The Austrian general in command at Lodi, Sebottendorf, also had four squadrons of Neapolitan cavalry at his disposal, giving him a total of 6,577 men, who were mostly completely exhausted after a hasty forced march.

It has been suggested that Bonaparte was personally involved in directing some of the guns and that his troops began to refer to him as le petit caporal (the little corporal) because of this.

Marc Antoine de Beaumont's cavalry was sent to ford the river upstream while the 2nd battalion of carabiniers (elite light infantry) was readied inside the walls of the town for an assault onto the bridge itself.

Vigo-Roussillon tells us that the enemy artillery fired one salvo when the troops were part-way across, causing numerous casualties, at which point the column wavered and stopped.

It was then that a number of senior French officers, including André Masséna, Louis Berthier, Jean Lannes, Jean-Baptiste Cervoni, and Claude Dallemagne, rushed to the head of the column and led it forward again.

The remaining Austrian soldiers made the most of the gathering darkness to make their escape towards Crema though some units maintained a dogged rearguard action thus discouraging the French from pursuing too closely.