Napoleon meanwhile rushed against Quasdonowich, who had already come near the bottom of the Lake of Guarda.  At Salo, close by the lake, and, further from it, at Lonato, two divisions of the Austrian column were attacked and overwhelmed.  Augereau and Massena, leaving merely rear-guards at Borghetto and Peschiera, now marched also upon Brescia.  The whole force of Quasdonowich must inevitably have been ruined by these combinations, had he stood his ground; but by this time the celerity of Napoleon had overawed him, and he was already in full retreat upon his old quarters in the Tyrol.  Augereau and Massena, therefore, countermarched their columns, and returned towards the Mincio.  They found that Wurmser had forced their rear-guards from their posts:  that of Massena, under Pigeon, had retired in good order to Lonato; that of Augereau, under Vallette, had retreated in confusion, abandoning Castiglione to the Austrians.

Flushed with these successes, old Wurmser now resolved to throw his whole force upon the French, and resume at the point of the bayonet his communication with the scattered column of Quasdonowich.  He was so fortunate as to defeat the gallant Pigeon at Lonato, and to occupy that town.  But this great new success was fatal to him.  In the exultation of victory he extended his line too much towards the right; and this over-anxiety to open the communication with Quasdonowich had the effect of so weakening his centre, that Massena, boldly and skilfully seizing the opportunity, poured two strong columns on Lonato, and regained the position; whereon the Austrian, perceiving that his army was cut in two, was thrown into utter confusion.  Some of his troops, marching to the right, were met by those of the French, who had already defeated Quasdonowich in that quarter, and obliged to surrender:  the most retreated in great disorder.  At Castiglione alone a brave stand was made.  But Augereau, burning to wipe out the disgrace of Vallette,[10] forced the position, though at a severe loss.  Such was the battle of Lonato.  Thenceforth nothing could surpass the discomfiture and disarray of the Austrians.  They fled in all directions upon the Mincio, where Wurmser himself, meanwhile, had been employed in revictualling Mantua.

A mere accident had once more almost saved the Imperialist.  One of the many defeated divisions of the army, wandering about in anxiety to find some means of reaching the Mincio, came suddenly on Lonato, the scene of the late battle, at a moment when Napoleon was there with only his staff and guards about him.  He knew not that any considerable body of the enemy remained together in the neighbourhood; and, but for his presence of mind, must have been their prisoner.  The Austrian had not the skill to profit by what fortune threw in his way; the other was able to turn even a blunder into an advantage.  The officer sent to demand the surrender of the town was brought blindfolded, as is the custom, to his headquarters; Buonaparte,