Battle of Goito

Battle of Goito
Part of the First Italian War of Independence
Battle of Goito (1848)
Date 30 May 1848 Location Goito, Lombardy-Venetia 45°14′49″N 10°40′29″E / 45.24694°N 10.67472°E / 45.24694; 10.67472Coordinates: 45°14′49″N 10°40′29″E / 45.24694°N 10.67472°E / 45.24694; 10.67472 Result Sardinian victory
Belligerents
Kingdom of Sardinia	Austrian Empire
Commanders and leaders
Charles Albert Eusebio Bava	Joseph Radetzky Carl Mecséry †
Strength
14,700 infantry 2,400 cavalry 43 guns	11,200 infantry 950 cavalry 33 guns
Casualties and losses
43 KIA 253 wounded	68 KIA (incl. 2 Officers) 331 wounded (incl. 21 Officers) 221 POW/MIA (incl. 3 Officers)

The Battle of Goito was fought between the Piedmontese and the Austrian army on 30 May 1848, in the course of the First Italian War of Independence. The Piedmontese army won the battle, as the Austrians were unable to break through to relieve the siege of Peschiera and prevent its surrender which happened on the day before the battle.

Having evacuated Milan after the Five Days of Milan on 22 March 1848, field marshal Radetzky regrouped his forces in the Quadrilatero, composed of the four supporting fortresses of Peschiera, Mantua, Verona and Legnago. The Piedmontese army advanced across Lombardy, brushing aside the covering forces under major general Wohlgemuth guarding the bridge over the Mincio at Goito during an engagement on 9 April 1848. The Austrians tried but failed to destroy the Goito bridge. Once across the Mincio, the Piedmontese forces fanned out towards the north and south.

On 10 April 1848, the Piedmontese army started to blockade the fortress of Peschiera, garrisoned by ca. 1,700 Austrian troops. Until the siege train arrived, the lack of siege guns hampered the effectiveness of the bombardment. Out of food after 34 days of blockade and 16 days under siege, the Austrians surrendered the fortress on 29 May 1848, just prior to the battle of Goito.

Meanwhile, Piedmontese and Austrian forces clashed in the battle of Pastrengo on 30 April 1848 on the Rivoli plateau. The first big test of arms occurred just outside Verona during the battle of Santa Lucia on 6 May 1848 where the Piedmontese army failed to defeat the Austrians. With a bloody nose, the Piedmontese army retired to the Mincio.

Unable to dislodge the Papal forces at Vicenza, field marshal Radetzky decided to concentrate his forces against the Piedmontese army. On 28 May 1848, he marched his army towards Mantua where a Tuscan Division was warily observing the fortress. While the Piedmontese army's attention was diverted by an Austrian brigade on the Rivoli plateau on 28 and 29 May 1848, field marshal Radetzky engaged and defeated the Tuscan division at the battle of Curtatone and Montanara on 29 May 1848. Many of the defeated and disillusioned Tuscan volunteers returned home, marking the end of the Tuscan division as a fighting force. Both the Piedmontese and the Austrian armies were now concentrated on the Mincio side of the Quadrilatero: the Piedmontese south of Peschiera, the Austrians in control of Mantua. Radetzky sent his troops north to relieve Peschiera.

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Wikipedia