And before the first round of artillery fire had even ended, Marshal Radetzky ordered his entire army forward. He had no intention of giving the enemy a chance to regroup.
He had waited for the enemy to spot him not out of arrogance, but to destroy as much of their fighting strength as possible.
By then, the Sardinian soldiers were packed together like a flock of sheep, scrambling to reach the far bank of the river.
No one could count how many were trampled to death or swept into the river. But the crush also posed a problem for the Austrian cavalry, who couldn't charge straight into a crowd, even a panicked one.
So the cavalry had to yield the credit to the infantry. The first to arrive were only a few Jäger and skirmishers, whose main task was harassment. The main body of infantry was still marching at a brisk pace.
This wasn't because Radetzky was hidebound and unwilling to let his infantry charge. On the contrary, it showed just how well-trained and disciplined his soldiers were.
Even while advancing in the face of the enemy, they maintained their formation. By any traditional definition, this was an elite force.
Soon, the two sides made contact. The encircled Sardinian army was peeled apart layer by layer, like a head of cabbage.
The gunfire rang out in perfect unison, like an orchestra under a conductor, but the music it played was a dirge of death.
The Kingdom of Sardinia's army didn't hold out for long. The vanguard that had crossed the river chose to surrender. To be safe, Eusebio ordered the bridge and the two newly built pontoon bridges blown up.
For the low-ranking soldiers who had already crossed, that was the real death knell. Many of them had been farmers,