Finally appointed a general officer, he participated in nearly every battle in Italy that year, including all four Austrian attempts to raise the Siege of Mantua.

[6] Graduating in 1771 from the Theresian Military Academy located in the castle of Wiener Neustadt, he joined his home Liccaner (Gospić) Grenz regiment in 1775.

[5] The Austrians planned to start an uprising from within Montenegro, to liberate the Balkans, and Vukassovich and Ludvig Pernet were part of the delegation that were to win over the Montenegrin chiefs.

[8] During the Austro-Turkish War, Vukassovich served as freikorps' acting commander with the rank of Major, and was then promoted to Oberstleutnant (lieutenant colonel).

[12] By the time Bonaparte and Masséna appeared with heavy reinforcements, "Wukassovitch intelligently seized the opportunity offered by this success and promptly put the village into a state of defense."

[20] After Bonaparte won the Battle of Arcole, the French army commander drove the Tyrol Corps back to Trento.

[21] During the fourth attempt to relieve Mantua, Jozsef Alvinczi directed Vukassovich to lead his 6th Column down the east bank of the Adige River.

As the French were driven back by Austrians and Alexander Suvorov,[24] Pyotr Bagration captured Brescia in a decisive move on 21 April 1799.

[31] On 25 May, a cavalry patrol of Vukassovich's scouts briefly captured Bonaparte before themselves becoming prisoners when the French general's escort appeared.

Pursued by Guillaume Duhesme's French corps, he retreated to Brescia and Cremona with his remaining 4,000 men, missing the Battle of Marengo.

His division consisted of 14 line and Grenz battalions and four squadrons organized into two brigades led by Hannibal Sommariva and Karl Hillinger.

[36] The French stormed across the Castelvecchio Bridge[37] and quickly captured San Giorgio, but Vukassovich threw more infantry and cavalry into the struggle for the heights, which lasted most of the day.

Only at the end of the day did Count Heinrich von Bellegarde appear with reinforcements, but it was too late to stop Masséna from establishing a bridgehead on the hills to the north of the city.

Believing that Vukassovich held the riverbank with too few troops, archduke dismissed him from command and appointed Prince Franz Seraph of Rosenberg-Orsini as his replacement.

[36] Another account asserts that Vukassovich was sacked because he placed a number of cannons in an exposed position in violation of Charles' orders.

[38] At the beginning of the War of the Fifth Coalition, Vukassovich commanded the III Armeekorps light division in Archduke Charles' main army in Bavaria.

His two brigades were led by Moritz Liechtenstein and Josef Pfanzelter and included two Grenz and two Archduke Charles Legion battalions, plus two regiments of hussars and 22 artillery pieces.

[39] On the eve of the Battle of Teugen-Hausen, Vukassovich was instrumental in providing information about movement of Bavarian and French troops to Archduke Charles, including correspondence between marshals Lefebvre and Davout.

[41] He was wounded in the action, but continued to lead his troops in a battle notable for an unusual degree of front-line leadership by Austrian generals.

[43] His command formed the extreme left flank of the main body as Charles prepared to crush Davout on the morning of 22 April.

[45] In the Battle of Eckmühl that day, Vukassovich "conducted his defense ably", holding off the French and Württembergers long enough for Prince Rosenberg's IV Armeekorps to deploy.

[46] Vukassovich missed the Battle of Aspern-Essling, being involved in Johann Kollowrat's unsuccessful bid to cut Napoleon's supply line near Linz on 17 May.

The new road permitted setting up of a free port in Karlobag and significantly improved connection to the seaward slopes of Velebit.