Page 348 - General Giuseppe GARIBALDI - english version

330 GENERAL GIUSEPPE GARIBALDI

Ognon and the Saône: with the task of holding back the enemy north of the
two rivers and of delaying his march on Dijoin. Without artillery and in small
number, since that was the force that he had at the moment, the General could
not think of a serious resistance in the open, but had to limit himself to an
active and aggressive guerrilla carried out by small groups that had to lay
ambushes in several points at the same time, both at the back and on the
flanks of the enemy’s columns and in this way prevent the outnumbering
enemy from advancing expeditiously. If, in this way, Garibaldi had succeeded
to hold back the enemy on the Ognon and the Saône the necessary time for
the troops destined to complete his Army to arrive and General Cambriels to
reorganise his troops in Besançon, it was his intention to lure Werder to Dôle.
Werder had received the order to march westward to cover the flank of the
armies operating in the theatre of the Loire and Garibaldi would have attacked
him with the support from the west of the troops of LaSalle, who command-
ed with the rank of colonel in Dijon, and from the east with the support of
the troops of Cambriels in the deceitful terrain between the two rivers.
The forest of Serre, that covers its central part, would have been wonder-
fully fit for a surprise attack and the neutralisation of the enemy’s outnumber-
ing forces. That was the most rational plan that Garibaldi could envisage in
that precarious situation and it could have had good probabilities of success if
the support of the troops in Dijon and Besançon could have been assured.
In fact, detachments sent forward by Menotti and Bosak had repelled to
st
the other side of the Ognon, on the 21 , Werder’s scouts and had captured
some prisoners; the main body of the Menotti Brigades was gathered on
Mount Rolland, Bosak’s troops were on Moissey, ready to support them.
Garibaldi ordered to occupy the towns north of the forest of Serre and the
bridge of Pesmes; he had invited Lavalle to be ready to cross the Saône in
Pontailler and Cambriels to operate from Besançon on Gray; he would lead
the frontal action from Mount Rolland northward.
The operation devised by Garibaldi would have undoubtedly hampered
Moltke’s plan and stopped Werder on the Ognon for a considerable amount
of time.
On October 23, Garibaldi unexpectedly received an urgent call from
Cambriels to rush to his aid and take actions against the Prussian troops
operating west of Besançon that looked like to outflank him and cut him off
Lyon.
Garibaldi did not hesitate even for a moment to suspend the implemen-