1848 Mincio Campaign

The Barolo Campaign (see my flowchart here) is a good abstraction of the battles across the Mincio river at the start of the 1^st Italian Independence War and can be used as a basis for a campaign on that.

General Eusebio Bava
CO of Sardinian I Corps

If we consider side A (Empire in the campaign description) to be the Piedmontese/Sardinians and side B (Electorate) to be Radetzky’s Austrians, then Peschiera is the fortress to be besieged by side A if it wins. We can easily see the Southern thrust in the campaign as being Eusebio Bava’s I Corps attack at Goito: in the campaign we have the attackers trying to cross a bridge before it’s blown up by the defenders, which is exactly what happened in history, with Bava’s forces attacking the bridge at Goito while the Austrians were trying to destroy it.

The main army instead would represent represent II Corps (General Ettore De Sonnaz) and Reserve Division, all under King Charles Albert, which crossed different bridges farther north. The final battle that determines if/how the siege happens would be Pastrengo. Peschiera’s real position (north of all these bridges, instead of between the two forces as depicted in the campaign) doesn’t affect the campaign flow, so it’s not an issue.

History of course is not always good for wargaming, which usually calls for scenarios that are more challenging – and/or more playable – than reality. This is no exception. After Bava’s victory at the battle of the bridge of Goito, very little actual combat happened until the battle of Pastrengo, aside from some very small skirmishes. While Bava was crossing the Mincio at Goito, De Sonnaz was doing the same at Valeggio and Monzambano but he was mostly unopposed.

General Ettore De Sonnaz
CO of Sardinian II Corps

Radetzky had retired behind the walls of Verona fortress and even the battle at Goito was just a delaying action – he had moved quickly and didn’t need to risk a battle. Protecting Peschiera from a siege wasn’t his primary need and it actually pinned the Piedmontese. He risked battle (and a limited one) only when he sent troops to protect his lines of communications to the Tyrol at Pastrengo. Even battle at the bridge of Goito is difficult to represent with historical accuracy on the wargaming table: the Austrians had almost finished wiring the bridge when the Piedmontese attacked and the bridge blew up very soon – it didn’t blow up completely, but badly enough to make it impossible to cross under fire. The two sides then fired at each other across the river for some hours until the Austrians retreated due to Piedmontese artillery fire, the Bersaglieri crossed and a new pontoon bridge was set up. Unless you want to have a game that just sees units firing at each other across the impassable river without maneuver, it doesn’t really make for an interesting game, unless you allow the Piedmontese to have more time before the bridge is destroyed.

In order to get a more interesting wargaming campaign I think we need to alter history just a bit. Let’s imagine Charles Albert was not as hesitant in declaring war to Austria and actually had invaded Lombardy 1-2 days before what he really did, launching his forward brigades full speed ahead trying to catch Radetzky before he got behind the protection of the Quadrilatero (as an aside, this single idea could create more ideas for scenarios based on Piedmontese troops battling the retreating Austrians in Lombardy, before they cross the Mincio).

Due to this, the Austrians are able to maintain only a slight advantage over their Piedmontese chasers. Radetzky fears behind caught in the open plain just short of Verona if he lets the Piedmontese cross the Mincio unchecked, so he detaches part of his army to block the bridges, destroy them if possible, and anyway delay the enemy advance. Hopefully the delaying troops will be able to blow up the bridges and then reach their comrades behind the safety of the walls of Verona fortress.

General Michele Bes

Unfortunately for them, General Michele Bes, one of the best Piedmontese Brigade Commanders and the first to cross into Lombardy, has just taken the bridge at Valeggio before the Austrians could reinforce it. Austrian troops are closing in on Bes positions and hope they can repulse him back before the rest of the II Corps can reinforce the bridgehead (this would bring us to campaign scenario 2: bridgehead, which starts the main army attack across the river).

Meanwhile at Goito, south of Valeggio, Wohlgemuth brigade (Austrians) is trying to blow up the bridge but D'Arvillars’ 1^st Division of Bava’s I Corps (Piedmontese) has arrived earlier than expected and the wiring isn’t ready yet. It will be a race against time for each side (this would create the premise for campaign scenario 1: bridge destruction).

Now I just have to start playing it.