Battle of Borghetto The Battle of Borghetto , near Valeggio sul Mincio in the Veneto of northern Italy , occurred during the War of the First Coalition , part of the French Revolutionary Wars . On 30 May 1796 , a French army led by General Napoleon Bonaparte forced a crossing of the Mincio River in the face of opposition from an Austrian army commanded by Feldzeugmeister Johann Peter Beaulieu . This action compelled the Austrian army to retreat north up the Adige valley to Trento , leaving the fortress of Mantua to be besieged by the French . Background . In early May , Bonaparte ' s French army won the battles of Fombio and Lodi and overran the Austrian province of Lombardy . Beaulieu evacuated Milan except for a 2 , 000 - man garrison that he left in the citadel . In mid - May , the French occupied Milan and Brescia . At this time , the army had to pause to put down a revolt in Pavia . At the village of Binasco , the French atrociously massacred the adult male population . Beaulieu pulled his army back behind the Mincio , with strong patrols west of the river . He urgently tried to put the fortress of Mantua into a state where it could sustain a siege . Geography . The Mincio River exits Lake Garda at Peschiera del Garda and winds its way south for 30 kilometers . At a point 8 km before it arrives at Mantua , it veers to the east . The river was a maximum of 40 meters wide , but in May the snow - melt from the Alps made it difficult to ford . Between Lake Garda and Mantua there were only four bridges , from north to south , at Peschiera , Borghetto , Goito , and at Rivalta near the bend in the river . Near Peschiera and Borghetto there are a series of moraines that form ridges , which can conceal troop movements . In the area of Goito and Mantua , the terrain is flat . To the north , Lake Garda extends about 50 km to its northern tip at Riva del Garda . Other noteworthy locations are the towns of Castelnuovo del Garda six km east of Peschiera , Valeggio sul Mincio on a hill one km east of Borghetto , Salionze six km north of Valeggio , Campagnola two km southwest of Valeggio , and Villafranca di Verona eight km east of Valeggio . Forces . The death of Amédée Emmanuel Francois Laharpe at the Battle of Fombio caused Bonaparte to reorganize his army . The three divisions were commanded by Generals of Division André Masséna ( 9 , 481 ) , Pierre Augereau ( 6 , 089 ) , Jean - Mathieu - Philibert Sérurier ( 9 , 075 ) , while the 6 , 262 picked troops and cavalry of the advance guard were led by Charles Edward Jennings de Kilmaine . General of Division Hyacinthe Francois Joseph Despinoy with 5 , 278 blockaded the citadel of Milan and 5 , 500 more garrisoned different places in northwest Italy . To bring Mantua ' s large fortress up to a defensible level , Beaulieu assigned the brigades of General - Majors Gerhard Rosselmini , Mathias Rukavina von Boynograd , and Josef Philipp Vukassovich to defend the city . Altogether , Feldmarschall - Leutnant Josef Canto d ' Irles had 12 , 800 men in his garrison , though many of these soldiers soon became ill after their hard service in the Montenotte Campaign and the Lodi campaign . Beaulieu posted General - major Anton Lipthay de Kisfalud with 3 , 049 infantry and 779 cavalry at Peschiera . Feldmarschall - Leutnant Michelangelo Alessandro Colli - Marchi held the crossing at Goito with a 3 , 558 - man division consisting of Rukavina ' s 2 , 583 infantry plus Austrian and Neapolitan cavalry . Canto d ' Irles and his large garrison covered the Rivalta bridge . In the center , Feldmarschall - Leutnants Michael von Melas and Karl Philipp Sebottendorf jointly commanded 8 , 169 infantry and 2 , 086 cavalry to defend the Mincio near Valeggio . Sparring . Bonaparte determined to use the bridge at Borghetto for his crossing . To misdirect the Austrians , he ordered a feint attack in the direction of Peschiera . He sent General of Brigade Jean - Baptiste Dominique Rusca to Salò on the west shore of Lake Garda , where the French began to collect boats . To hide his true intentions , Bonaparte held his three combat divisions well to the west of the Mincio . Beaulieu reacted as the French commander hoped . Instead of concentrating his forces at the bridges , the Austrian commander attempted to set up a cordon defense on the river between Peschiera and Goito . In the center , Beaulieu deployed 4 , 500 soldiers in the brigades of General - major Peter Gummer and Oberst Ernst Beust at Salionze and Oliosi , General - major Franz Nicoletti ' s 2 , 600 - man brigade at Campagnola and Pozzolo , and General - major Philipp Pittoni von Dannenfeld ' s 3 , 100 - strong brigade in and around Valeggio . In the midst of this movement , Beaulieu became ill . On 29 May , a series of confusing orders emanated from Austrian headquarters , throwing the army into disarray . This proved to be a lucky break for Bonaparte because the French advance began early in the morning of 30 May . The French commander ordered Kilmaine to advance from Castiglione delle Stiviere to Borghetto via Solferino , with Masséna ' s division in support . Augereau covered the left flank while Sérurier moved up on the right flank . Battle . Kilmaine ' s troops pushed back the Austrian hussar outposts and reached the bridge about 9 am . When the retreating horsemen reached the bridge , there was a jam on the narrow span . A number of Austrians left the roadway and crossed the river , betraying the fordable points to the French . Only single battalions of the " Strassoldo " Infantry Regiment Nr . 27 and " Jordis " Infantry Regiment Nr . 59 were available to defend the span . Under the direction of Pittoni , the badly outnumbered Austrians put up a spirited fight . But , with Beaulieu ' s army in some disorder , few reserves arrived to help the defenders and soon French troops led by Chef de Brigade Gaspard Amédée Gardanne forded the river and pushed the defenders uphill toward Valeggio . After some fighting , the French cleared Valeggio but the Austrian cavalry prevented them from advancing beyond the town . Meanwhile , General - major Prince Friedrich Franz Xaver of Hohenzollern - Hechingen rallied the defeated Austrians and even mounted a counterattack on the town . Sometime in the afternoon , some Austrian hussars rode into the town and nearly captured Bonaparte . This incident persuaded the French commander to form a cavalry bodyguard called the Guides and place Jean - Baptiste Bessières in charge . Eventually , this unit would evolve into the " Chasseurs à Cheval " of the Imperial Guard . The Austrians reacted slowly to the crisis . At nearby Campagnola , Sebottendorf ' s gaze remained riveted on some French troops in his front and he failed to send reinforcements to Valeggio . Farther north at Salionze , aggressive French patrols also distracted Melas from Bonaparte ' s true purpose . From distant Goito , Colli alertly marched his entire force to the north to help the center , but he arrived too late to help . Beaulieu ordered the army to retreat to the north . Sebottendorf tried to recapture Valeggio , was repulsed , and retreated to Villafranca . Colli sent Rukavina ' s brigade back to rejoin the Mantua garrison and took his cavalry to Villafranca . Melas gathered up the troops of the right center and fell back to Castelnuovo . He was soon joined by Hohenzollern ' s force . Lipthay soon abandoned Peschiera , pursued by the French . When one of Augereau ' s units got too close , Lipthay ' s cavalry cut it to pieces , inflicting 100 casualties for a loss of only nine Austrians . Results . That night , Beaulieu ' s units marched north from Castelnuovo and Villafranca . By the next morning , most units reached safety at Dolcè in the Adige valley . The Austrians admitted 572 soldiers killed , wounded , or captured . French losses are estimated at 500 . In June , the French invested the now - isolated fortress of Mantua . Over the next month , the Austrian army received significant reinforcements from Germany and several new division and brigade commanders . In addition , Feldmarschall Dagobert von Wurmser replaced Beaulieu as army commander . From June 1796 until February 1797 , all the major engagements in northern Italy would revolve around the Siege of Mantua . Commentary . One authority wrote , " Beaulieu had fallen into the error of trying to guard all possible crossings over the Mincio , and in consequence his over - extended army was without a reserve . "