Editing Battle of Trebbia (1799) (section)

===Tidone River - 17 June===
[[File:Castel San Giovanni - Madonna del Mistadello.jpg|thumb|right|upright=1.2|alt=Photo of a small brick chapel on a highway amid rolling pastures. A sign reads Voghera to the right and Piacenza to the left.|Country chapel is on the highway between Castel San Giovanni and Sarmato.]]

The Tidone River runs north into the Po west of Piacenza. With steep banks 2 to 3 metres high and a width of about {{convert|100|m|yd|0}}, the stream has some defensive value. Like the Tidone, the bed of the Trebbia is filled with white stones.<ref name=Duffy92/> On 17 June at 8:00 am the French opened their attack against Ott's positions behind the Tidone. On hand were a total of 18,700 soldiers including Salme's Advance Guard. The French divisions were deployed with Victor on the right, Rusca in the center and Dombrowski on the left. Because of the wounds he sustained at Modena, MacDonald was bedridden in the village of Borgo San Antonio to the west of Piacenza. As senior officer Victor should have assumed tactical control of the fight, but he stayed in Piacenza, resulting in poor coordination of the French effort. Nevertheless, the determined initial assault ousted the ''d'Aspré'' Jägers from their west-bank positions in the hamlets of Agazzino, Pontetidone and Veratto di Sopra. As Dombrowski's troops mounted a flank attack to the south, the troops of Victor's division fought their way to the village of [[Sarmato]] where they were held up by an Austrian artillery battery and two battalions of the ''Nádasdy'' Regiment. Chasteler was with Ott when the French attack started. He urged Ott to hold as long as possible and went back to find that his task force was hurrying on its way. At 1:00 pm Chasteler's men arrived and were thrown into the fight. Nevertheless, at 3:00 pm the French overran both Sarmato and its defending battery, forcing Ott's troops back to a position in front of [[Castel San Giovanni]].<ref name=Duffy94>Duffy (1999), p. 94</ref>

[[File:Battle of Trebbia (1799).JPG|thumb|right|upright=1.2|Battle of the Trebbia. Unknown author]]

Soon afterward Melas arrived with three battalions of Austrians foot and some squadrons of the ''Archduke Joseph'' Hussars.<ref name=Duffy94/> Suvorov inspired the Russian columns by suddenly appearing at odd places along the line of march. If inspiration failed, Cossacks were employed to prod stragglers back into line. Chasteler's units hustled off to the south to block a turning movement by Dombrowski's division. The ''Bagration'' Jäger Regiment veered off to the north while the four Russian combined grenadier battalions were committed to battle near Castel San Giovanni.<ref name=Duffy95>Duffy (1999), p. 95</ref> Bagration approached Suvorov and half-voiced asked for permission to delay until at least some of the stragglers arrive, because the companies do not number even 40 men. Suvorov answered him quietly in his ear: "and MacDonald has not even 20 men; attack with God".<ref>{{Cite book |last=Petrushevsky |first=Alexander |url=https://archive.org/details/libgen_00294791/page/n127/mode/2up |title=Generalissimo Prince Suvorov |date=1884 |publisher=Типография М. М. Стасюлевича |edition=1st |volume=3 |page=115 |language=ru}}</ref> Despite the odds turning against them, the French continued to mount spirited attacks. Gradually the Allies massed in two battle lines in front of Castel San Giovanni. Ott had held on with the help of Chasteler, and then the arrival of Melas, Suvorov and Bagration in very rapid succession built up the allies to a decisively superior 30,656 Austrians and Russians in [[regular troops]] alone (this is the overall numbers<ref name=Duffy96/>).<ref name=Duffy95/> Field Marshal Suvorov's orders for the forthcoming attack had in mind first of all to concentrate as large a force as possible; for this purpose officers were sent back to gather and bring the rest during the forced march on 17 June; orders were sent to Major General Nikolay Chubarov that he should hurry to join the army; besides, support from Kray was expected. However, neither Chubarov (he arrived on the 19th with 1,300 men{{sfn|Orlov|1892|p=217}}) nor reinforcements from Kray arrived on that day, and the troops were reinforced only by stragglers, who were pulled up throughout the 18th of June and went straight from the march into the fray.{{Sfn|Orlov|1892|p=205}}

Finally, the Allies recaptured Sarmato and the abandoned Austrian cannons, compelling the French to retreat. The French fell back stubbornly, taking advantage of plentiful cover to repulse Austrian cavalry charges. Salme's Advanced Guard covered the last stages of the withdrawal, forming square at Ca' del Bosco on the northern part of the battlefield. The shooting ended by 9:00 pm.<ref name=Duffy95/> The French suffered losses of about 1,000 killed and wounded plus 1,200 more captured. Allied casualties are not given.<ref name="Smith159">Smith (1998), p. 159</ref> Based on the results of 17 June, with up to 15,000 men Suvorov decisively rushed on 18,000<ref>{{Cite book |last=Petrushevsky |first=Alexander |url=https://archive.org/details/libgen_00294791/page/n129/mode/2up |title=Generalissimo Prince Suvorov |date=1884 |publisher=Типография М. М. Стасюлевича |edition=1st |volume=3 |page=116 |language=ru}}</ref> French, given the reinforcements that had arrived, and forced them to retreat.{{Sfn|Orlov|1892|p=322}}