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The Battle of Novi (15 August 1799) saw a combined army of Habsburg Austrians and Imperial Russians under Field Marshal Alexander Suvorov attack a Republican French under General Barthélemy Catherine Joubert. After a prolonged and bloody struggle, the Austro-Russians broke through the French defenses and drove their enemies into a disorderly retreat. Joubert was killed while French division commanders Catherine-Dominique de Pérignon and Emmanuel Grouchy were captured. Novi Ligure is located in the province of Piedmont in Italy a distance of north of Genoa. The battle occurred during the War of the Second Coalition which was part of the French Revolutionary Wars. In 1799, Russian and Austrian forces swept across the Po River valley, recapturing lands taken by Napoleon Bonaparte in 1796. The French troops in Italy were badly defeated at the major battles of Magnano, Cassano and the Trebbia. Subsequently, French and Cisalpine Italian troops retreated into Genoa and the Ligurian Republic. A new French government placed Joubert in command of the reformed ''Army of Italy'' and ordered him to take the offensive. Accordingly, the French army moved north across the mountain crests and assembled on high ground at Novi Ligure on 14 August. To Joubert's dismay, it was clear that large Coalition forces were nearby. The next morning Paul Kray's Austrian corps assaulted the French left flank and the battle was on. After a delay, Suvorov committed a Russian corps to attack the center and Michael von Melas' Austrian corps to attack the French right flank. Kray's troops suffered heavy losses but by evening the French army was badly beaten and the French hold on the Italian Riviera was gravely weakened. However, the Coalition planners proceeded to throw away their advantage by sending Suvorov's Russians to Switzerland, a change of strategy that ended badly. ==Background== The 1799 campaign in Italy began with the Battle of Verona, a series of costly but indecisive clashes around Verona on 26 March.〔Smith (1998), pp. 149-150〕 At the Battle of Magnano on 5 April, the Habsburg Austrian army of Paul Kray triumphed over the Republican French army of Barthélemy Louis Joseph Schérer. While suffering losses of 4,000 killed and wounded and 2,000 captured, Kray's Austrians inflicted casualties of 3,500 killed and wounded and captured 4,500 men, 18 artillery pieces and seven colors from the French.〔Smith (1998), p. 151〕 Two days later, a distraught Schérer begged to be relieved of command. Michael von Melas arrived to take command of the Austrian army from Kray on 9 April. Hearing that 12,000 Austrians were approaching from the Tyrol to the north, Schérer abandoned the line of the Mincio River on 12 April. Leaving 12,000 troops in the fortress of Mantua and 1,600 more in Peschiera del Garda, the demoralized French commander ordered his crippled army to withdraw. As the soldiers fell back, the skies opened up and turned the retreat into a sodden nightmare.〔Duffy (1999), p. 47〕 On 15 April 1799, the veteran Russian field marshal Alexander Suvorov formally took command of the combined Austro-Russian army in Italy.〔Duffy (1999), p. 53〕 On 27 April Suvorov defeated the French, now under Jean Victor Marie Moreau, at the Battle of Cassano. The Allies suffered 2,000 casualties while the French sustained losses of 2,500 killed and wounded plus 5,000 soldiers, 27 guns and three colors captured. The next day a 3,000-man French division was trapped and surrendered at Verderio Superiore.〔Smith (1998), pp. 152-153〕 The next major action was the Battle of Trebbia from 17 to 20 June where Suvorov's 37,000-strong Austro-Russian army mauled Jacques MacDonald's 33,000-man French army. The Allies suffered 5,500 casualties while inflicting 16,500 on the French including the taking of 7,000 prisoners.〔Rothenberg (1980), p. 249〕 Meanwhile, Coalition forces successfully besieged a number of key fortresses. Peschiera fell on 6 May,〔Smith (1998), p. 154〕 Milan was captured on 24 May〔Smith (1998), p. 156〕 and Turin fell on 20 June after a nine-day siege.〔Smith (1998), p. 159〕 Suvorov and his Austrian allies had evicted the French from almost all of Italy, while Archduke Charles, Duke of Teschen beat André Masséna's French army at the First Battle of Zurich on 4–6 June.〔Rothenberg (1980), p. 43〕 A day after defeating MacDonald at the Trebbia, the Allies captured the 17th Light Demi Brigade, 1,099 men, six guns and three colors. On 22 June Suvorov halted pursuit by his army, exhausted by continuous marching and fighting. At first a division was allowed to follow the French,〔Duffy (1999), p. 112〕 but this was soon reduced to an Austrian advanced guard under Johann von Klenau which went on to clear the Grand Duchy of Tuscany of enemy forces. On 20 June, Moreau and 14,000 French troops left the security of the mountains to defeat Count Heinrich von Bellegarde and 11,000 Austrians in the Second Battle of Marengo. Bellegarde withdrew to the west after suffering 2,260 casualties but Moreau soon scampered back to the safety of the Apennines after hearing news of the Trebbia.〔Duffy (1999), p. 113〕 French casualties numbered 1,000 killed and wounded in this encounter.〔Smith (1998), p. 160〕 By 27 June, Suvorov moved his main army west to cover the sieges of Alessandria and Tortona while Kray was still reducing Mantua.〔 Suvorov and his Austrian chief of staff Johann Gabriel Chasteler de Courcelles planned to evict the weakened and battered French forces from Genoa and the Italian Riviera. However, instructions soon arrived from Vienna squelching any notion of offensive operations. Emperor Francis and his foreign minister Johann Amadeus Francis de Paula, Baron of Thugut insisted that the Italian fortresses must first be captured. In fact the emperor and Thugut were suspicious of Russian designs on Genoa and Tuscany, areas which they considered to be in Austria's sphere of influence. For his part, Suvorov was annoyed with Viennese officials for trying to direct the war from long distance.〔Duffy (1999), pp. 114-115〕 Repeated military defeats shook the public's faith in the French Directory. The Coup of 30 Prairial VII occurred on 18 June which pushed Emmanuel-Joseph Sieyès and Paul Barras into leading roles and elevated Jean Baptiste Bernadotte to the post of Minister of War.〔Duffy (1999), p. 129〕 There were two major forces in Italy, the 19,000-strong ''Army of the Alps'' under Jean Étienne Championnet and 40,713 men of the ''Army of Italy''. The French government placed its hopes on Barthélemy Catherine Joubert to retrieve the situation as the new commander of the ''Army of Italy''. Not only was Joubert a talented general, but he was believed to be lacking political ambitions and thus not a threat to the government. When Joubert arrived in the theater on 4 August, Moreau gracefully stepped aside and offered his assistance.〔Duffy (1999), pp. 130-131〕 The Allies successfully wrapped up the siege of Alessandria on 21 July and the Siege of Mantua on 30 July. These important events released 30,000 Coalition troops for field operations. Suvarov placed Konrad Valentin von Kaim with 14,000 Austrians to guard the west of Piedmont and Karl Joseph Hadik von Futak with 11,000 more to observe the alpine passes into Switzerland to the north. Klenau with 5,000 troops at Sarzana was watching the southeast side of Genoa. Kray was ordered to join the main army as quickly as possible. The rest of Suvorov's army was deployed in the area of Alessandria and Tortona.〔Duffy (1999), p. 129〕 In the meantime, Chasteler was seriously wounded by a canister shot on 17 July during the siege of Alessandria〔Duffy (1999), p. 123〕 and replaced by another Austrian, Anton von Zach.〔 Despite the pain of his injury, Chasteler produced a new plan for ousting the French from the Ligurian mountains. This plan was put on indefinite hold when the news of the impending French offensive became known.〔 The ''Army of Italy'' was fortunate in having capable generals. Catherine-Dominique de Pérignon led the left wing while Laurent Gouvion Saint-Cyr directed the right wing. Both became Marshals of France under Napoleon along with Joubert's chief of staff Louis Gabriel Suchet and division commander Emmanuel Grouchy. Joubert's generals wished to wait for Championnet's army to come up on their left around 20 August before advancing. However, Joubert believed that his orders to attack from the Directory were imperative and refused to delay.〔Duffy (1999), p. 132〕 Saint-Cyr's wing moved north through the Bocchetta Pass and Gavi. At Serravalle Scrivia they besieged a castle held by four companies of Austrians. This position had been captured by Pyotr Bagration's 2,100-man Russian advance guard as recently as 9 August. Pérignon's wing had farther to march. This French column pushed some of Bellegarde's troops out of Terzo then swung east through Acqui Terme, Rivalta Bormida and Capriata d'Orba. Saint-Cyr arrived alone at Novi Ligure on 13 August, but Suvorov declined to attack, hoping to lure the French into the plains where his superior cavalry and artillery might prove decisive. That same day contact was established with Pérignon's approaching troops.〔Duffy (1999), p. 133〕 Kray's troops reached Alessandria on 12 June and Suvorov planned to launch them into an attack on Pérignon's wing early on the 14th. This proved to be impossible, but Kray managed to join Bellegarde's force and he promised to attack on 15 August. Meanwhile, the division of François Watrin moved down from the hills in the direction of Tortona, giving every indication that the French offensive was still in full swing. Joubert had hoped that he was facing only 8,000 enemies. But he was stunned to see that he was facing at least 36,000 enemies including Kray's corps in the plains below. Both Pérignon and Saint-Cyr counseled retreat, but Joubert put off a final decision until the next day. Meanwhile, Suvorov assumed that the French army would soon descend into the plains. When the French came forward, Kray and 27,000 soldiers would cut into their left flank while Bagration's 5,700-man Russian advance guard would turn their right flank. With luck the two forces would link hands behind the French. Once the turning movements were well developed, Wilhelm Derfelden's 9,850 Russians and Melas' 8,800 Austrians would join the battle. Farther north, Johann Baptist Alcaini's 5,260-strong force besieged Tortona, covered by Andrei Grigorevich Rosenberg's 8,270 Russians.〔Duffy (1999), pp. 134-135〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Battle of Novi (1799)」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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