Richmond enquirer. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1815-1867, 1859-07-15
is defended and protected by the southern fort
of Mantua, by Pietoli.

line Of twenty or twenty-iOur miles to bc dc
=. Tended On the left banks Of the river, in
, distance OF three or four miles, are soft dc
cliYities. giving 10 an army ranged OH thc
tanks and foot all the advantage Of protcctct
| position, with all iicliticS of debouching an,
dashinS on the enemy who dares to cross tn,
river. Both ends of this line are protected b,
two ortrcSses-Peschicra and Man.ua; to trrI
this line and these iortrcsScS is rendered impo>
stale in the north BY the Alps, i'll the south bi
the swamps of the po and the mora>Scs OF th'
Addlgc.
PcSchcri, littlc town oi not more tiia'
700 inhabitants, is situated on an Islam
formed by the Mincio At its exit from the Lag
di Garda. The notifications consisted originally
in wall with bastionS. anda deep ditch; under
the French dominion the neighboring hillocl;
Mantcla, OH the left bank OF the river. va
crowned with u haStion The Austrians con
structei OH the right bank the fort Salyi. a"e
erected since 1858 eight luncttcS (MaNinilai
towers. with bomb proof redcubtS protecting
and dominating all accesSes to the cenira!
fortress The Iunct,es being considerable
distance from the town, Peschiera forms now Il
large fortified camp for whole corps d0rm
which can menace every movement of the Hanks
of the enemy who is abou! to cross the Mncio.
\ feet of small steamers lying under the wall,
Of Peschiera can transport troops to every point
of the lake threatened by the enemy Large
sluiccS were constructed in ls4.'. which. il
completely closed. elevate the watc. of TIE
Lake considerably, and, If opened, swell sud
denly the river Mincio 50 uucl, - 20 drStrn;'
pnnton or ram bridges
The ra:lway from Verona 10 Brcscia crosses
unler the walls Of PcSchiera. the Minco
This description will suffice to give pretty
clear understanding and idea of the present M
turc and condition Of the northern end Ihc
north key, OF the Miacio line
The southern key is Man,ua iMaulora,. Il
city and fortress .o, centuries renowned. Il;
counts - 0"u inhabitants, and is situated or
an island Of considerable extent and circunlc-
renee, occupying - acres Of land.
On the southern side Of the town is second
island. wlici IS much greater. and strongly
fortified the island, II Tc. 1t is large enough
! for whole corp Garmec of 1o,uU0 or G0,Vo0
men. Under Wurmscr al army Of q, 1000 men
was barrachcd OF this island The camps ami
barracks are fortified and bonjpr
! Around both islands in the nnrth and cast S
!, broad deep lake; in the south and west Il
swamp, which is formed by a dried up lake,
and even more diict:,t 10 pass than the lake
The distance from the wall of the fortress 10
~" interior banks Of the lake is 2.400 feet.
The only approaches to the two islands are five
inoics III dlkcS--thrcc from the right, two from
the left side The eastern mole leading to the
(Eaubour.) Borgi di ST. Giorgio consists Of
long dixie and Il stone bridge; the latter 100
Icrt long; il!c northern mole leading TO liorgo
iii Fortc2Ha. is $50 feet long. The first is
protected and commanded By the Fort ST.
';iorsio, the second by the great CitaGclo Iii
Porto The mOlcs in the west and south are
under the cannon Of the homework Pradclla
AID the strong fort Pictoii. The southern
point the noscJ of the island II Te is defended
by combined system Of entrenchmcnt and
redonbts called the rcdoubts Of Milgliorctto
On the same point are the great siuiccs which.
opened nundate the cnyivons to distance o.
:orlr to six miles
This situation renders Mantua really imprey.
nablc, and as long as it is not taken it cndan-
y RS all movements of an army advancing
against the Mincio or operating on its left side.
Napoleon the Great, who. as far as possible,
tlespised all iortrcsseS in his way, and LETT t!rein
tu;u t; ~ .i,, battles, and even then he crossed
no, the Julian Alps, but returned TO the siege
Of Mantua. After eight months the fortress
Observation-Disclosures, not the attacks of Napo-
leon, forcing the commander 10 this attack
February. 1897. Napoleon, rs soon rs he Vas
in nosscssion @: Mantua, entered Tyrol AMI
Austria proper, and could compel the Emperor
to accept his conditions Of peace \ grca!
hattie lost during the scige of Mantua forced
the vanquished army to return without delay
10 Piedmont, Us we have seen alter the batie
or Curtozza, lost by ChrrlcS Albert
The immense Importance of tie Minclo ir'
.-as recognized, as history teaches us, by NJ
creates, OF orr century; and i'll the time 0! this
,,rca. military genius Prschicra and Verona
we're only shadow ni what they are now
THE ENGLISH VIEW.
\ Vienna correspondent Of the London
/ Times, thus writes:
The Mincio. which flows from the laso ii
;arda to Mantua is at times river of consult
crahle size and depth, but in summer it IS often
20 shallow that It can bc wadcd through with
ont officially. There are bridges across the
I Mincio at Pcschcra Eorghctto, Gotta. Rivaii.
and Nant,ia, the distance bctwe,n the !irst
named place. which lies on the cal1la Lake,
and Mantra being about sixteen English n'icS
The distance between Mantua and the spot at
which, the Mincio falls into the Po, may be
about scvcn miles. Thus the line which the
Aus;rans have to defend is but little more
than twenty miles in length and Mt each enh
* 4 fortress. which it is exceedingly difficult TO
,urn. as the one peSchicra) is on the Garda
Lake and the other (Mantual lies in the midst
of bops and marshes. which extend to the 20
pcsch,era 4 small town on the island, Is de-
Tended bv extended outworkS and eight "lu-
ncttcs" with bomb.proOf quarters for the troops.
Thcsc .lunettc,' form kind of fortified camp.
I'm addition to the fortitications already incI-
toned there are two forts, one O! winch com
mands the right, and the other the Ic:t bank OF
,hc river. The garrison OF Pcschicra has also
the power of inundating the country i"r some
miles round bv sluiccs which are between tfe
lake and the river.
Mantua, which also lies on an island, has q
fortified camp for 10000 men. The approaches
N N,ntua are across five dams or dykes, three
nj. which are in connection with the right and
two with the left bank Of the lake formed hy
the Mncio. The principal approaches on The
left hank are in the direction OF the suburbs
San l;iorclo and Porto. the former being pro-
t.cted by Fort San Giorgio, and the latter by
,Lc great citadel of Porto The dykes on tho
r;-ht bank are protected 10y the 'honwork
pradclIo bv Fort Prctoli. and by the rcdonh
Niyoioret,o. The garrison of Mantna has al>c
the means Of clcc,ually inundatng the sur
rounding country. If Napoleon is resolved L
have Mant;:r he must be prepared to sacrifice
~. 0Do or Ion 900 men, for his renowned rmcI'
did not get possession OF it unit! after he had he
sicged it eight months and fought eight or IL!
battles. The French artillery Is infinitely mo''
powcrtiil now than it was in lT97. but 50 81
| the fortrcsses against which it is 10 he "ri
ployed. \ few years ago Pcschicra was
mere fort, and Verona 4 sccond-ratc fortress
but both of them have recently been greatly
strengthened
THE YRENrH VIEW.
Three of the Paris Journals give lohs deScrli
lions Of the wcll-lnown square OF iortresst
i beloncing to Austria bcyond the Mncio, an
..,nnnnr the Ernncn. plclmNr