Battle of Santi 1806 (June 2014)

The second battle in the Neapolitan Campaign.

The action took place in the central mountains in a little village north of Aquila.
The French II Corps was seeking to get around the Russo-Neapolitan left flank at Pescara.
The Russian commander at Pescara had some fore thought and sent some of his Russians to support the isolated Austrian division to protect his left flank, but has he left enough strength at Pescara to oppose the Franco-Italian III Corps.

The Russo-Austrian far left flank. A division of Cossacks!! The French love Cossacks

Russian Jaegers, supported by Cossacks, artillery and line battalions

More Russian Jaegers in front of a brigade of musketeers, the Russian part of the centre to the left of the village of Santi, which lies north of L'Aquila

The Austrian part of the Allied centre holding the village of Santi

The six Austrian battalions of the 1st brigade mass on the Allied right centre

Another view of the Austrian right

The French right flank with their skirmish battalions leading the advance

The far Austrian right flank brigade supported by the foot battery

The French on the left centre

The French in the centre advancing on Santi, their main terrain objective for the day.

The French Grenadier Brigade on their far left flank, this elite force was to roll up the Allied right flank

This shows the stream that cut the battlefield in two

From the French centre looking towards the Austrian centre and right with the village of Santi

The church of St Maria on the French right

Two French batteries supported by French Chasseurs on their right

The Russian part of the Allied centre

The French attack on the Russian left

The French advance on Santi

The Austrian defence of Santi holding up the French attack

The French and Russian skirmishers fight it out in the woods, this went on all day.

The mass of skirmishers fighting it out

The French on their left pushing the Austrians back

Hungarians and Austrians on the Allied right

The Hungarians have charged the French while French Grenadiers continue a slow advance

The French were having some success against the Austrians but not so the Hungarians

From the French side showing the Hungarian advance

The French grenadiers advance

The Austrian grenadiers await the French Grenadiers

The Austro-Hungarian grenadier battalion

Russian infantry formed square from French cavalry but then attacked by Franco-Swiss infantry

Three Russian batteries attacked by the French Chasseurs and a Swiss battalion

Another Russian battalion forced to form square

One French Chasseur regiment has gone, but the Swiss are moving in to strike

One Russian battery survived and Cossacks saw off the French Chasseurs while Swiss infantry charged the Russian reserves

A Russian squared charged by Swiss and other Russians charged by French columns

The Russian square charged by French infantry

The French are getting the better of the Austrians

The far French left flank with the combined Grenadiers ready to attack the Austrian far right flank

The Austrians charged first against the French Grenadiers

Could this Austrian attack delay the French success

Austrian Hussars being caught by French Dragoons

A lone Austrian battalion with French Dragoons and infantry about to unleash hell

Austrian Dragoons have charged while French infantry push back Austrian infantry

The French II Corps had two infantry (the regimental Grenadiers had been combined into a 4 battalion ad hoc brigade) plus the corps had a cavalry division, the corps artillery consisted of 3 infantry and one horse battery while the Austrians had a mixed division with one foot and one horse battery and two cavalry regiments while the Russians had one infantry division, one Cossack division and one field, one position and one horse battery.
The battlefield was divided by a stream which did not make defence or attack easy.
The French had too take Santi (their main terrain objective) and the church (secondary terrain objective) as the two most dominate features in this small valley in the Apennines mountains.
On the Austrian part of Allied position the Advance Guard Brigade had lost it's Grenadier Battalion and the Jager Battalion with 1 battalion of Hussars on the verge of routing, while the Grenz Battalion still held Santi at the end of the day.
The 1st Infantry Brigade had lost 2 of it's six battalions with heavy losses to the others.
the 2nd Brigade losses had been minor due to the late attack of the French Combined Grenadier Brigade (which as a result failed to roll up the Austrian right).
While on the Russian part of the Allied position the Cossack Division had suffered minor losses but had routed half of the French 6th Chassuer a cheval Regiment.
Two Russian batteries had routed off table as well as two Musketeer Battalions. The Russian Jager Brigade on the Allied far left held the French far right in the woods all day.
The French managed to take the Church (one of two objectives) but not the village (although I doubt the Grenz could of held out much longer), there was some progress in the Centre of the Russian position for the French but the day came to a close before more could be done.
On the French left the Central Austrian Brigade (1st) was in a bad way with most of the Advance Guard Brigade gone together with a third of another brigade thus opening a hole in the Austrian position and no reserve to plug the gap.
The Combined Grenadier Brigade had made slow progress through the woods on the French left and as a result it's attack on the Austrian right was late and made little progress but did tie down at least 6 or 7 battalions and the Dragoon regiment.
In the end the battle was tight but the French did gain a small victory causing the Austro-Russian force to withdraw, in reasonable order.
This force did not stop at l'Aquila and withdrew further south to Popoli on the direct route to Pescara on the east coast.