Page 70 - General Giuseppe GARIBALDI - english version

68 GENERAL GIUSEPPE GARIBALDI

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On the 18 , in the evening, the two columns reached Varese, where they
remained undisturbed until the 20th, after the Austrian battalion garrisoning
that place had withdrawn to Olgiate. The joyful welcome made Garibaldi
hope for a moment that those people would take up arms again, but it was a
short-lived hope, since those populations had seen the Austrians come back,
were afraid of their well known brusque severity and therefore could not be
stirred by the sight of those few hundred armed men that pretended to win
enemies that the strong Piedmont troops had not been able to defeat; they
looked at them not with hostility, but with a suspicious mistrust, and were
careful not to uselessly compromise themselves, for, if things had turned out
badly also this time, as was probable, no one would have come to protect
them when the Austrian authorities would call them to account.
As for Radetzky, he was perhaps afraid that that group of rebels could rekin-
dle the revolt, and hurried against them an entire army corps, the Second Army
Corps, led by Marshal d’Aspre, camped in the surroundings of Brescia, with the
task of re-establishing order and stability in the area between Bergamo and Lake
Maggiore. This Army Corp, on 20 August, had its Schwarzenberg brigade in
Lecco, its Gyulai brigade in Bergamo; its other two brigades, Liechtenstein and
Simbschen, in the rear, at Palazzolo and Chiari. Marshal d’Aspre could also rely
upon the Maurer and Strassolo brigades, located at Gallarate and Tradate,
respectively. Each brigade had between 2500 and 3500 men and six artillery
pieces, and therefore a total of about 15 to 17,000 men with 36 artillery pieces
and some cavalry units marched against Garibaldi.
On August 22 nd , two battalions of the Emperor regiment in the
Schwarzenberg brigade, with half squadron and two artillery pieces, joined
the Confinari battalion at Olgiate; the rest of the brigade, together with the
Gulay brigade, was in Como; the Simbschen brigade was at Fino Mornasco,
south of Como, marching on Varese, where also the Maurer and Sassolo
brigades had to converge from Gallarate and Tradate.
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On August 20 , Garibaldi, informed of the approach of such numerous
troops, fell back from Varese into the hills surrounding Induco, sending
Medici with a detachment of 200 men to Viggiù on his left flank. On August
21, «alarmed by the thought of this company so close to Switzerland» ordered
him to advance and take up positions around Como. «I am – he continued
– on the road to Valganna, to keep contacts with Luino, and will send other
companies into other directions. I will inform you about everything and you
must do the same with me». This order clearly shows the importance