043. Second Day of Arcole - WDS Campaign Marengo

16 November 1796 - Historical - Intended to be played Head to Head - During the evening of the first day of the battle Bonaparte pulled his troops back across the Adige due to a perceived threat from Davidovich's Tyrol Corps on his long left flank. However, it was learned that the Austrians had not advanced at all. Thus Bonaparte determined to once again cross over the Adige at Ronco and press on to Arcole. Once again Massena would guard the left while Augereau's fatigued forces tried to take the bridge. On "the other side of the hill" the Austrians planned to attack the French from both Belfiore di Porcile and Arcole, cause them to retreat back across the river and Alvinczy would then send another column of troops to cross the Adige near Zevio and thus divide the French army. The problem with the plan was that the Austrian commander did not allocate enough troops for the right wing. While their initial attack went well it was a repeat of the same problems the French had faced on the first day of the battle: the confinement of the dykes and the marshy ground to either side of the path. Massena's men were momentarily thrown into disorder by the attack but the situation was soon restored and the Austrians were sent packing. The column from Arcole ran into the same problem. Augereau's men were initially pressed back almost to the river but once the Austrians under Mittrowsky saw their comrades to the west falling back they too began to retreat in earnest. Augereau's division regained the initiative and began to press the attack back along the same ground they had on the previous day and met with the same problems. The Austrians had sighted guns to fire along the dyke. Bonaparte tried to get a small detachment across the Alpone but the current was too swift. The second day of the battle ended with the French unable to gain Arcole. They would have to try to use some other approach if they were to take and hold the important bridge. Design Notes: Cavalry was not used at all by either side therefore it has been fixed. Artillery was used to guard the bridge approaches or provide enfilade fire on troops using the dykes. Both troop types are fixed for the duration of the scenario. The French player will have his hands full for the first 30 turns until his troops release and he can feed them into the battle. The strengths are about equal when you consider that one of the Austrian (infantry units) brigades and two of their infantry battalions are fixed for the duration of the scenario.