The Austrian commander made a stand behind the Piave River but he suffered a defeat at the hands of his numerically superior foes.

When he heard that his enemies were crossing the Piave, the Austrian commander turned back to give battle, intending to slow Eugène's pursuit of his army.

Rapidly rising waters hampered the buildup of French infantry reinforcements and prevented a significant portion of Eugène's army from crossing at all.

In the face of these two threats, Eugène's Franco-Italian army withdrew 130 kilometres (81 mi) from Sacile to the Adige River.

Because Archduke John sent a division to blockade Venice, his army arrived on the Adige with only about 30,000 troops, much fewer than Eugène.

Napoleon's victory in the Battle of Eckmühl and the subsequent retreat of Archduke Charles, caused Emperor Francis II to order John to fall back and defend Austria.

[9] In a series of clashes between 27 and 30 April, John successfully fended off Eugène's efforts to turn his north flank in the Battle of Caldiero.

Replacing Debroc, the French army commander gave the Light Division to General of Brigade Joseph Marie, Count Dessaix.

[14] Receiving notice that the French were nearby, John marched his troops back to defend the river line.

[11] The Piave River 1809 Order of Battle lists the units and organization of the Franco-Italian and Austrian armies in detail.

[15][16] Feldmarschall-Leutnant Albert Gyulai's VIII Armeekorps was made up of the infantry brigades of Generalmajors Hieronymus Karl Graf von Colloredo-Mansfeld and Anton Gajoli.

Ponte della Priula appears to have moved from its map position to a place 3 kilometres (1.9 mi) northwest, closer to Nervesa.

[e] In 1809 a stream or canal known as the Piavisella began near Barco and ran west to east through Mandre, Santa Maria (Campana), and Tezze di Piave before turning northeast.

[20] Believing that the bulk of Archduke John's army lay at Conegliano, Eugène planned an ambitious assault crossing of the Piave.

To provide the Light Division sufficient fire support, Eugène massed several batteries on the south bank and placed them under the command of his artillery chief Sorbier.

If Dessaix successfully carved out a bridgehead, Eugène planned to send the corps of MacDonald and Baraguey d'Hilliers across the Piave.

The troopers encountered Kalnássy's IX Armeekorps brigade in the open and hustled the Austrians back to Cimadolmo and San Michele, where they took up a strong defensive position.

[26] The French cavalry pursued the routed Austrian troopers as far as Mandra and Santa Maria (Campana), where they came upon the brigades of Colloredo and Gajoli.

[24] Unable to dent the Austrian line without support, the French horsemen fell back to the dike where they were joined by Dessaix's troops.

While MacDonald began probing the Piavisella line, Grenier got part of Abbé's division across the river at San Nichiol.

[25] With Eugène trying to get more troops across the Piave before it drowned the fords and Archduke John organizing his defenses, the fighting died down after 1:00 PM.

But with the bulk of his badly shaken and outnumbered horsemen still rallying in the rear, Archduke John elected not to expose his foot soldiers to cavalry attack by ordering them forward.

Off to the right, the viceroy ordered Grenier to pin the left wing of IX Armeekorps at San Michele and Cimadolmo with Pully's and Guérin's cavalry and Abbé's infantry.

Abbé's advance was counterattacked by squadrons of the Archduke Josef Hussar Regiment, the last unbroken Austrian horsemen on the field.

Pully and Guérin quickly repulsed the gallant Austrian riposte and Kalnássy evacuated San Michele and Cimadolmo before Grenier's pressure.

Kalnássy fell back to Tezze where he sturdily held his ground until evening,[28] suffering 1,200 casualties during the battle.

His attack breached the IX Armeekorps line and John was forced to commit his last reserve, Kleinmayer's grenadier brigade.

On the left flank, Dessaix and Sahuc seized Barco while Macdonald took Santa Maria (Campana) and drove toward Bocca di Strada.

"[5] Frimont, who led John's rearguard made a stand at San Daniele del Friuli on 11 May with 4,000 soldiers.

The engagement included two actions where small garrisons of Grenz infantry heroically defended two blockhouses against overwhelming Franco-Italian forces.