Battle of Verona ( 1805 ) The Battle of Verona was fought on 18 October 1805 between the French Army of Italy under the command of André Masséna and an Austrian army led by Archduke Charles , Duke of Teschen . By the end of the day , Massena seized a bridgehead on the east bank of the Adige River , driving back the defending troops under Josef Philipp Vukassovich . The action took place near the city of Verona in northern Italy during the War of the Third Coalition , part of the Napoleonic Wars . In the fall of 1805 , Emperor Napoleon I of France planned for his powerful Grande Armée to fall upon and crush the Austrian Empire army in southern Germany . The French emperor hoped to win the war in the Danube valley . To help accomplish this purpose , Napoleon wanted Masséna to hold Archduke Charles ' large army in Italy for as long as possible . In order for Masséna to grapple with his enemies , it was necessary to establish a bridgehead on the east bank of the Adige . During the battle , the French attacked across the river , cleared two suburbs , and seized some high ground on the opposite bank . The Austrians suffered considerably more casualties than the French in the encounter . This clash set the stage for the subsequent Battle of Caldiero on 29 to 31 October . Background . Austrian plans . On 5 September 1805 , Feldmarschall Archduke Charles , Feldmarschall - Leutnant Karl Friedrich von Lindenau , and General - Major Anton Mayer von Heldensfeld drew up the final Austrian strategic plan . This strategy largely conformed to an earlier plan worked out by Charles , Feldmarschall - Leutnant Karl Mack von Leiberich , and Feldmarschall - Leutnant Karl Philipp , Prince of Schwarzenberg . However , Mayer convinced Charles and Lindenau to transfer troops from Italy to Germany , where Mack was pressing for an invasion of the Electorate of Bavaria . The original plan put 120 , 000 troops in Italy , 70 , 000 in Germany , 25 , 000 in the Tyrol , and 20 , 000 for internal security . Mayer ' s revision reduced the force in Italy to 90 , 000 , with 30 , 000 on the march for Germany . Archduke Charles disagreed with Mack ' s aggressive strategy . When Emperor Francis I asked his opinion , Charles wrote him that Mack was making a serious blunder by invading Bavaria . Nevertheless , the emperor allowed Mack to pursue his course of action . Fearing the worst in Bavaria , Charles took up a defensive posture , even though he knew he outnumbered Masséna . The archduke posted Feldmarschall - Leutnant Johann von Hiller ' s 22 , 000 troops in the Italian Tyrol , north of Rivoli Veronese . The archduke lined the east bank of the Adige from Verona to Legnago with 40 , 000 soldiers and he held a 30 , 000 - man central reserve at Caldiero . Of these troops , Feldmarschall - Leutnant Count Heinrich von Bellegarde watched Verona , with the division of Vukassovich northeast of the city and the divisions of Feldmarschall - Leutnants Joseph Simbschen and Andreas O ' Reilly von Ballinlough to the east . Feldmarschall - Leutnant Eugène - Guillaume Argenteau ' s six divisions manned the line at Caldiero . Feldmarschall - Leutnant Paul Davidovich with two divisions defended the Adige near Legnago . French plans . At the beginning of August 1805 , Napoleon gave up his plan for invading Great Britain across the English Channel . Instead , he decided to move his army from the channel coast to south Germany to smash the Austrian army . He hoped to be at the Austrian capital of Vienna in November , before the Russian army appeared on the scene . With corps numbering I through VII , a cavalry corps , the Imperial Guard , and Bavarian allies , Napoleon committed 194 , 000 troops to the campaign in Germany . In training , personnel , morale , and organization , the Grande Armée was the finest body of troops that Napoleon would ever command . On 26 August , he gave the order to march and a month later his troops were crossing the Rhine . Thanks to an elaborate spy network , Napoleon was aware that the Austrians deployed their largest army in Italy . The emperor desired that Archduke Charles ' army not be allowed to influence events in southern Germany . Masséna , whose army only counted 48 , 000 troops , first looked to his defenses . In 1805 the Adige was the boundary between French Lombardy and Austrian Venetia . On the west side of the Adige , Masséna placed 5 , 000 garrison troops in the fortresses of the Quadrilateral , that is , Verona , Legnago , Peschiera del Garda , and Mantua . Initially , Masséna held the line of the Adige with three infantry divisions . General of Division Jean - Mathieu Seras observed Hiller from a strong position at Rivoli in the north . General of Division Gaspard Amédée Gardanne held Verona and General of Division Jean - Antoine Verdier defended the Adige near Legnago in the south . Following Napoleon ' s instructions , Masséna began concentrating his army . He intended to mass his striking force of five infantry and two cavalry divisions near Verona . He planned to have Verdier ' s division , supported by General of Division Charles Randon de Pully ' s cavalry division , divert the Austrians ' attention by making a probe farther south . To play for time , Napoleon authorized Masséna to propose a truce . He did so , and Archduke Charles accepted . On 29 September , a convention was drawn up whereby the armies would not begin fighting until six days after one side notified the other . A week later , Masséna sent word to Charles that hostilities would begin on 14 October . On 17 October Charles received word that Napoleon was in Munich . Foreseeing the disastrous outcome of the Ulm Campaign , the archduke made plans to withdraw from Italy . But first he would defend himself against a French attack . Battle . French Army . Masséna ' s order of battle on 18 October is as follows . Army of Italy : André Masséna Austrian Army . On 18 October , Archduke Charles ' forces were organized as follows . Armee von Italien : Feldmarschall Archduke Charles , Duke of Teschen Action . Directly east of Verona was the suburb of Veronetta , which the Austrians had heavily fortified . In addition , the bridges between Verona and Veronetta were well - covered by Austrian artillery . Therefore , Masséna turned his eyes to the west side of Verona , to the suburb of San Giorgio , which was accessible by a stone bridge known as the Castelvecchio Bridge ( Ponte di Castelvecchio ) . Vukassovich was responsible for defending the area . The Austrian division commander had a wall built across the center of the bridge and fortified San Giorgio . However , Vukassovich only allocated two battalions to its defense . He deployed six battalions in the hills northeast of Verona , while the remainder of his division lay farther north , maintaining contact with Hiller ' s corps . Masséna decided to personally command the bridge assault . Stripping the 24 " voltiguer " ( light infantry ) companies from the battalions in Gardanne and General of Division Guillaume Philibert Duhesme ' s divisions , the French army commander formed them into a storming column . The " voltiguers " were supported by a sapper battalion and a light artillery company , and backed by Gardanne ' s division . In the early hours of 18 October , Masséna led his storming column silently onto the Castelvecchio Bridge . The sappers set charges which destroyed the wall , and the French column surged forward . After quickly overrunning the Austrian outposts , the " voltiguers " attacked San Giorgio . General of Brigade Louis Fursy Henri Compère advanced to support the attack , while Vukassovich reinforced the defenders with two battalions . Sometime after 10 : 00 am San Giorgio fell to the French . Soon afterward , Vukassovich had the " Archduke Ferdinand " Hussar Regiment # 3 and General - Major Hannibal Sommariva ' s Grenz infantry on hand . The Austrian division commander hurled his hussars at Compère ' s brigade . The French formed square , and with the help of artillery firing across the river , drove off the Austrian cavalry . Around noon , Verdier mounted a diversionary attack . Easily penetrating General - Major Joseph Radetzky von Radetz ' s screen , he crossed the Adige at Albaredo d ' Adige with two battalions of the 23rd Light Infantry Regiment . Believing that the action at Verona was the diversion and the crossing at Albaredo was the real attack , Archduke Charles marched against Verdier with three columns . By the time he arrived at Albaredo , the 23rd Light had withdrawn safely to the French side of the Adige . Masséna also ordered Seras to mount a diversion in the north . Leaving part of his division at Rivoli , Seras demonstrated in front of Pescantina , 11 kilometers west of Verona . This action froze half of Vukassovich ' s division , which remained watching Seras and never got into action . In the afternoon , some of Duhesme ' s troops and the 23rd Chasseurs à cheval were in action on the French side . By 5 : 00 pm , San Leonardo fell to the French after severe fighting , allowing Masséna ' s troops to occupy the heights and press to the east . At this time , Bellegarde appeared with Feldmarschall - Leutnants Andreas O ' Reilly and Joseph Simbschen ' s divisions at the hamlet of San Felice in the Val Pantena , northeast of Verona . Bellegarde pushed back the French a short distance until darkness and fatigue ended the fighting . Results . One historian puts French losses at 77 dead and 246 wounded , a total of 323 , while stating Austrians casualties as 1152 , including 246 killed and 906 wounded . A second authority writes that the French counted 150 killed and 300 wounded , while Austrian losses numbered 1 , 622 killed , wounded , and captured , and four cannons . Masséna failed to capture Veronetta , but he carved out a bridgehead on the heights northeast of Verona . Angry that Vukassovich failed to stop Massena ' s attack , Archduke Charles dismissed him and replaced him with Feldmarschall - Leutnant Prince Franz Seraph of Rosenberg - Orsini . The archduke believed that Vukassovich could have repulsed the first French assault if he had defended the bridge with more troops . Even so , Charles had sufficient troops to attack the French bridgehead . Instead , he contented himself with holding Veronetta , placing General - Major Johann Maria Philipp Frimont ' s brigade in the suburb of San Michele , east of Veronetta , and ordering Rosenberg to hold the Val Pantena . The Austrian commander withdrew the rest of Bellegarde ' s Right Wing into the Caldiero lines . Massena reinforced his bridgehead with all of Gardanne and Duhesme ' s divisions . Both Charles and Massena later explained away their subsequent inaction by claiming that they were awaiting events in Germany . The next action was the Battle of Caldiero from 29 to 31 October .