"Wanted: OB for Battle of Rivoli - 1797" Topic

I'm in search of an OB for the battle of Rivoli. Is there a source online or does some kind soul have one they would share?
Thanks,

George Nafziger used to sell many orders of battle from quite a few historical periods, including the Wars of the French Revolution. I wouldn't be surprised if he offered an O.B. for Rivoli. His prices were pretty cheap, and were based on the number of pages that were required to print particular orders of battle. For what it's worth, some of the OBs were quite detailed, some weren't so detailed. I wish I could tell you how to get hold of Mr. Nafziger, but alas, I can't. However, a search might give you the information you need to contact him.

Jon

I happened to be reading my copy of Wargames Ilustrated March 04 No.198 which has an article by Michael Sayce on Rivoli with OB (part of a series on the Italian battles of Napoleon-an interesting series of articles).

The author says orbats are difficult to track down and there seem to be gaps. Not my period but here it is for what its worth:

French

Commander: General de Division Bonaparte
(18,000 inf 4,000 cav. 60 guns)
General de division Massena

32e Demi-Brigade de Ligne(DBdeLi) ??

General de Brigade??
19e, 93e DBdeLi

Genral de Brigade Leclerc(cavalry)
25e ChaCh15e Dragoons

General de Division Rey
57e DB deLi, ??

General de Brigade Brune
75e DBdeLi,??

General de Division Joubert (10,000)

Genral de Brigade Vial
4e and 17e DBdeLi

General de Bridage Santos
14 and 85e DBdeLi

Austrians

Commander Feldzugmarschall Baron von Alvintzy (28,000,90 guns)

Brigade Commanders:
GM Lusignan (4,000) GM Liptay (4,000) GM Koblos(5,000) GM Ocksay(5.000) GM Quasdanovitch (7,000) and GM Wukassovitch (4,000)

Infantry
Hoch und Deutschmeister IR Nr.4 (3 battalions)
Huff IR Nr.8 (3rd Battalion)
M Wallis IR Nr.11 (3rd Battalion)
Reisky IR Nr.13 (3 companies)
Klebek IR no.14 (2 Battalions)
Preiss IR Nr.24 (3 Battalions)
BrechainvilleIR Nr.25 (1 Batt)
Strassoldo IR Nr.27(1 Batt)
Nadasdy IR Nr.39(3 Batt)
Erbach IR N r.42 (2 Batt)
Callenberg IR Nr.54 (1 Batt)
Khevenhuller Grenadier Regiment
Banater Grenz In. regiment (GRIR)(2nd Batt)
Karlstadt GRIR (4th,5th,7th and 9th Batt)
Banalisten GRIR (5th Batt)
Wallachen GRIR (2nd and 3rd Batt)
Freikorps Gyulai (2 Batt)
JagerKorps (1 Batt)

Cavalry

Wurmser Hussar regimnet Nr.30 (2 Squadrons)
Stabs Dragoon Regiment (2 Squadrons)

Look for the book "The Road to Rivoli" by Martin Boycott-Brown. An excellent account of the campaign.

CATenWolde:
I have the book backorderd through Scholar's Bookshelf so am hoping that it will shed some light on the Rivoli OBs. Have you read this book and does it contain detailed OBs?

Jimbomar:
Thank for the OBs from WI. Looks like the Austrian OB is directly from Digby Smith's Napoleonic Data Book.

thanks,
Jon

Jon,

It doesn't have detailed OB's. It does have "this formation has so many thousand infantry and cavalry" type OB's, but the value of the book is in describing the camapign, and in the description of the battles. Definitely worth it if you like the camapign or the military history of the period, perhaps not if you are just looking for a game OB.

Cheers,

Christopher

The following Austrian OB is a joint effort between Mag. Herbert Zima and myself, so we would be grateful if it is acknowledged as such if printed anywhere. Mag. Zima drew on the work of JB Schels, who wrote a series of essays in the OMZ on the campaign and his work was used by Boycott-Brown. I have added the figures from the Kriegsarchiv Feldakten Italien 1797 I 30a

Austrian Army: FZM Joseph Alvinczy Freiherr von Berberek (or Baron Alvinczy to use his original Hungarian title)

1st Column: Oberst Lusignan
Gyulai Freikorps (12 cos) 1700
1st Batt IR45 Latterman 671
2nd Batt IR40 Mittrowsky 1101
1st & 2nd Batts IR 14 Klebek 1084
Pioneers 21

2nd Column GM Liptay
Gyulai Freikorps (6 cos) 851
3rd Batt IR37 de Vins 1054
3rd batt IR8 Huff 1388
1st & 2nd Batts IR53 Jellacic 1772
Pioneers 21

3rd Column GM Koblos
Mahoney (German)Jaeger (6 cos) 467
Combined Inf Batt Ude 1107
(2 cos each of IR11, IR16 & IR27)
Comb batt IR25 Brechainville 690
1st Batt IR42 Erbach 723
1st & 2nd Batts IR24 Preiss 1151
Pioneers 21

$th Column GM Oksay
Grenadier Batt Khevenhuller-Metsch 621
(IRs 23, 24 & 29)
3rd Batt IR4 Deutschmeister 728
2nd & 3rd Batts IR45 Latterman 1343
Meszaros Uhlans (2 sqdns) 191
CR11 Erdody Hussars (4 sqdns) 438
(later 9. Hussars)
Staff Dragoons (2 sqdns) 200
Pioneers 21

5th Column GM Furst Reuss
2nd Wallach Grenzer Batt 626
(3 cos each from GRs 16 & 17)
3rd Wallach Grenzer Batt 1169
(3 cos from GR16 & 1 from GR17)
5th Karlstadt Grenzer Batt. 995
(2. Ottocac Rgt)
7th Karlstadt Grenzer Batt. 934
(2 cos from 1. Licca, 2.Ottocac & 3. Ogulin Rgts)
1st Batt IR51 Callenberg 674
3rd Batt IR36 Kinsky 398
3rd batt IR26 W. Schroeder 733
1st & 2nd Batts IR4 Deutschmeister 1457
CR17 Erz Josef Hussars (2 1/2 sqdns) 397
(later 2. Hussars)
CR30 Wurmser Hussars (3 sqdns) 431
(later 8. Hussars)
Pioneers 21

6th Column GM Vukassovich
Combined Karlstadt Grenzer (5 cos) 808
(1st & 2nd Karlstadt District Regt (1 co) 138, Warasdin District Regt (1 co) 220, 4. Szluin Regt (3 cos) 450)
3rd Karlstadt District Regt 428
(2 cos each from 1. Licca, 2.Ottocac & 3. Ogulin Rgts)
IR52 Erz Anton (1) 767
(combined from 1st and 2nd batts)
IR39 Nadasdy (1) 792
(combined from 1st and 2nd batts)
CR17 Erz Josef Hussars (1/2 sqdn) 76
(later 2. Hussars)
Pioneers 21

The guns are reckoned to be around 90, mostly 3pdrs.

FML Provera

Wiener Freiwillige 1000
3rd Batt IR19 Alvinczy 1057
IR52 Erz Anton (1) 905
(combined from 1st and 2nd batts)
1st Batt IR43 Thurn 826
3rd Batt IR32 S. Gyulai 619
1st & 2nd Batts IR57 J Colloredo 1690
6th Karlstadt District Grenzer Regt (1) 1124
(4 cos from 1. Licca and 2 cos from 4. Szluin Regts)
Warasdin District Grenzer Regt (1) 406
(combined 2nd & 3rd Batts)
4th Batt Warasdin District Grenzer Regt 712
(3 cos from 5. Kreuz Regt, 2 cos from 6. St. Georg Regt and 1 co from 4. Szluin Regt)
Meszaros Uhlans (1/2 sqdn) 69
CR11 Erdody Hussars (6) 649
(later 9. Hussars)

Bear in mind when you game this that Napoleon had posession of the Austrian plans of attack, so his disposition of forces was not as "inspired" as the propaganda would have you believe.