In the Battle of Caldiero or Battle of Soave or Battle of Castelcerino from 27 to 30 April 1809, an Austrian army led by Archduke John of Austria defended against a Franco-Italian army headed by Eugène de Beauharnais, the Viceroy of the Kingdom of Italy. The outnumbered Austrians successfully fended off the attacks of their enemies in actions at San Bonifacio, Soave, and Castelcerino before retreating to the east. The clash occurred during the War of the Fifth Coalition, part of the Napoleonic Wars.
In the opening engagements of the war, Archduke John defeated the Franco-Italian army and drove it back to the Adige River at Verona. Forced to detach substantial forces to watch Venice and other enemy-held fortresses, John found himself facing a strongly reinforced Franco-Italian army near Verona. So embarrassed by his setbacks that he tried to minimize them in communications to his step-father Emperor Napoleon, Eugène determined to use his superior forces to drive the Austrian invaders from the Kingdom of Italy.
Eugène probed at San Bonifacio on the 27th. On 29 April, he ordered part of his troops to make a holding attack against Soave while he sent an Italian force to seize the high ground on the Austrian right flank. On the 30th, the Austrians recaptured Castelcerino, which was lost the previous day. While this action was being fought, John's army began its retreat to the Brenta River at Bassano. Caldiero is located east of Verona. The towns of Soave and San Bonifacio lie along the Autostrada A4 about east of Verona. Castelcerino is a small village in the hills about north of Soave.
Background
See Sacile 1809 Order of Battle for a list of units and organizations of the Austrian and Franco-Italian armies.
At the start of the 1809 war, General der Kavallerie Archduke John had authority over Feldmarschallleutnant Johann Gabriel Chasteler de Courcelles's VIII Armeekorps of 24,500 infantry and 2,600 cavalry, and Feldmarschallleutnant Ignaz Gyulai's IX Armeekorps of 22,200 infantry and 2,000 cavalry. The VIII Armeekorps massed at Villach in Carinthia and the IX Armeekorps concentrated to the south at Ljubljana (Laibach) in Carniola, in modern-day Slovenia. General-major Andreas von Stoichevich was detached with 10,000 troops to observe General of Division Auguste Marmont's XI Corps in Dalmatia, which French had held since 1806. A force of 26,000 Landwehr manned garrisons and defended Inner Austria. John wanted the VIII Armeekorps to march southwest from Villach while the IX Armeekorps moved northwest from Laibach. The two forces would join near Cividale del Friuli.
At the start of the war, the Tyrolese people rose in revolt. Under leaders such as Andreas Hofer they started attacking the Bavarian garrisons. Hoping to aid the rebellion, Austrian commander-in-chief Archduke Charles, Duke of Teschen ordered John to detach Chasteler and 10,000 Austrian troops to assist the Tyrolese. Chasteler's replacement as the commander of the shrunken VIII Armeekorps was Albert Gyulai, Ignaz Gyulai's brother. Suspecting that Austria planned to initiate a war, Napoleon built up the French part of the Army of Italy to six infantry and three cavalry divisions. Actually, a good many of the so-called French soldiers were Italians, because Napoleon had annexed parts of northwest Italy to the First French Empire. In addition, Eugène assembled three Italian infantry divisions so that the Franco-Italian army numbered 70,000 troops. However, the army was dispersed across northern Italy.
Eugène never led large formations into battle, yet Napoleon appointed him commander of the Army of Italy. To prepare his stepson Eugène for the role, the emperor wrote him many detailed letters advising him how to defend Italy. He urged Eugène to fall back from the Isonzo River line to the Piave River if the Austrians invaded in strength. Napoleon made the point that the Adige River was an extremely important strategic position. He did not believe Austria was going to attack in April and he did not want to provoke his enemy by massing his armies. Thus, Eugène's army remained somewhat dispersed.
