Chapter VIII: Trinity of Trinities (Part D)
FillyofDelphi
Banned
The Priest Part II: The Eruption of the Battle of Bologana.
After failing to contest the Austrian seizure of Ferra or their restoration of the church administration, Italian public opinion turned hard against General Giacamo. Subject to what were now becoming the usual charges of incompetence, cowardness, and passive acceptance of treasonous sentiments in his ranks, calls to replace him with a commander who would march towards rather than away from the enemy were rising from prominent PM’s. Giacamo, fully occupied by the tedious task of trying to turn his barely fortified rail junction and shanty-town into a defensible strongpoint, had no time to reply to politics, leaving his reputation to bleed out from a thousand paper cuts from hostile papers and correspondences. While such criticism were not entirely without merit: rightfully pointing out that withdrawal from the coast was allowing the Austrian army to ease the burden on its baggage train by shipping in supplies via the Adriatic and opened the rivers to uncontested traffic by enemy gunboats, but the strategic reality was such that the defense of Boglogna was essential for the security of the southern two thirds of the nation. This broader view, however, didn’t resonate with follower of Mamora’s school of thought: asserting that the war would be won or lost by who was in possession of Veneto when the terms were negotiated, which required putting constant pressure on Albrecht’s army to compel the cautious marshal to withdraw into his fortress zones where he could be crushed between the two converging advances. Far too ambitious for professional soldiers with an accurate view of the situation to believe possible, this plan of counter-invasion never the less captured the imagination of a population still eager for a victory. Unswayed by calm by depressing realism, they demanded the Po Army be placed under the control of the classical “hero on a white horse”, who would boldly and romantically ride in to redeem the sullied honor of Italia. And everybody had the same hero in mind.
Unlike the rest of the field forces, who were either forcefully imprisoned behind in Austrian camps or self-imprisoned behind their own, Garibaldi retained his usual bold stance. Holding the metaphorical and physical center of the far front, his Legion refused to call off their attack on Borgoforte despite news of the humiliations at Mantua and Rivogina and thus the exposure of his flanks. Continuing to invest the fortress despite the shifting fortunes elsewhere along the front had been something of a gamble, pitting assumptions of Italian bravery against those of the Archduke’s caution, but in this case that risked paid off. While it was true the Austrians were now between him and his nominal source of supply and command, the unofficial status and slapdash nature of the expanded Legion gave it a unique freedom to adapt in the face of shortages. The veteran legionaries, having plenty of experience at improvisation and rationing from their many campaigns fighting for underfunded revolutionary causes throughout Europe and South America, taught their amateur volunteers techniques for maintaining their weapons and avoiding wasting ammunition or powder, while bread was begged, borrowed, and bought via informal networks built up on Garibaldi’s personal reputation. Supplimented with the large stockpiles they’d carried off on their initial march and slow trickle of arrivals from the north, the siege lines diden’t have any looming deficiencies I anything except artillery munitions: Cardonia insisting his men keep a tight lock on the aresenals to retain them for his own forces. Unfortunately for the prospects of the siege, this meant they unable to effectively force a breach and storm the Austrian walls, while the garrision could be resupplied effectively indefinately with ammunition, rations, replacements, and supplies to repair the fortifications so long as the other Italian forces couldn’t wrestle away control of the Miacio.
Taking the fortress ceased to be their priority though as word of the Po Army’s retreat and Sudarmee’s advance arrived at the position via their line with the northern HQ. Always a man of energy and vision, Garibaldi quickly spotted the opportunity opened up by his new position behind the enemy lines. From his perspective, Albrechet haden’t cut them off from any vital source of support but rather made a fatal error by leaving an unmolested enemy in his rear. It would be all too simply to lift the siege, sweep away the Catholic gendarmes that were being used to maintain order in the rear, and send the invaders scattering with a surprise attack to the rear. With their field army in disarray, the Austrians would never be able to assemble a response in time to respond to Cadorna’s offensive to redeem Venice, and Italy would see it was the patriotic nationalists, not the legacy officers of the court of King Emmanual, who were the true fathers of the Italian nation.
Without tolerance for the kind of delay that had doomed the former expeditions, on the afternoon of August 7th the men were set for march to relieve the main body of the Po Army with all due haste. While the orders themselves were simple and suited for his enthusiastic followers, the impromptu nature of his logistics system and unbalanced mixed of staff officers that had served them so well in self-sufficency turned the advance into a untrackable nightmare. With no formal quartermaster’s record, organization table creating uniform dispersal of supply, or even a fully briefed signal corps, the men when packing up the line simply took possession of whatever wagons and artillery hey happened to get their hands on. Driven by the rousing speeches of their “officers”; usually informally elected “good old boys” rather than disciplinarians, the road were a soon littered with divisions trying to pass and maneuver around one another as the march lost a uniform pace: this spirit only encouraged by a population which cheered them on as they went by in their charming, personable way and mingled with the local ladies. Though professional Legionaries, veterans of many campaigns, were dismissive of this carefree display of confidence by green troops who’d yet to see proper field battle, they couldn’t complain about the pace of advance despite the cost of organization. The festive parade atmosphere, alongside the draw of sob stories of martial atrocities and clerical abuse, kept the men motivated to continue their full day’s marches, receiving fresh fortifications and provisions in most of the settlements they passed by. Within four days, they reached Bologana; Garibaldi riding at the front and through personally dispatching riders trying to organize the men into something resembling battle lines
What they found was the city already under siege. Albhrecht, confident in the security of his position and believing the forces hunkered down in front of him were the last major body in the south, was practicing a policy of offensive entrenchment to slowly work his men towards the main wall. A three lines of fortified positions, covered by a dense network of picket posts and frequent patrols set to watch for any Italian forreys, stretched out in arcs about a mile long to the north of the city. Unlike the self-confidence that had come to define his Italian counterparts in the war, Albrecht retained the overly cautious tempermemnt of a drill-based Fredrickian officer that had only been vindicated by seeing the failures of his opponent’s overambitions during their invasion. Despite already having an extensive line, he had not yet brought forward his heavy guns, insisting that the earthwork bastions meant to hold them were built up enough to the point an Italian bombardment woulden’t surpress the crew before he placed the valuable pieces within their range. This overestimating of the enemy, while hardly playing well with political officers who wanted to bring about a decisive victory as soon as possible to help bolster the war effort in the north, was much appreciate by the infantry who were happy to not have their lives thrown away in an attempted breakthourgh and get a chance to rest and recover on food and wine brought forward from communities that had been placed under Church governance; having been guranteeded that the prayers of every pious Catholic were being sent up for their success by locals who had been spared the expected privations of a military occupation. Safe behind their defensive lines and with a safe path for supplies too and from both the coast and Ventia, they were more than prepared to hold their posts until the Italian palasades and blockhouses had been reduced to splinters.
What they had not prepared for was reports of massive Italian activity being brought in from riders sent to the west, mentioning tens of thousands of fresh, singing troops flowing over the countryside. Keeping his cool and courage, however, Albrecht took the threat to heart and ordered the digging of an additional line facing in that direction, making use of the irrigation ditches as a base. This move to cover his flank would be decisive when, the next mourning, the low-tier Austrian rearguard had a secured position to bolster their moral when the Italians came screaming down the hill in a textbook cavalry charge… one American observers would compared to nothing more than General Picket’s fateful advance. The Habsburg infantry, having been well stocked with ammunition and with the camp’s artillery preaimed at the main route of enemy advance, showed the Italians not the unfinished opening they’d expected but a strongpoint in the defense network. While they did have some initial successes; the sheer weight of the Italian charge breaking the formations and briefing turning the affair into a melee struggle in the center of the new line where the enemy had the advantage, the tide quickly turned when, aware what needed to be done, Albrecht ordered his batteries to fire into the thick of the line. The Austrian stragglers, managing to hold fast in their pits, suffered staggering loses under the friendly fire alongside their enemies, but in the chaos a lucky shell managed to strike just at the feet of one prime white charger, blowing the legs out from under its rider and blasting a hole in the center of the mob for the Austrian reserves to push into: falling on the shocked Italians with their own, fresh sabers.
Weather or not he’d died from blood lose by the shell, trampling, or being cut down is unknown, but inspection after the battle revealed this one stark fact: Garibaldi, savior of Italy, had died, shirt stained red with the blood of a martyer.
*The question of ownership of Garibaldi's lost limbs is one of intense debate between the Church, Habsburgs, and Italian government. The only recovered part who's validity is fully agreed upon; a left thighbone, is displayed in the Cathedral in Venesia on permanent grant to the Church, Italian nationalists claim the remains are the property of the Italian state by virtue of Garibaldi's position in the Italian Army at the time of the conflict and the terms of the Treaty of Avignon as the repatriation of the dead soldiers. As the man's offical position in military at the time was dubious, however, there is no internationally agreed upon legal opinion, meaning the bone remains the technical legal property of the House of Habsburg.
After failing to contest the Austrian seizure of Ferra or their restoration of the church administration, Italian public opinion turned hard against General Giacamo. Subject to what were now becoming the usual charges of incompetence, cowardness, and passive acceptance of treasonous sentiments in his ranks, calls to replace him with a commander who would march towards rather than away from the enemy were rising from prominent PM’s. Giacamo, fully occupied by the tedious task of trying to turn his barely fortified rail junction and shanty-town into a defensible strongpoint, had no time to reply to politics, leaving his reputation to bleed out from a thousand paper cuts from hostile papers and correspondences. While such criticism were not entirely without merit: rightfully pointing out that withdrawal from the coast was allowing the Austrian army to ease the burden on its baggage train by shipping in supplies via the Adriatic and opened the rivers to uncontested traffic by enemy gunboats, but the strategic reality was such that the defense of Boglogna was essential for the security of the southern two thirds of the nation. This broader view, however, didn’t resonate with follower of Mamora’s school of thought: asserting that the war would be won or lost by who was in possession of Veneto when the terms were negotiated, which required putting constant pressure on Albrecht’s army to compel the cautious marshal to withdraw into his fortress zones where he could be crushed between the two converging advances. Far too ambitious for professional soldiers with an accurate view of the situation to believe possible, this plan of counter-invasion never the less captured the imagination of a population still eager for a victory. Unswayed by calm by depressing realism, they demanded the Po Army be placed under the control of the classical “hero on a white horse”, who would boldly and romantically ride in to redeem the sullied honor of Italia. And everybody had the same hero in mind.
Unlike the rest of the field forces, who were either forcefully imprisoned behind in Austrian camps or self-imprisoned behind their own, Garibaldi retained his usual bold stance. Holding the metaphorical and physical center of the far front, his Legion refused to call off their attack on Borgoforte despite news of the humiliations at Mantua and Rivogina and thus the exposure of his flanks. Continuing to invest the fortress despite the shifting fortunes elsewhere along the front had been something of a gamble, pitting assumptions of Italian bravery against those of the Archduke’s caution, but in this case that risked paid off. While it was true the Austrians were now between him and his nominal source of supply and command, the unofficial status and slapdash nature of the expanded Legion gave it a unique freedom to adapt in the face of shortages. The veteran legionaries, having plenty of experience at improvisation and rationing from their many campaigns fighting for underfunded revolutionary causes throughout Europe and South America, taught their amateur volunteers techniques for maintaining their weapons and avoiding wasting ammunition or powder, while bread was begged, borrowed, and bought via informal networks built up on Garibaldi’s personal reputation. Supplimented with the large stockpiles they’d carried off on their initial march and slow trickle of arrivals from the north, the siege lines diden’t have any looming deficiencies I anything except artillery munitions: Cardonia insisting his men keep a tight lock on the aresenals to retain them for his own forces. Unfortunately for the prospects of the siege, this meant they unable to effectively force a breach and storm the Austrian walls, while the garrision could be resupplied effectively indefinately with ammunition, rations, replacements, and supplies to repair the fortifications so long as the other Italian forces couldn’t wrestle away control of the Miacio.
Taking the fortress ceased to be their priority though as word of the Po Army’s retreat and Sudarmee’s advance arrived at the position via their line with the northern HQ. Always a man of energy and vision, Garibaldi quickly spotted the opportunity opened up by his new position behind the enemy lines. From his perspective, Albrechet haden’t cut them off from any vital source of support but rather made a fatal error by leaving an unmolested enemy in his rear. It would be all too simply to lift the siege, sweep away the Catholic gendarmes that were being used to maintain order in the rear, and send the invaders scattering with a surprise attack to the rear. With their field army in disarray, the Austrians would never be able to assemble a response in time to respond to Cadorna’s offensive to redeem Venice, and Italy would see it was the patriotic nationalists, not the legacy officers of the court of King Emmanual, who were the true fathers of the Italian nation.
Without tolerance for the kind of delay that had doomed the former expeditions, on the afternoon of August 7th the men were set for march to relieve the main body of the Po Army with all due haste. While the orders themselves were simple and suited for his enthusiastic followers, the impromptu nature of his logistics system and unbalanced mixed of staff officers that had served them so well in self-sufficency turned the advance into a untrackable nightmare. With no formal quartermaster’s record, organization table creating uniform dispersal of supply, or even a fully briefed signal corps, the men when packing up the line simply took possession of whatever wagons and artillery hey happened to get their hands on. Driven by the rousing speeches of their “officers”; usually informally elected “good old boys” rather than disciplinarians, the road were a soon littered with divisions trying to pass and maneuver around one another as the march lost a uniform pace: this spirit only encouraged by a population which cheered them on as they went by in their charming, personable way and mingled with the local ladies. Though professional Legionaries, veterans of many campaigns, were dismissive of this carefree display of confidence by green troops who’d yet to see proper field battle, they couldn’t complain about the pace of advance despite the cost of organization. The festive parade atmosphere, alongside the draw of sob stories of martial atrocities and clerical abuse, kept the men motivated to continue their full day’s marches, receiving fresh fortifications and provisions in most of the settlements they passed by. Within four days, they reached Bologana; Garibaldi riding at the front and through personally dispatching riders trying to organize the men into something resembling battle lines
What they found was the city already under siege. Albhrecht, confident in the security of his position and believing the forces hunkered down in front of him were the last major body in the south, was practicing a policy of offensive entrenchment to slowly work his men towards the main wall. A three lines of fortified positions, covered by a dense network of picket posts and frequent patrols set to watch for any Italian forreys, stretched out in arcs about a mile long to the north of the city. Unlike the self-confidence that had come to define his Italian counterparts in the war, Albrecht retained the overly cautious tempermemnt of a drill-based Fredrickian officer that had only been vindicated by seeing the failures of his opponent’s overambitions during their invasion. Despite already having an extensive line, he had not yet brought forward his heavy guns, insisting that the earthwork bastions meant to hold them were built up enough to the point an Italian bombardment woulden’t surpress the crew before he placed the valuable pieces within their range. This overestimating of the enemy, while hardly playing well with political officers who wanted to bring about a decisive victory as soon as possible to help bolster the war effort in the north, was much appreciate by the infantry who were happy to not have their lives thrown away in an attempted breakthourgh and get a chance to rest and recover on food and wine brought forward from communities that had been placed under Church governance; having been guranteeded that the prayers of every pious Catholic were being sent up for their success by locals who had been spared the expected privations of a military occupation. Safe behind their defensive lines and with a safe path for supplies too and from both the coast and Ventia, they were more than prepared to hold their posts until the Italian palasades and blockhouses had been reduced to splinters.
What they had not prepared for was reports of massive Italian activity being brought in from riders sent to the west, mentioning tens of thousands of fresh, singing troops flowing over the countryside. Keeping his cool and courage, however, Albrecht took the threat to heart and ordered the digging of an additional line facing in that direction, making use of the irrigation ditches as a base. This move to cover his flank would be decisive when, the next mourning, the low-tier Austrian rearguard had a secured position to bolster their moral when the Italians came screaming down the hill in a textbook cavalry charge… one American observers would compared to nothing more than General Picket’s fateful advance. The Habsburg infantry, having been well stocked with ammunition and with the camp’s artillery preaimed at the main route of enemy advance, showed the Italians not the unfinished opening they’d expected but a strongpoint in the defense network. While they did have some initial successes; the sheer weight of the Italian charge breaking the formations and briefing turning the affair into a melee struggle in the center of the new line where the enemy had the advantage, the tide quickly turned when, aware what needed to be done, Albrecht ordered his batteries to fire into the thick of the line. The Austrian stragglers, managing to hold fast in their pits, suffered staggering loses under the friendly fire alongside their enemies, but in the chaos a lucky shell managed to strike just at the feet of one prime white charger, blowing the legs out from under its rider and blasting a hole in the center of the mob for the Austrian reserves to push into: falling on the shocked Italians with their own, fresh sabers.
Weather or not he’d died from blood lose by the shell, trampling, or being cut down is unknown, but inspection after the battle revealed this one stark fact: Garibaldi, savior of Italy, had died, shirt stained red with the blood of a martyer.
*The question of ownership of Garibaldi's lost limbs is one of intense debate between the Church, Habsburgs, and Italian government. The only recovered part who's validity is fully agreed upon; a left thighbone, is displayed in the Cathedral in Venesia on permanent grant to the Church, Italian nationalists claim the remains are the property of the Italian state by virtue of Garibaldi's position in the Italian Army at the time of the conflict and the terms of the Treaty of Avignon as the repatriation of the dead soldiers. As the man's offical position in military at the time was dubious, however, there is no internationally agreed upon legal opinion, meaning the bone remains the technical legal property of the House of Habsburg.