Dall'Alpe a Sicilia: an alternate Italian Unification

The Battles of Livenza and Oderzo

Finally some real action!


In the Italian League camp the feelings were mixed: there was dismay at the loss of Udine, and nobody had expected that the Austrians could mobilize so quickly on the Isonzo, but on the other hand there was elation for the arrival of the Papal and Neapolitan expedition (the latter bringing the promise that stronger forces would follow them) as well as the numerous volunteers who had just crossed the Po, under the leadership of general Ferrari. In this climate the Consiglio delle Province Unite decided to pass a law ordering the conscription of a quota of able men from each province, to serve for the defense of the Republic from enemy invasion. This would in time give a regular army to Venice for its defense, but to fight this peculiar invasion it still had to rely on a mix of volunteers and former Austrian soldiers: during the past month no more than 5.000 men had been equipped. This force was commanded by the Piedmontese general La Marmora, and had been tasked with covering Vicenza from a possible attack by Radetzky’s forces from the Quadrilateral.


The delegates from Padua, Vicenza and Venezia argued that the chief danger came from Radetzky, as the Piedmontese appeared unwilling to commit more troops in Lombardy, and wanted the just arrived Neapolitan contingent to be used in the west, to bolster the mostly green troops of the Guardia Nazionale. The Papal army, together with local volunteers would be enough to stop the Austrian advance in the East.


The Friulan delegates had however fearsome stories of the cruelty of the Austrian soldiery, that made a strong impression on all the delegates, especially those from Belluno and Treviso (who were the closest to the advancing Austrians), and the relatively quick fall of Udine convinced many that the main danger lied in Nugent’s advance. The initial idea was then to use Pepe’s troops in support of Durando’s force, but the Neapolitan general proposed an alternative course of action, involving the combined Neapolitan and Venetian naval squadron and the Venetian Marine Infantry battalion.


Durando reached Treviso on the 29th with his ten thousand men, closely followed by seven thousand volunteers under general Ferrari. On the same day Nugent crossed the Tagliamento with 15.400 men, having left a reserve of about 8.000 men to control Palmanova, Udine and Osoppo, to avoid a sally from the besieged troops or a descent from the insurgents who had taken refuge in the Alpine part of Friuli that would have endangered his supply route.


Finally, on that fateful 29th April, the Pope, pressured since the start of the revolutions by the opposed factions inside the Curia, decided to recall his army inside the Papal borders, not wishing to enter the fight against the Catholic Austrian Empire and fearful of the risk of a schism among the German Catholics. He therefore made an allocution to the Consistory, in which he clarified that his army was only meant for the defense of the borders of his temporal realm, denying any ambition over the rest of Italy. The allocution however contained also a condemnation of the violence in Friuli, where several priests had been targeted by the Austrians as leaders in the villages that had resisted their occupation, and an exhortation to find a peaceful resolution to the quarrels between the “hallowed rights of Princes” and the “natural aspirations of the Nations”. Finally Pius IX strongly denied the insistent voices that had proposed him as President of a future Italian Confederation.
This allocution would have a grave political significance, and disillusion the then still strong “neo-guelph” faction on the real intentions of Pius IX, but was still ambiguous enough that the Italian liberals mostly read into it a tacit support for the Italian cause, or at least an acquiescence to its ideals, as it didn’t contain any open condemnation of the new regimes in Milan and Venice, instead auspicating a diplomatic solution to the crisis.
It’s not clear what motivated the Pope to hold such a conciliatory stance, to the horror of the more conservative cardinals, but it is possible that it was in large part due to a fear of further disorders in Rome itself and that a genuine discomfort at the harshness of the Austrian repression in Friuli could have contributed to it.


In any case the recall orders sent to Generals Durando and Ferrari were not listened to. The volunteers were by now to much inflamed with patriotic fervor, and the regulars, even the two swiss regiments, decided to follow their general in battle, rather to “dishonourably” retreat in front of the advancing Austrians.


Nugent’s Corps had occupied Pordenone on the 1st of May, after having been slowed for some hours by the defense opposed by the local guardia civica. From there, it had two possible routes, the northern one would cross the alpine valleys from Belluno to Feltre and then either descending along the Piave valley, or continuing to Trento and Verona, and the southern and most straightforward one, towards Oderzo and then crossing the Piave, occupying Treviso and the rest of Veneto.
In that moment General Durando was camped in Conegliano with the regular Papal division, while Ferrari’s volunteer division was stationed around Oderzo. Advanced detachment had been put in a defensive stance all along the Livenza river some miles to the East, tasked with resisting as much as possible the enemy crossing and waiting for reinforcements as soon as the main enemy thrust could be individuated.


This came on the 2nd, with an attack on the village of Settimo on the road to Oderzo. Settimo and his bridge were defended by a battalion of Roman Guardie Civiche with a cannon, no more than three hundred men in total. They were attacked by the whole von Culoz brigade, with a strength of 2200 men and an artillery battery. The Romans resisted bravely to the enemy onslaught, calling in reinforcements from Ferrari, who sent in his reserve, about 1500 infantry and a cavalry squadron. Reinforcements arrived to the Austrian side too, but they were bottlenecked by the small bridge, as during spring the Livenza is not easily fordable. On the rest of the front there was calm, interrupted only by sporadic skirmishes. At this point Ferrari was certain that the enemy had chosen the way of Oderzo for his attack, and sends messengers to Durando, urging him to send reinforcements. The Roman general however dithered for several hours, convinced that Nugent wants to attack further north and join with the forces that are descending the valleys of Cadore, where several small engagements had been reported. After noon the exhausted, and short on ammo, Guardie Civiche finally retreated from Settimo, and von Culoz was able to cross the Livenza.


The Austrians were steadily enlarging the bridgehead and the volunteers’ retreat was starting to turn into a rout, when a detachment of around fifty mounted Papal Carabinieri charged straight into the Austrian lines, causing great mayhem before being cut down almost to a man (1). This heroic action was not completely futile, as the Austrians, fearing it might be the start of a counterattack in force, stop to consolidate on the right side of the Livenza, advancing only very cautiously and giving time to most of the volunteers to regroup in Oderzo.
Many detachments along the Livenza were outflanked and taken prisoner, other dispersed or retreated towards Oderzo or Conegliano. Durando sent towards Ferrari two cavalry squadrons, and another one, with the two Roman chasseurs battalions towards Bassano, where he thought a big enemy advance was going on.
Sensing the possibility of destroying a significant part of the “rebel” army, Nugent ordered to press on the advance on Oderzo during the late afternoon, but Ferrari managed to keep his positions from collapsing, while sending increasingly desperate pleas of assistance to Durando. In truth he was saved by the incipient night, as Durando appeared still hesitant to commit his forces, fixed on the idea that the southern attack was a diversion.

During the night Ferrari decided to abandon Oderzo and retreat towards more defensible positions along the Piave. All in all the battle of the Livenza claimed ninetifive dead for the Italians, along with two hundred wounded and 340 prisoners, while the Austrians had lost about two hundred and fifty dead or wounded. Morale was low on the Italian side, and they had consumed much of their ammo, but at least they had not collapsed, and were reinforced by the almost two thousand men that had remained in Treviso.
On the following day even Durando couldn’t deny anymore that Nugent had chosen the southern way of advance. The general received also messengers from Cortina, saying that the Austrian forces in Cadore were limited in number, certainly not a second invasion force, therefore he decided to turn south with his army, hoping to catch Nugent in the flank and sent to Ferrari his famous message “vengo correndo” [I come running].
Nugent, thanks to his good scouting parties, was soon aware of this advance and, after leaving a four thousand strong blocking force to confront Ferrari, marched with the remaining nine thousand men against the onrushing forces of Durando, also about nine thousand strong. After the initial élan of the volunteers had exhausted itself on the disciplined Austrian lines, the battle started to swing in Nugent’s favour, and only the timely countercharge of the Swiss brigade saved Durando’s left flank when the Guardie Civiche had been almost routed. The University battalions instead distinguished themselves, repelling two Uhlan charges after forming in squares almost as well as any professional infantry.

The battle continued indecisively, with neither force able to decisively overcome the other, until General Thurn-Valsassina, in command of the Division tasked to control Ferrari’s force, was spooked by the volunteers’ sudden and unexpected assault, and reported to Nugent that the Italians must have been greatly reinforced, as he couldn’t imagine that the troops already beaten the day before could have still any fighting spirit in them. At this point Nugent, fearing to get outflanked, decided to consolidate his lines and interrupt the attacks, slowly retreating towards the crossings on the Livenza.


The Italians, on their part, were in no shape to pursue them, and the battle soon died out, with the Austrians firmly in control of bridgeheads at Sacile and Settimo, having retreated most of their army in good order towards Pordenone. Losses had been relatively high on both sides, with the Italians suffering almost eight hundred casualties and the Austrians about 600. Still, the Italian League’s army was in control of the battlefield, and could rightly claim victory, although the Austrian army was far than beaten, and in fact it was probable that a new attack could have defeated the Italians, if they didn’t receive some reinforcement.

Notes:
1-This happened IOTL at the battle of Cornuda, and was a moment of such unexpected bravery that I wanted to include it here too, forgive the poetical license...
 
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Nice. I like how you do recycle shards from OTL under different circumstances and therefore with different outcomes (the charge of the carabinieri IOTL was as good an example of courage as any in the history of warfare but made no difference; ITTL it played a significant role in the battle).

There are three significant events in this update:

  1. The most obvious is that the Austrians are starting to realize that the path to reconquest northern Italy willnot be an easy one, and the advantages of a trained army may be not enough to stemroller all opposition. A bitter lesson for an army that for the last 30 years had played the role of a gendarmerie and had no grat problems in repressing popular insurrections but had not to fight a real war. The battle in Friuli is quite different from Radetzky choosing to leave Milan after 5 days of urban fighting: the latter is a tactical choice, while the former is a stop, It also does not help that Nugent knows very well that the capacity of the empire to raise troops is far fro unlimited, and that the 20,000 men of the army of Friuli are a precious resource that has to be hoarded
  2. The second event is also a potential game changer but not a surprise. When the money is down on the table, it is quite obvious that the interests of the Roman Church cannot be aligned with the goals of Italian nationalism, and only a starry-eyed neo-Guelph might believe differently. Pius IX's speech is what can be rationally expected, and should not be considered a real change of political position. However in the 19th century there are other ideologies competing with religion, and the dominance of the church over the hearts and minds of the Catholics is slowly waning. So a game changer, but how the game will be changed is still to be seen.
  3. The third major event was much more low key, but its impact on future developments is likely to be very significant. I'm talking of the political decision to fight in Friuli. taken in the name of the Council of United Provinces (which obviously IOTL never existed, not even in a tentative way). Now the decision may have been taken for the wrong reasons (a reaction to the earlier atrocities) but it is certainly a major step in the right direction: there is a political oversight of the war and a strengthening of unity among insurgents on one side, and on the other there is a (possibly still inchoate) acceptance of the fact that Nugent is truly the dangerous opponent. Radetzky may be the bugbear of Italian patriots, and his position in the Quadrilateral is too strong to be directly challenged; OTOH his present field army is not large enough to embark on a successful pacification campaign. He's in a way a prisoner as well as a potential threat, and the best way to deal with him is to make sure he cannot get the reinforcements he needs

Looking forward to future installments: Pepe's separate role and the mention of the brigade of the fanti da mar are both very promising
 
Meanwhile the Cadore area and Carnian Alps where the theater of several small but ferocious engagements between Austrian columns, mostly company or battalion sized, and bands of insurgents, many of them organized by Pietro Fortunato Calvi, who was quickly reaching folk hero status among the mountains’ populations. He had won several ambushes using unorthodox tactics, such as using “stone batteries”, basically controlled avalanches, but in the end that front was of only secondary importance, not involving more than four thousand fighters on each side in the entire sector.

The decisive conclusion to the campaign came instead from Friuli, and Pepe’s brigade. With 2.400 regular infantry, 800 volunteers,150 cavalrymen, and four cannons, it was a small, but capable force, and together with the 1000 strong Venetian marine infantry battalion, it could play havoc with the Austrian reserves in Friuli, relieving Palmanova from its siege, cutting the enemy's supply lines and trying to link with Cavedalis' insurgents.

The Neapolitan general had convinced with his plan Manin and the fractious provincial council that had taken up legislative functions as part of Manin attempt at a quick return to normal political life and to appease local insurrectional committees that had been weary of a return to the centralizing ways of the old Serenissima.

The combined squadron sailing from Venice was a majestic sight, having five modern Neapolitan steam frigates, four sail frigates (two Venetian), a Venetian corvette and two brigs, along with a transport and several gunboats. On board, 4.600 armed men, including a 150 strong company equipped and manned by the arsenalotti.

Its destination was the small port of Monfalcone, on the left bank of the Isonzo river, that had been selected in spite of the risk of it being defended, because the alternative would have been operating through the insidious canals of the Marano lagoon, that teemed with malaria.

The expedition reached Monfalcone on the 7th May, and the small local garrison and coastal battery decided to surrender, rather than facing bombardment from the Veneto-Neapolitan squadron. Four companies of marines were left to control the port, protected by the guns of the combined squadron. The coastal road from Trieste was now closed to the Austrians, and the rest of Pepe's brigade hurried in the direction of Palmanova, that was around twentythree km away.

Their arrival was unexpected, and catched the Austrians almost completely by surprise. Around Palmanova Major General Mitis had 3.500 men from three Grenzer regiments, along with an artillery battery, sappers and a Uhlan platoon, but they were rather dispersed in the fieldworks and siege lines when the Italian League troops arrived, and didn't manage to form any sort of cohesive defensive line, before getting caught between the attacking force and a sally from the fortress garrison. Quickly enough they routed, leaving almost 850 prisoners to the italians, along with eight guns. Others dispersed or went in the direction of Gorizia before Mitis managed to take back control of the situation and retreat to Udine with less than 1500 men.

After camping for the night in Palmanova, Pepe moved towards Udine with the Neapolitan troops, while sending the Venetian marines and about one thousand men from Palmanova's garrison towards the Tagliamento, tasked with seizing the crossings and especially the main bridge near Casarsa.

The bells were tolling, relaying the message of renewed hope from village to village and calling the people to rise up again now that rescue was at hand; this hindered somewhat the Austrians, who were still scattered in various outposts and escort detachments for the supplies directed towards Nugent.

Cavedalis started to march to the relief of Osoppo at the head of two thousand men with muskets and about the same with scythes, pikes and shotguns. Udine was on the brink of insurrection and had to be heavily garrisoned. In short, to few troops could be assembled to confront the expeditionary force, and after four days of skirmishing, the Italians were again in control of most of the land between the Tagliamento and Isonzo, and the commanding officer of the reserve corps, Freiherr von Stürmer, had been forced to retreat to Gorizia with less than five thousand men, while the relatively quick seizure of the Tagliamento crossings and bridges meant that only few companies had been able to link up with Nugent corps, that was now isolated between the Livenza and Tagliamento rivers. The Italians had caught all in all about two thousand prisoners,there had been some six hundred other casualties and some soldiers had deserted or dispersed.

Cut out of supplies from Austria, Nugent situation was becoming increasingly uncomfortable, and would turn into a disaster, unless he could break out and link up with Radetzky, or at least return to Austrian territory after disengaging from Durando and smashing through the smaller Italian force that had taken Friuli.

This outstanding success would send waves of enthusiasm throught Italy, soon dampened however by the Papal extreme coldness towards the Italin League, the dire news coming from the Quadrilateral, where Radetzky's significant force was stirring and there were doubts that it could be contained by the disparate armies facing it, especially when Carlo Alberto appeared always more skeptical about the war, now that Pius IX had, at least in his eyes, come out against its prosecution, and the possibility of territorial gains was starting to appear more and more nebolous with the consolidation of Cattaneo's rule in Milan.

Another grave matter was that of financing the war effort, because after more than one month, the finances of the Republic and of the Lombard provisional government where almost exhausted, as the military expenses grew almost exponentially and the revenue sources were limited and hampered by the upheaval caused by revolution and warfare.

The news of the setbacks in Italy had also consequences in the rest of the Austrian Empire, causing the fall of two ministries in three weeks and clearly showing the weakness of the Habsburg crown to the Magyar nationalists, who were had been far from satiated by the concessions received with the so-called April Laws and who had been favourably impressed by the generous rempatriation of Hungarian prisoners of war that had been ordered by the Provisional government of Milan.
 
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