Friedrich Engels

The Progress of the War

Written on 2 June 1859.

From the English.

["New-York Daily Tribune" No. 5665, June 17, 1859, leading article]

Hitherto it has been Garibaldi who has borne away the martial glory; nor does he appear to shrink from that bold recklessness against which Napoleon III warns his soldiers. Quite suddenly this leader of volunteers became the hero of Italy, although the Bonapartist press on this side of the Atlantic tries to claim the glory of his heroic deeds entirely for its own great hero. The laurels of the guerrilla general appear to have awakened in Victor Emmanuel’s breast the ambition to emulate him; and thus came about the engagement at Palestro, of which, unfortunately, we have as yet received only telegraphic reports, and those only from the Sardinian headquarters.

According to these, the 4th Piedmontese Division under Cialdini, which had crossed the Sesia at Vercelli a few days earlier and spent the intervening time skirmishing against Austrian outposts, appears to have attacked the enemy’s fortified position at Palestro, Vinzaglio and Confienza on 30 May. The Piedmontese defeated the brigade that held the position (most probably the brigade of General Gablenz), but, as reported, on the following morning (31 May) a force of 25,000 Austrians attempted to recapture the position. They intended to turn the right flank of the Piedmontese, thereby exposing their own flank to the corps of General Canrobert (Trochu’s division), which had thrown a bridge across the Sesia and was now approaching. The Emperor immediately ordered the 3rd Zouave regiment to support the Piedmontese. “Although without support,” they attacked an Austrian battery, captured the six guns and drove the covering troops into a canal, where 400 of them are said to have been drowned. The King of Sardinia was in the thickest of the fight and so bent on butchering the enemy that “the Zouaves tried in vain to hold him back”. According to the report, the Zouaves were led personally by General Cialdini. At last the Austrians had to fall back, leaving 1,000 prisoners and eight guns in the hands of the Allies. “The losses of the Austrians,” say the Piedmontese, “were very great; those of our own troops are not yet known.” At the same time a further fight took place at Confienza, in which the enemy was defeated by General Fanti’s division. Towards 6 o’clock in the evening, however, the Austrians attempted a renewed attack on Palestro, but with equally little success. On 1 June General Niel entered Novara with the fourth French corps, apparently without encountering resistance.

Since the *spada d’Italia* was thrust back into its scabbard by the peace of 1849, we have not had to read so confused and contradictory a report of a battle. And yet in our summary we have omitted some of the most puzzling passages. The Austrians attack with 25,000 men; are all these sent forward against Palestro, or do they include the troops defeated by Fanti at Confienza? Since their strength is not stated in detail, it is certainly correct, taking into account the extraordinary love of truth of the Piedmontese reports, to conclude that the total number of Austrians engaged on 31 May amounted to about 25,000. What strength the forces that defeated them possessed, we shall yet see. When the Piedmontese find themselves in danger, the Emperor orders the 3rd Zouave regiment to attack. Cialdini leads them, and the King charges forward with them to where the fighting is fiercest, while the Zouaves try in vain to hold him back.

A splendid picture! How grandly the parts are distributed! Louis-Napoleon, “the Emperor”, orders the Zouaves to attack. Cialdini, the general, and a Piedmontese at that, leads them—a Piedmontese leads the French Zouaves! “The King” throws himself amongst them and fights under the command of his own general where the fray is hottest. But it is also said that the King commanded the 4th Piedmontese Division, namely Cialdini’s, in person. What may really have become of the 4th Division while Cialdini led the Zouaves and the King plunged into the thickest of the fight, we shall perhaps never learn. But this does not surprise us in Victor Emmanuel. During the fatal battle of Novara he had similar childish notions, neglected his division and thus contributed not a little to his own defeat and to Radetzky’s triumph.

From these confused reports of an engagement, whose real character will only become visible when we receive the official reports of the French and Austrians, we may nevertheless extract some useful facts. The extreme left wing of the Allies had hitherto been formed by the French corps of General Niel; it stood on the Dora Baltea west of Vercelli. Next to it at Casale were the two Piedmontese divisions (the 4th and 3rd) under Cialdini and Durando. At Alessandria and Valenza lay the Piedmontese divisions of Castelborgo (the 1st) and Fanti (the 2nd), the French corps under Mac-Mahon and Canrobert and the Guard, which formed the centre. East of Alessandria, at Tortona, Novi and Voghera, stood Cucchiari’s 5th Piedmontese Division and the French corps under Baraguay d’Hilliers.

At Palestro and Confienza (these places are scarcely three miles apart), however, we find not only Cialdini but also Fanti engaged, and although nothing is said of Niel, we nevertheless find Canrobert there. Besides, the 3rd Zouave regiment was also deployed, which belongs neither to Canrobert’s corps nor to any of the three other French corps. Finally we learn that Louis-Napoleon has moved his headquarters to Vercelli and that General Niel occupied Novara the day after the battle. This attests to a decided change in the disposition of the allied army. The left wing previously consisted of Niel’s corps, 26 battalions, and Cialdini’s division, 14 battalions, making 40 battalions in all; it has now been reinforced by Canrobert’s corps with 39 battalions and Fanti’s division with 14 battalions, together making 53 battalions; thus the total strength of this part of the allied army is raised to 93 battalions. Of these, admittedly, the two Piedmontese divisions, 28 battalions, the Trochu division of Canrobert’s corps, 13 battalions, in all 25,000 Piedmontese and at least 11,000 French, were more or less engaged in the encounter at Palestro. This explains why the 25,000 Austrians were thrown back.

But this reinforcement of the left wing was obviously carried out for a different purpose; this is proved by Niel’s advance on Novara as well as by the transfer of Louis-Napoleon’s headquarters to Vercelli. Moreover, the probability that the Guard has followed him there leaves little doubt as to the intentions of the Allies. The Guard raises the forces on the Sesia to a total of 127 battalions, and, as at Montebello, troops from the extreme right wing can be swiftly brought up by rail and take part in a major action in time. Hence two possibilities remain. Either Louis-Napoleon continues the troop movement now begun, completely turning the Austrian right and massing the bulk of his army on the road leading directly from Vercelli to Milan, between Vercelli and Novara, while simultaneously diverting the Austrians by demonstrations on the Po line. Or, while making vigorous demonstrations against the Austrian right, he concentrates his main forces at Valenza, where Baraguay, Mac-Mahon and the Guard stand with 99 battalions, and Cucchiari, Durando and Castelborgo with 42 battalions, which can be reinforced by the rapid transfer of Canrobert’s corps and some Piedmontese to this point, whereby 170 battalions would be united at one spot and could fall upon the Austrian centre to smash it.

The openness with which Canrobert’s corps (from all accounts, only Trochu’s division could have been there) and Fanti’s Piedmontese deployed on the Sesia, while Louis-Napoleon shifted his headquarters to Vercelli with a similar show, would seem to argue in favour of the second possibility. But we can only conjecture.

Meanwhile the Austrians are evidently still on the Agogna, although the London *Daily News* reported their retreat across the Ticino. Their troops are concentrating more and more in a small area around Garlasco. Now and then they stretch out their feelers, as, for instance, at Montebello or at Palestro, but take care not to divide their forces. Their strength amounts to at least six army corps with 160 to 200 battalions (depending on how many have been detached for garrisons). Thus the forces appear to be fairly equal. A few more days, and the thunderbolts hidden in the clouds must discharge.