Battle of Goito The Battle of Goito was fought between the Piedmontese and the Austria n army on 30 May 1848 , in the course of the First Italian War of Independence . The Piedmontese army won the battle , as the Austrians were unable to break through to relieve the siege of Peschiera and prevent its surrender which happened on the day before the battle . Background . Having evacuated Milan after the Five Days of Milan on 22 March 1848 , field marshal Radetzky regrouped his forces in the Quadrilatero , composed of the four supporting fortresses of Peschiera , Mantua , Verona and Legnago . The Piedmontese army advanced across Lombardy , brushing aside the covering forces under major general Wohlgemuth guarding the bridge over the Mincio at Goito during an engagement on 9 April 1848 . The Austrians tried but failed to destroy the Goito bridge . Once across the Mincio , the Piedmontese forces fanned out towards the north and south . On 10 April 1848 , the Piedmontese army started to blockade the fortress of Peschiera , garrisoned by ca . 1 , 700 Austrian troops . Until the siege train arrived , the lack of siege guns hampered the effectiveness of the bombardment . Out of food after 34 days of blockade and 16 days under siege , the Austrians surrendered the fortress on 29 May 1848 , just prior to the battle of Goito . Meanwhile , Piedmontese and Austrian forces clashed in the battle of Pastrengo on 30 April 1848 on the Rivoli plateau . The first big test of arms occurred just outside Verona during the battle of Santa Lucia on 6 May 1848 where the Piedmontese army failed to defeat the Austrians . With a bloody nose , the Piedmontese army retired to the Mincio . Unable to dislodge the Papal forces at Vicenza , field marshal Radetzky decided to concentrate his forces against the Piedmontese army . On 28 May 1848 , he marched his army towards Mantua where a Tuscan Division was warily observing the fortress . While the Piedmontese army ' s attention was diverted by an Austrian brigade on the Rivoli plateau on 28 and 29 May 1848 , field marshal Radetzky engaged and defeated the Tuscan division at the battle of Curtatone and Montanara on 29 May 1848 . Many of the defeated and disillusioned Tuscan volunteers returned home , marking the end of the Tuscan division as a fighting force . Both the Piedmontese and the Austrian armies were now concentrated on the Mincio side of the Quadrilatero : the Piedmontese besieging Peschiera , the Austrians in control of Mantua . Radetzky sent his troops north to relieve Peschiera . The battle . From Mantua , Radetzky sent his First and Reserve Corps towards Goito , while his Second Corps and the cavalry were ordered to reconnoiter towards Ceresara . The Piedmontese forces were deployed in two lines . The first line stretched from the banks of the Mincio at Goito westwards . The second line occupied heights above Goito . At around 14 : 00 on 30 May 1848 , the cavalry vedettes of both sides established contact . Brigade Benedek leading First Corps advanced from Sacca towards Goito , coming under artillery fire from the Italian guns on the Somenzari heights at 15 : 30 . The Austrians deployed their own artillery ( 12 guns and 3 rocket tubes ) but were unable to break the Italian artillery superiority . Charles Albert , King of Sardinia , displayed personal bravery by exposing himself to the enemy artillery fire , gaining a scratch wound in the process . While Brigade Benedek remained pinned before Goito , Brigades Wohlgemuth and Strassoldo advanced on his left , brushing aside the feeble opposition ( which even fired on its own troops ) . To stem the Austrian progress , General Bava sent forward the Guards Brigade ( on the right ) and Aosta Brigade ( on the left ) at 17 : 00 . The progress of the Guards Brigade was checked by Brigade Gyulai of the Second Corps which was in the process of linking up with the First Corps . Aosta Brigade pressured Brigade Wohlgemuth to withdraw . Brigade Benedek retired too when it was attacked by Neapolitan reinforcements . With darkness approaching at 19 : 00 , both sides withdrew to their initial positions . Around this time , the King of Sardinia received the message about the Austrian surrender of Peschiera , ending the battle with the Italians in general jubilation . Intense rainfall prevented all combat operations during the next day . Informed about the surrender of Peschiera and unable to overcome the Piedmontese army , field marshal Radetzky withdrew his forces on 2 June 1848 . Directing his forces eastwards , Radetzky ' s next move resulted in the battle of Vicenza against the Papal forces on 10 June 1848 . The Piedmontese lost 46 killed , 260 wounded and 55 missing in action at the battle of Goito . Austrian casualties were 2 officers and 65 men killed , general Felix Schwarzenberg and 18 officers and 311 men wounded , 2 officers captured , as well as 1 officer and 185 men missing in action . Outcome . The battle was a tactical draw , neither side managing to overcome the other . As the Piedmontese army retained control of the field of battle and prevented field marshal Radetzky from relieving Peschiera , the battle is considered an Italian victory . It lulled the Piedmontese command into a false dream of military parity with the Austrian army . The failure of keeping in contact with Radetzky ' s army allowed him to defeat his enemies in detail .