very
inferior in number, made head against the enemy with
much valour. The regiment of Novarre cavalry three
times broke the squares of the Austrian battalions and
carried carnage into the midst of them. The Pignarolle
regiment charged with the bayonet five times. But in
spite of all our efforts the enemy kept his position on
the left bank of the Mincio, while we remain masters of
our position on the right. As a precaution, we have,
ourselves broken down all the bridges on the Mincio,
with the exception of one at Peschiera, and another at
Goito, which are the two principal passages of the river.
The result of all the combats of the last few days
will probably oblige us to entrench ourselves on the
line of the Mincio, and to remain for some time on the
defensive.
" The losses of the enemy in the several battles of
these days cannot yet be estimated; but, considering the
superiority of our artillery and the ardour of our troops,
their loss must greatly exceed ours."
On this communication the Debtata makes the fol-
lowing remarks :
" According to the dispatch, the hottest part of the
combat took place on the two slopes of the valley ex-
tending from Somma Campagna to the Mincio, and along
that river to the north of Valeggio. It results from
that, that the line of the Austrian army was nearly per-
pendicular to the Mincio, upon which its right was sup-
ported, while its left made face to Somma Campagna.
It also results from it that the left wing of the Pied-
montese army, which had retired below Peschiera, was
entirely cut off from the rest of the army. These cir-
cumstances were very unfavourable to Charles Al-
bert, who from that time was no longer master of
the whole course of the Mincio, as he had formerly
been. It will be remarked, in the letter of our cor-
respondent, that the King was attacked by 45,000
men, while he had only 20,000 to oppose them.
Until we get further details, we cannot comprehend
how the Piedmontese army, which is 80,000 strong, was
only able to present 20,000 men in an affair which lasted
four days. We have no explanation of this unfortunate
inferiority. The official dispatch and the letter say
nothing of that Austrian column which threatened to
throw a bridge over the Mimic), in order to penetrate
into Lombardy ; but these two documents announce that
the Piedmontese have broken all the bridges, excepting
those of Peschiera and Goito, which are fortified places.
From this it may be inferred that the Xing had adopted
this measure, foreseeing that he might be constrained to
retire momentarily to the right bank of the Minoio. Let
us remark, however, that this retreat was not effected on
the evening of the 25th, for the dispatch of which we
.speak is dated from Villa Franca. As long as the
Italian army occupies this point it will not be thrown
back on the Mincio. This is evidently the object of
General Radetzky, but the King, with his brave army,
resists heroically, and if there are no other events than
those of which we have information to the evening of
the 25th of July, we can repeat that the question is still
undecided, in spite of the redoubtable efforts and nu-
merical superiority of:the Austrian army."
The 41rentidaP jsfarzo of Milan of the 26th ult. has
the following :
" BRESCIA, JULY 25.—• The Piedmontese troops at
Rivoli, consisting chiefly of the Savoy brigades of Pine-
rolo and Savona, having fallen back upon Peschiera,
which, from prudential measures, they were not allowed
to enter, not to overcrowd the fortress, continued their
arms.were greatly
t 0
retreat to Brescia, which city they entered last night.
;:hTehheobnroui brilliant a no
f
t theltalian
achievements
After yesterday a
determined