Editing Battle of Rivoli (section)

==Battle==
[[File:Battle of Rivoli.jpg|thumb|left|210px|Battle of Rivoli]]
[[File:Bataille de Rivoli LCCN2003677129.jpg|thumb|left|210px|Battle of Rivoli]]
The morning of Saturday 14 January found Alvinczi engaging the division of Joubert. He had united three Austrian columns between [[Caprino Veronese|Caprino]] on the right and the chapel of San Marco on the left; the brigade of [[Franz Joseph, Marquis de Lusignan|Franz Josef de Lusignan]] was advancing to the north of [[Monte Baldo]]; and the troops of [[Peter Vitus von Quosdanovich]] and [[Josef Philipp Vukassovich]] were pouring down the roads on either side of the [[Adige]]. Before daybreak as the French were moving on the road from [[Rivoli Veronese|Rivoli]] to Incanale Joubert attacked and drove the Austrians from the chapel of San Marco.{{sfn|Burton|2010|p=84}}

At 9 a.m., the Austrian brigades of Samuel Koblos and [[Anton Lipthay de Kisfalud|Anton Lipthay]] counterattacked the French forces on the Trambasore Heights. Another column under Prince [[Prince Heinrich XV of Reuss-Plauen|Heinrich of Reuss-Plauen]] attempted to turn the French right via the Rivoli gorge. Meanwhile, on the French right flank, Vukassovich had advanced down the east bank of the Adige and had established batteries opposite Osteria. The fire of his guns and the pressure from Quosdanovich forced the French out of the village of Osteria and onto the Rivoli plateau. By about 11 a.m. the position of Bonaparte was becoming desperate: an Austrian column under Lusignan was cutting off his retreat south of Rivoli. To reopen his line of retreat Bonaparte turned to Massena's 18th [[Demi-brigade]] ("the Brave"), newly arrived from [[Lake Garda]]. Meanwhile, Alvinczi was on the Trambasore Heights urging his victorious battalions forward, though they were unformed by combat and rough terrain.

With the 18th dispatched to check Lusignan, Bonaparte turned all his attention to Quosdanovich. He understood the defeat of this column was the key to the battle. Unfortunately the French had very few reserves left and mostly had to accomplish this with troops already at hand. Making the best of interior lines and his advantage in artillery, Bonaparte thinned out Joubert's lines facing the Austrians frontally at the Trambasore Heights as much as possible and concentrated them before the gorge. A battery of 15 French guns were massed and poured [[canister shot]] at point blank range into the advancing Austrian column that was emerging from the gorge. This devastating firepower struck first on the advancing Austrian [[dragoon]]s who broke and stampeded through their own infantry causing mass chaos. At this juncture the brigade of [[Charles Leclerc (general, born 1772)|Charles Leclerc]] assaulted the column frontally while Joubert laid down heavy flanking fire from San Marco. Here [[Antoine Charles Louis de Lasalle|Antoine Charles de Lasalle]] with just 26 horseman of the 22nd Horse [[Chasseur]]s charged into the melee. Lasalle's men captured a whole Austrian battalion and seized 5 enemy flags.
In the centre the battle was not yet won; [[Joseph Ocskay von Ocsko|Joseph Ocskay]] renewed his attack from San Marco and drove back the brigade of [[Honoré Vial]]. But at midday French cavalry under [[Joachim Murat]] charged the flanks of Ocskay's troops, which were driven back to the positions they occupied in the morning.{{sfn|Burton|2010|p=85}}

Quosdanovich realized he could not force the defile and ordered his troops to fall back out of artillery range. Meanwhile, while Lusignan was being engaged frontally by the brigade of [[Guillaume Brune]], the division of [[Gabriel Venance Rey|Gabriel Rey]], coming up from [[Castelnuovo del Garda|Castelnuovo]] and the brigade of [[Claude Victor-Perrin, Duc de Belluno|Claude Victor]] (reserve) began to arrive. They crushed the Austrian column of Lusignan who fled west with less than 2,000 men remaining.{{sfn|Burton|2010|p=85}}
The French lost 3,200 killed and wounded and 1,000 captured, while the Austrians suffered 4,000 killed and wounded, plus 8,000 men and 40 guns captured.{{sfn|Smith|1998|p=131}}{{sfn|Rothenberg|1980|p=248}} Although the number of prisoners can reach 10,000, the total losses exceed two-thirds of the total number of the army.{{sfn|Tarle|1901|p=112}} One authority gives the French 5,000 and the Austrians 14,000 total losses.{{sfn|Chandler|1979|p=328}}