Editing Battle of Solferino (section)

===Battle of San Martino===
On the northern side of the battlefield the Sardinians, four divisions strong, encountered the Austrians around 7&nbsp;am. A long battle erupted over control of Pozzolengo, San Martino and Madonna della Scoperta. The Austrian VIII Corps under [[Ludwig von Benedek|Benedek]] had 39,000 men and 80 guns and was repeatedly attacked by a Sardinian force of 22,000 men with 48 guns.<ref>Vittorio Giglio, ''Il Risorgimento nelle sue fasi di guerra'', Vol. I, Milano, Vallardi, 1948, p. 320</ref> The Austrians were able to ward off three Sardinian attacks, inflicting heavy losses upon the attackers; at the end of the day Benedek was ordered to retreat with the rest of the Austrian army, but ignored the order and kept resisting. At 8:00 pm a fourth Sardinian assault finally captured the contested hills, and Benedek withdrew.<ref>Piero Pieri, ''Storia militare del Risorgimento; guerre e insurrezioni'', Turin, Einaudi, 1962, p. 618</ref> The main Sardinian contribution in the overall battle consisted in keeping Benedek's corps deeply engaged throughout the day and preventing the sending of two brigades as reinforcement to the force attacked by the French in Solferino.<ref>Piero Pieri, ''Storia militare del Risorgimento; guerre e insurrezioni'', Turin, Einaudi, 1962, p. 617.</ref>