The Battle of Guastalla or Battle of Luzzara (19 September 1734) saw an Allied army commanded by King Charles Emmanuel III of Sardinia repulse an attack by a Habsburg Austrian army led by Dominik von Königsegg-Rothenfels. In this battle of War of the Polish Succession, Charles Emmanuel's Allied army was composed of troops from the French Royal Army and soldiers from the Kingdom of Sardinia.
In late 1733, the Allied armies under Marshal of France Claude Louis Hector de Villars, 1st Duke of Villars rapidly overran the Duchy of Milan, driving out the outnumbered Austrian forces. By early 1734, the Austrians were reinforced and held onto the key fortress of Mantua. Frustrated by a lack of cooperation between his French army and the Allied armies of Sardinia and Spain, the elderly Villars quit the campaign but died on the way back to France. In June 1734, the Austrian army tried to regain the initiative but was beaten at the Battle of San Pietro and its commander was killed.
On 15 September 1734, Königsegg surprised the Allied army at Quistello and forced it to retreat to Guastalla. Believing he was only facing a rearguard, Königsegg attacked on 19 September but soon found himself engaged with the main Allied army. Perceiving that the Austrians were only attacking his left wing, Charles Emmanuel began shifting troops from his right wing to support his threatened left. Königsegg broke off the action after committing all his reserves while failing to dislodge the Allied army. Both sides suffered serious losses in the encounter. Though victorious, the Allies were unable to drive the Austrians from Mantua.
Background
Strategy
The death of King Augustus II of Poland on 1 February 1733 was the spark that ignited the War of the Polish Succession. A Diet of Election was convened in August 1733 in which the nobles and gentry of the Kingdom of Poland were to select their new monarch. The Kingdom of France desired Stanisław Leszczyński to be elected because he was the father-in-law to King Louis XV. This choice was bitterly opposed by the Russian Empire and Habsburg Austria. Stanisław was an ex-king of Poland who had been deposed many years earlier by the Russians. Europe had been mostly peaceful since the Peace of Utrecht in 1715. That came to an end when Stanisław revealed himself at Warsaw on 10 September 1733.
France wished to hurt her traditional enemy, Austria, which was ruled by Charles VI, Holy Roman Emperor. To fulfill this purpose, it would benefit France to have Austria's neighbor Poland as an ally. France also wanted to oppose Austria in Germany and in Italy. France could not attack the Austrian Netherlands because that would bring the Kingdom of Great Britain and the Dutch Republic into the war against it. In Germany, France could operate against the imperial fortresses of Kehl, Breisach, and Philippsburg, while trying not to provoke the various states of the Holy Roman Empire into open opposition.
In order to inflict the most harm on Austria, France needed to invade Italy and attack the Austrian possessions, the Duchy of Milan, the Kingdom of Naples, and the Kingdom of Sicily. France needed to ally itself with the Kingdom of Sardinia before it could secure access to Italy. This was accomplished when the Treaty of Turin was signed on 27 September 1733, promising Sardinia the Duchy of Milan and giving King Charles Emmanuel III command over the combined Franco-Sardinian armies. Spain was eager to ally itself with France because it wanted to acquire the southern Italian kingdoms of Naples and Sicily.
Operations
On 12 September 1733 at Wola near Warsaw, Stanisław Leszczyński was elected king by acclamation by a large crowd of Polish nobles. A Russian army led by General Peter Lacy had already invaded Poland and reached Praga on the east bank of the Vistula River on 5 October. Another election was held "under the auspices" of the Russian army and Frederick August, Elector of Saxony was declared King Augustus III. By 2 October, Stanisław left Warsaw and arrived in Gdańsk (Danzig). Lacy's army seized Warsaw on 10 October, but it did not begin the Siege of Danzig until February 1734.
A French army under Marshal James FitzJames, 1st Duke of Berwick began crossing the Rhine River on the night of 12–13 October 1733. The French successfully concluded the Siege of Kehl on 31 October. The French army of Italy began crossing the Alps on 12 October and joined the Sardinian army at Vigevano on 29 October. There were only 18,000 Austrians in Italy, mostly in garrisons. The badly outnumbered Austrians abandoned Pavia and Lombardy, leaving behind only a few garrisons. Marshal Claude Louis Hector de Villars, 1st Duke of Villars joined the French army as its commander on 11 November during the Siege of Pizzighettone. After being besieged by 26,000 Franco-Sardinians, Pizzighettone surrendered on 9 December. The 3,700-man Austrian garrison was allowed to go free but its 45 cannons and 3 mortars were captured.
The Milan citadel capitulated to Lieutenant General (LG) Claude François Bidal d'Asfeld on 29 December. Novara surrendered to LG François de Franquetot de Coigny on 7 January 1734 and Tortona capitulated to LG Jean-Baptiste François des Marets, marquis de Maillebois on 5 February. In all three cases, the surrendered Austrian garrisons were allowed free passage to Mantua. However, 475 of the 1,389-man Milan garrison deserted on the march to Mantua. Overtaken by events, the Austrian commander, Field Marshal Wirich Philipp von Daun left the army in October to plead his case in Vienna. His exit left his second-in-command General der Kavallerie Prince Henry Frederick of Württemberg-Winnental as temporary leader of the army. Emperor Charles VI and Prince Eugene of Savoy rushed reinforcements to Italy and appointed a new army commander, Field Marshal Count Claude Florimond de Mercy. Unfortunately, the 68-year-old Mercy was blind in one eye and stricken with gout.
Before help arrived, Villars might have captured weakly-held Mantua, the last Austrian fortress in Italy. However, King Charles Emmanuel was satisfied with his occupation of the Duchy of Milan and showed little interest in ejecting the Austrians from Mantua. Villars hoped that a newly arrived Spanish army under José Carrillo de Albornoz, 1st Duke of Montemar might help defeat the Austrians. To Villars' frustration, Montemar's army marched away in February to conquer Naples and Sicily. In February, after crossing the Brenner Pass, Mercy arrived in Mantua with 12,000 reinforcements. On 2 May, Mercy's Austrian army gained a foothold on the south bank of the Po River near San Benedetto Po and forced Coigny's troops to retreat to Guastalla. On 26 May 1734, the ailing Villars was allowed to leave the army. He was disgusted with the lack of cooperation from his Spanish and Sardinian allies. Villars never made it home, dying in Turin on 17 June.
Mercy suffered repeated attacks which took away the sight in his good eye, leaving his second-in-command Feldzeugmeister Frederick Louis of Württemberg-Winnental in command of the Austrian army. Württemberg-Winnental was urged to act aggressively by both Charles VI and Prince Eugene. On 17 May 1734, the Austrian army advanced west from San Benedetto on the south bank of the Po. The incapacitated Mercy tried to interfere with Württemberg-Winnental's control of the army until the emperor ordered him to stop. With the Austrians threatening to take Parma, Coigny finally convinced Charles Emmanuel to bring his Sardinian army to the south bank of the Po. The Battle of Colorno was an indecisive clash on 4 June. As the Austrian army prepared to attack Parma, a recovered Mercy suddenly appeared and assumed command. On 29 June, Mercy recklessly ordered an attack, was killed, and his army was defeated in the Battle of San Pietro.
Quistello
After being defeated at San Pietro, the Austrians retreated behind the Secchia River which flows into the Po from the south. The Austrians left a 1,200-man garrison at Guastalla, but since the soldiers were badly equipped, the Allies soon compelled the garrison to surrender. Coigny's French troops followed as far as the Secchia where they paused on 13 July to let their field ovens catch up. During the advance, the French captured the city of Modena, an Austrian ally. Charles Emmanuel, who missed the Battle of San Pietro, returned to the army and authorized the pursuit. However, he declared the Austrian position on the Secchia impregnable and refused to allow an assault. The French wanted to besiege Mirandola, but the King of Sardinia refused to cooperate, even after being urged to do so by King Louis XV. Field Marshal Dominik von Königsegg-Rothenfels, who replaced Mercy, arrived to take command of the Austrian army on 11 July.
Königsegg was urged by Eugene and the emperor to attack, but he waited until he received reinforcements and money to pay for supplies. Meanwhile, the Austrians conducted probes to find weak points in the French defenses. The French planned to hold the Secchia for the winter with 37 battalions and 42 squadrons, but Charles Emmanuel desired to keep his Sardinian troops on the north bank of the Po. Königsegg launched the Raid on Quistello at dawn on 15 September and achieved complete surprise. The Austrians penetrated a gap in the French lines between the Picardy and Dauphin brigades. Austrian hussars crossed the Secchia, each carrying an infantryman on his horse. Marshal François Marie de Broglie, 1st Duke of Broglie, commanding the Advance Guard, escaped to Coigny's headquarters in his nightshirt after his own headquarters was overrun by grenadiers.
Coigny feared that his forces would be cut off from Guastalla, so he ordered a retreat. The Austrians then attacked San Benedetto where the Sardinian troops were located. Charles Emmanuel barely escaped capture, but two of his Sardinian regiments were forced to surrender. The Austrian captured many cannons, at least 1,200 wagons, baggage, and tents. According to Gaston Bodart, Königsegg carried out the attack with 15,000 infantry and 5,000 cavalry, and sustained a loss of 800 killed and wounded, plus 100 captured. The Allies had 30,000 infantry and 10,000 cavalry, and suffered losses of 1,100 killed and wounded, plus 6,000 captured. John L. Sutton quoted a letter in which Königsegg claimed to have captured 4,000 Allies. William Coxe stated that only 2,000 Allies were captured. Many Austrian soldiers turned aside to plunder the Allied camp, preventing Königsegg from fully exploiting his victory. Even so, the Allies were compelled to retreat to Guastalla.
Battle
Deployment
Two embankments carrying roads ran between Luzzara and Guastalla. The embankment closer to the Po was called the Arginello, while the embankment farther from the Po was called the Argine Grande. Immediately north of the Arginello was a meadow with a few copses of trees where cavalry could be maneuvered. Between the meadow and the Po was a woodland. Between the Arginello and the Argine Grande there were smaller embankments and there were vineyards in the area. Along the Argine Grande was the village of Tagliata, a few farmsteads, and a Capuchin Monastery. The Allies' pontoon bridge across the Po was protected by a fortified bridgehead that was connected to Guastalla by a line of fortifications which included a redoubt.
Bodart credited the Allies with 35,000 infantry in 55 battalions and 5,000 cavalry in 46 squadrons, for a total of 40,000 soldiers. The Austrian army had 20,000 infantry in 38 battalions and 7,000 cavalry in more than 60 squadrons, for a total of 27,000 troops. Coigny commanded the Allied right wing while Broglie led the left wing. King Charles Emmanuel was in overall command of the Allied army and personally directed the center.
The Allied line formed an arc from the meadow on the left to the village of Pieve (south of Guastalla) on the right. In the meadow stood the Allied left-wing cavalry. In the first line were the Piedmont and Du Roi Dragoons and the La Reine brigade, with the Toulouse and Orléans cavalry brigades in the second and third lines. Between the Arginello and Argine Grande were the Sardinian Guard and Savoia infantry brigades with grenadier companies holding farmsteads in front of the main defenses. On their left flank at the Capuchin Monastery were the Auvergne, Du Roi, and Dauphin infantry brigades in the first line and the Anjou, Maine, and Souvré infantry brigades in the second line. The Picardy and Champagne infantry brigades held Pieve on the far right. Three dragoon regiments patrolled beyond Pieve as far as the Crostolo stream on the extreme right flank. The Carabinier and Cuirassier cavalry brigades were deployed between Guastalla and Pieve, behind the infantry.
Guarding the bridgehead fortifications were two French and two Sardinian battalions. Nine more Allied battalions lined the fortifications connecting the bridgehead and Guastalla. Six cannons guarded Guastalla, a battery of ten guns covered the Argine Grande, and five cannons were placed near Pieve. Other artillery pieces were held in reserve. On the morning of 19 September, Charles Emmanuel sent two French dragoon regiments and the Sardinian Genova Dragoons and a wagon train across the bridge to the north bank. He was worried that the Austrians might operate on the north bank of the Po.