Battle of Solferino, June 1859

Background

The Battle of Solferino (referred to in Italy as the Battle of Solferino and San Martino) on 24 June 1859 resulted in the victory of the allied French Army under Napoleon III and Sardinian Army under Victor Emmanuel II (together known as the Franco-Sardinian Alliance) against the Austrian Army under Emperor Franz Joseph I. It was the last major battle in world history where all the armies were under the personal command of their monarchs.  Perhaps 300,000 soldiers fought in the important battle, the largest since the Battle of Leipzig in 1813. There were about 130,000 Austrian troops and a combined total of 140,000 French and allied Piedmontese troops. After the battle, the Austrian Emperor refrained from further direct command of the army.

The Battle of Solferino was a decisive engagement in the Second Italian War of Independence, a crucial step in the Italian Risorgimento. The war’s geopolitical context was the nationalist struggle to unify Italy, which had long been divided among France, Austria, Spain and numerous independent Italian states. The battle took place near the villages of Solferino and San Martino, Italy, south of Lake Garda between Milan and Verona.

The confrontation was between the Austrians, on one side, and the French and Piedmontese forces, who opposed their advance. In the morning of 23 June, after the arrival of emperor Franz Joseph, the Austrian army changed direction to counterattack along the river Chiese. At the same time, Napoleon III ordered his troops to advance, causing the battle to occur in an unpredicted location. While the Piedmontese fought the Austrian right wing near San Martino, the French battled to the south of them near Solferino against the main Austrian corps.

The battle was a particularly gruelling one, lasting over nine hours and resulting in over 2,386 Austrian troops killed with 10,807 wounded and 8,638 missing or captured. The Allied armies also suffered a total of 2,492 killed, 12,512 wounded and 2,922 captured or missing. Reports of wounded and dying soldiers being shot or bayonetted on both sides added to the horror. In the end, the Austrian forces were forced to yield their positions, and the Allied French-Piedmontese armies won a tactical, but costly, victory. The Austrians retreated to the four fortresses of the Quadrilateral, and the campaign essentially ended.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Solferino

The Game

This month we thought we would get back to the 19th century Italian Wars and try playing the Battle of Solferino. We opted to start with the scenario in the Bloody Big Battles European Battles scenario book. However, we thought it would be more fun at a lower troop density than the scenario listed. We basically reduced the bases to 1,500 troops and battlefield ground scale to give a more grand feel to the game. Other than that, we followed the scenario as written.

The forces closed from the march, with each side reacting to the other. The Austrians were able to grab and or hold all the objectives early in the game, putting the French at a disadvantage. With a lot of effort, the French were able to get to their first town late in the game. However, things looked a little bleak, as their forces were stymied by massed artillery.

• 

The Austrians started to concentrate on their left flank and this gave an opening in the center. The French saw this positioning and allowed a desperate late game attack to try to break through.

This put the French in a position on the last turn to take two towns. The first was by cavalry in the center and the other was by the Sardinians on the left. The first attack by the French cavalry was stopped short by a last minute Austrian reinforcement. However, Sardinians still tried their attack against poor odds. However, fortune favors the foolish and the the dice were on the side of the Italians this day! Solferino was seized and the Franco Italians managed to pull out the draw at the buzzer!

• Manteuffel