Battle of Piave River (1809) - Aftermath

Aftermath

Archduke John retreated to Conegliano that night and soon had his troops on the road for Sacile. He managed the retrograde movement well. Eugène halted his advance at Bocca di Strada, deciding to wait until he could reunite his army. The French admitted only 700 casualties, but 2,000 is a more likely figure. The Austrians suffered 3,896 casualties, including 398 killed, 697 wounded, 1,681 captured, and 1,120 missing. The French captured 15 artillery pieces. The dead included Wolfskeel. On the extreme south flank, Kalnássy's brigade became separated from John's army and Grouchy's cavalry prevented him from rejoining John. Kalnássy rendezvoused with Feldmarschall-Leutnant Anton von Zach near Palmanova and the two retreated independently toward Ljubljana (Laibach).

At Sacile, Archduke John made a serious blunder. He split his army into two parts, sending Ignaz Gyulai with most of the IX Armeekorps east to Ljubljana in Carniola and the VIII Armeekorps northeast to Villach in Carinthia. This dispersal of available Austrian troops facilitated Eugène's advance from Italy into the Austrian Empire. One authority wrote, "From the Piave to Hungary John's handling of the campaign was a failure." Frimont, who led John's rearguard made a stand at San Daniele del Friuli on 11 May with 4,000 soldiers. Eugène and Dessaix carried out a double envelopment and inflicted about 2,000 casualties on their opponents. Franco-Italian losses were 200 to 800. Despite this defeat, Frimont kept his rear guard intact and maintained its effectiveness.

The next major action was the Battle of Tarvis from 15 to 18 May. The engagement included two actions where small garrisons of Grenz infantry heroically defended two blockhouses against overwhelming Franco-Italian forces. This was followed by an Austrian disaster at the Battle of Sankt Michael on 25 May. Eugène pursued John into Hungary where he defeated him at the Battle of Raab on 14 June before joining Napoleon at the Battle of Wagram on 5 and 6 July. The last action of note in the theater was the Battle of Graz from 24 to 26 June.