. "2000"^^ . "Battle of Bassano"@en . . "French victory"@en . . "30"^^ . . . "Battle of Bassano"@en . . "20000"^^ . . "600"^^ . "Habsburg Austria"@en . "The first relief of Mantua failed at the battles of Lonato and Castiglione in early August. The defeat caused Wurmser to retreat north up the Adige River valley. Meanwhile, the French reinvested the Austrian garrison of Mantua. Ordered by Emperor Francis II to relieve Mantua at once, Feldmarschall Wurmser and his new chief-of-staff Feldmarschal-Leutnant (FML) Franz von Lauer drew up a strategy. Leaving FML Paul Davidovich and 13,700 soldiers to defend Trento and the approaches to the County of Tyrol, Wurmser directed two divisions east then south down the Brenta valley. When he joined the large division of Johann M\u00E9sz\u00E1ros at Bassano, he would have 20,000 men. From Bassano, Wurmser would move on Mantua, while Davidovich probed the enemy defenses from the north, looking for a favorable opportunity to support his superior. Lauer predicted that the French, having suffered recent losses, would be unable to react in time. Unknown to the Austrians, the French government desired that General Bonaparte cross the Alps to join the army of General Jean Moreau in southern Germany."@en . "The first relief of Mantua failed at the battles of Lonato and Castiglione in early August. The defeat caused Wurmser to retreat north up the Adige River valley. Meanwhile, the French reinvested the Austrian garrison of Mantua."@en . . . . "First French Republic"@en . . . "400"^^ . "11000"^^ . "1796-09-08"^^ . . . "War of the First Coalition"@en . . . . . . "Bassano, Venetia, present-day Italy"@en . "The church of San Giovanni on the outskirts of Bassano, Bonaparte's headquarters during the battle"@en . . "the French Revolutionary War"@en .