Sound policy and a desire to deal a dramatic stroke spurred on the First Consul to a more daring and effective plan; to clear Lombardy of the Imperialists and seize their stores; then, after uniting with Moncey’s 15,000 troops, to cut off the retreat of all the Austrian forces west of Milan.

On entering Milan he was greeted with wild acclaim by the partisans of France (June 2nd); they extolled the energy and foresight that brought two armies, as it were down from the clouds, to confound their oppressors.  Numbers of men connected with the Cisalpine Republic had been proscribed, banished, or imprisoned by the Austrians; and their friends now hailed him as the restorer of their republic.  The First Consul spent seven days in selecting the men who were to rebuild the Cisalpine State, in beating back the eastern forces of Austria beyond the River Adda, and in organizing his troops and those of Moncey for the final blow.  The military problems, indeed, demanded great care and judgment.  His position was curiously the reverse of that which he had occupied in 1796.  Then the French held Tortona, Alessandria, and Valenza, and sought to drive back the Austrians to the walls of Mantua.  Now the Imperialists, holding nearly the same positions, were striving to break through the French lines which cut them off from that city of refuge; and Bonaparte, having forces slightly inferior to his opponents, felt the difficulty of frustrating their escape.

Three routes were open to Melas.  The most direct was by way of Tortona and Piacenza along the southern bank of the Po, through the difficult defile of Stradella:  or he might retire towards Genoa, across the Apennines, and regain Mantua by a dash across the Modenese:  or he might cross the Po at Valenza and the Ticino near Pavia.  All these roads had to be watched by the French as they cautiously drew towards their quarry.  Bonaparte’s first move was to send Murat with a considerable body of troops to seize Piacenza and to occupy the defile of Stradella.  These important posts were wrested from the Austrian vanguard; and this success was crowned on June 9th by General Lannes’ brilliant victory at Montebello over a superior Austrian force marching from Genoa towards Piacenza, which he drove back towards Alessandria.  Smaller bodies of French were meanwhile watching the course of the Ticino, and others seized the magazines of the enemy at Cremona.

After gaining precious news as to Melas’ movements from an intercepted despatch, Bonaparte left Milan on June 9th, and proceeded to Stradella.  There he waited for news of Suchet and Massena from the side of Savona and Ceva; for their forces, if united, might complete the circle which he was drawing around the Imperialists.[143] He hoped that Massena would have joined Suchet near Savona; but owing to various circumstances, for which Massena was in no wise to blame, their junction was delayed; and Suchet, though pressing on towards Acqui, was unable to cut off the Austrian retreat on Genoa.  Yet he so harassed the corps opposed to him in its retreat from Nice that only about 8,000 Austrians joined Melas from that quarter.[144]