Josef Philipp Vukassovich Baron Josef Philipp Vukassovich ( ; 1755 – 9 August 1809 ) was a Croatian soldier who joined the army of Habsburg Monarchy and fought against both Ottoman Empire and the First French Republic . During the French Revolutionary Wars , he commanded a brigade in the 1796 – 1797 Italian campaign against Napoleon Bonaparte . He led a division during the Napoleonic Wars and received a fatal wound in action . While serving in the Grenz infantry from the Croatian Military Frontier , Vukassovich received a coveted military award for notable actions in battle against the Ottomans . Still leading his Grenzers , he fought against the French in Italy . While still a colonel , he was entrusted with the command of an infantry brigade in early 1796 . Finally appointed a general officer , he participated in nearly every battle in Italy that year , including all four Austrian attempts to raise the Siege of Mantua . In 1799 , he led troops in Italy against the French with success . The following year saw him leading troops against Bonaparte again . Appointed to lead a division in Italy in 1805 , Vukassovich was soon sacked for failing to halt a French attack . The year 1809 found him leading a division in the invasion of Bavaria . He fought capably in several actions near Regensburg in April . He was mortally wounded at the Battle of Wagram in July while leading his troops . Among Austrian generals , he demonstrated above - average initiative and skill , particularly in 1796 and 1809 . He was Proprietor ( Inhaber ) of an Austrian infantry regiment . Early career . Vukassovich was born in 1755 . Sources place his birthplace either in Senj or in Sveti Petar , present day village of Bruvno near Gračac . His father was major Petar Vukasović who commanded the fourth Grenz infantry company of the Croatian Military Frontier , headquartered in Sveti Petar . His mother Ana , née Bašić , was also of a Grenz infantry officer family . His birthplace which is in today ' s Croatia , was initially a nominal part of Kingdom of Croatia within Habsburg Monarchy , but later fully transferred under direct imperial rule as part of the larger Military Frontier . Croatian Military Frontier was placed under the unified control of the Croatian General Command in 1783 . Graduating in 1771 from the Theresian Military Academy located in the castle of Wiener Neustadt , he joined his home Liccaner ( Gospić ) Grenz regiment in 1775 . When promoted to " Oberleutnant " ( first lieutenant ) in 1780 , Vukassovich served in Montenegro . The Austrians planned to start an uprising from within Montenegro , to liberate the Balkans , and Vukassovich and Ludvig Pernet were part of the delegation that were to win over the Montenegrin chiefs . By 1787 , he had risen in rank to " Hauptmann " ( captain ) in the Liccaner ( Gospić ) Grenz Infantry Regiment # 1 . During the Austro - Turkish War ( 1787 - 1791 ) , he fought with distinction , earning the Military Order of Maria Theresa on 15 November 1788 . He was named to the nobility as a Freiherr in December 1788 . In 1789 he raised a freikorps , which soon reached a strength of 3 , 000 men in 12 companies of infantry and 4 squadrons of hussars . During the Austro - Turkish War , Vukassovich served as freikorps ' acting commander with the rank of " Major " , and was then promoted to " Oberstleutnant " ( lieutenant colonel ) . Vukassovich married Johanna Pulcheria Malfatti von Kriegsfeld . She was 24 years younger and outlived him by many years , dying in 1854 . He had four children , sons Josip and Filip and daughters Marija and Ana . French Revolutionary Wars . First Coalition . Vukassovich fought in Italy during the War of the First Coalition , being promoted to " Oberst " in 1794 . At the Battle of Loano in November 1795 , he and his troops conducted a stout defense in a monastery . During the Montenotte Campaign in April 1796 , he commanded a brigade in Johann Beaulieu ' s Austrian army . He led the Austrian vanguard across the Turchino Pass on 10 April to attack Jean - Baptiste Cervoni ' s brigade near Genoa . On 12 April , Bonaparte defeated Eugène - Guillaume Argenteau ' s Austrian force at the Battle of Montenotte . The next day , Beaulieu directed Vukassovich to take his brigade to Sassello to establish contact with Argenteau ' s right wing , but due to a poorly written order , he started a day late and missed the 14 November fighting in the Second Battle of Dego . The next day , he marched his 3 , 500 - man brigade from Sassello to Dego . By good fortune , Vukassovich caught a brigade of André Masséna ' s troops plundering the town and routed them . By the time Bonaparte and Masséna appeared with heavy reinforcements , " Wukassovitch intelligently seized the opportunity offered by this success and promptly put the village into a state of defense . " He only withdrew from the town after giving the French a tough fight . Appointed " Generalmajor " ( brigadier general ) on 2 May 1796 , Vukassovich soon fought in the Battle of Lodi on 10 May . At Lodi , he led a rear guard consisting of two battalions of the " Carlstädter " Grenz Infantry Regiment . After the Grenzers fell back to the east end of the bridge , they were employed in the first line of defense . Subjected to continual cannon fire and a frontal attack by skirmishers and a column of elite troops , the Austrians were defeated . Such was his notoriety that the French falsely claimed to have killed him during the fighting . He commanded a 2 , 400 - man brigade at the Battle of Borghetto on 30 May and during the Siege of Mantua . When the siege was lifted on 1 August , he led 2 , 000 men from the garrison to reinforce the main army before the Battle of Castiglione . During the second attempt to relieve the Siege of Mantua , he joined Paul Davidovich ' s Tyrol Corps . He was badly injured in a fall the night before the Battle of Rovereto , which occurred on 4 September . Nevertheless , he led his brigade during the day ' s fighting . His troops bravely tried to stop Masséna ' s advance , but they were finally routed by superior numbers . During the third attempt to relieve Mantua , Vukassovich participated in the Tyrol Corps ' victories at Cembra on 2 November and the Battle of Calliano on 6 – 7 November . On the 17th , his troops battled their way out of the Adige River gorge to link up with Joseph Ocskay von Ocsko ' s column on the heights . Together they routed the French at Rivoli Veronese . After Bonaparte won the Battle of Arcole , the French army commander drove the Tyrol Corps back to Trento . During the fourth attempt to relieve Mantua , Jozsef Alvinczi directed Vukassovich to lead his 6th Column down the east bank of the Adige River . His artillery supported the attack of Prince Heinrich XV of Reuss - Plauen on the west bank of the river , but he exerted little other influence on the disastrous result of the Battle of Rivoli because his troops were on the wrong side of the river . Second Coalition . Vukassovich served in Italy during the War of the Second Coalition . As the French were driven back by Austrians and Alexander Suvorov , Pyotr Bagration captured Brescia in a decisive move on 21 April 1799 . Loss of Brescia compelled general Schérer to further retreat . The general , commanding the French forces , was replaced by Moreau , and new defensive positions were taken along the Adda River . Vukassovich surprised the French crossing the river at Brivio , while general Ott managed a crossing at Trezzo . On 28 April 1799 , Vukassovich trapped Jean Sérurier and 3 , 000 French troops at Verderio . After a " sharp fight " Sérurier and his 2 , 700 surviving soldiers laid down their arms . Vukassovich then led the army ' s advance guard in the capture of numerous towns in northwest Italy . In July 1799 , he became the proprietor of the newly formed ( in 1798 ) " Vukassovich " Infantry Regiment # 48 . The similarly numbered " Schmidfeld " Regiment had been disbanded in 1795 . He would remain the regiment ' s proprietor until his death . Promoted to " Feldmarschall - Leutnant " ( lieutenant general ) in October 1799 , Vukassovich took part in the 1800 Italian campaign . When Bonaparte invaded Italy via the Great Saint Bernard Pass , he commanded a division farther east in the area of Lake Maggiore and Lake Como . On 25 May , a cavalry patrol of Vukassovich ' s scouts briefly captured Bonaparte before themselves becoming prisoners when the French general ' s escort appeared . The sudden French offensive drove Vukassovich ' s outnumbered troops out of Milan . Pursued by Guillaume Duhesme ' s French corps , he retreated to Brescia and Cremona with his remaining 4 , 000 men , missing the Battle of Marengo . Napoleonic Wars . 1805 . During the War of the Third Coalition , Vukassovich led a division in Archduke Charles ' Army of Italy . His division consisted of 14 line and Grenz battalions and four squadrons organized into two brigades led by Hannibal Sommariva and Karl Hillinger . Tasked with guarding the east bank of the Adige opposite Verona and maintaining a link with Johann von Hiller ' s corps in the Tyrol , he garrisoned the suburb of San Giorgio with two battalions while holding six battalions farther back in the hills . The rest of his troops watched the river farther north . In the Battle of Verona on 18 October 1805 , André Masséna led the converged light companies of his army supported by two infantry divisions in an assault crossing of the river on Verona ' s west side . The French stormed across the Castelvecchio Bridge and quickly captured San Giorgio , but Vukassovich threw more infantry and cavalry into the struggle for the heights , which lasted most of the day . A French diversion at Pescantina occupied his right flank brigade , keeping it out of the fight . Meanwhile , a second diversion at Albaredo d ' Adige fooled Charles into thinking it was the main attack . Only at the end of the day did Count Heinrich von Bellegarde appear with reinforcements , but it was too late to stop Masséna from establishing a bridgehead on the hills to the north of the city . Believing that Vukassovich held the riverbank with too few troops , archduke dismissed him from command and appointed Prince Franz Seraph of Rosenberg - Orsini as his replacement . Another account asserts that Vukassovich was sacked because he placed a number of cannons in an exposed position in violation of Charles ' orders . At Verona , the Austrians suffered 1 , 622 casualties and loss of four cannons , while the French only lost about 450 killed and wounded . 1809 . At the beginning of the War of the Fifth Coalition , Vukassovich commanded the III Armeekorps light division in Archduke Charles ' main army in Bavaria . His two brigades were led by Moritz Liechtenstein and Josef Pfanzelter and included two Grenz and two " Archduke Charles " Legion battalions , plus two regiments of hussars and 22 artillery pieces . On the eve of the Battle of Teugen - Hausen , Vukassovich was instrumental in providing information about movement of Bavarian and French troops to Archduke Charles , including correspondence between marshals Lefebvre and Davout . Leading Prince Friedrich Hohenzollern ' s advance guard at the Battle of Teugen - Hausen on 19 April 1809 , he drove the French advance elements out of Hausen and occupied a commanding ridge . When Marshal Louis Davout attacked , he conducted a stout defense with his troops and the reinforcements that arrived . He was wounded in the action , but continued to lead his troops in a battle notable for an unusual degree of front - line leadership by Austrian generals . On 21 April , his troops fought a rear guard action against Bavarian troops . His command formed the extreme left flank of the main body as Charles prepared to crush Davout on the morning of 22 April . His dispatch brought the first word to Charles that Napoleon was about to descend on the Austrian left flank . In the Battle of Eckmühl that day , Vukassovich " conducted his defense ably " , holding off the French and Württembergers long enough for Prince Rosenberg ' s IV Armeekorps to deploy . Vukassovich missed the Battle of Aspern - Essling , being involved in Johann Kollowrat ' s unsuccessful bid to cut Napoleon ' s supply line near Linz on 17 May . He commanded the center column in an attack on the fortified suburb of Urfahr on the north bank of the Danube . Kollowrat ' s " timid and badly coordinated " attack on the bridgehead failed . At the Battle of Wagram , he led one of two divisions in a reorganized III Armeekorps . On this occasion , he commanded the brigades of Joseph Grill ( 5 , 736 infantry ) , Andreas Schneller ( 1 , 100 infantry and 667 cavalry ) , and Emanuel Wratislaw ( 730 landwehr infantry ) . He was mortally wounded on 6 July , the second day of battle while defending against Jacques MacDonald ' s attack . He lingered for a month and finally died of his wounds in Vienna on 9 August 1809 . He was one of four Austrian generals who were killed or fatally wounded at Wagram ; the others were Konstantin Ghilian Karl d ' Aspré , Peter von Vécsey , and Armand von Nordmann . Construction design works . Vukassovich was instrumental in development of transport infrastructure in the present - day Croatian Littoral at the shores of the Adriatic Sea . His most significant contributions in the field were construction of roads after his designs . The first one was Gospić – Karlobag road , also known as Theresiana road , completed between 1784 and 1786 — which replaced an earlier route which comprised very steep grades limiting its capacity . The new road permitted setting up of a free port in Karlobag and significantly improved connection to the seaward slopes of Velebit . Currently , the route largely corresponds to the western section of the D25 road . The other major route Vukassovich designed was the Louisiana road between Karlovac and Rijeka with a branch serving Bakar . The road was built between 1803 and 1811 , and the route is now used by the D3 road . Vukassovich also designed a coastal road between Senj and Sveti Juraj , port structures in Senj , and directed reconstruction of the Josephina road leading from Senj to Karlovac . Sources . Books Articles