Battle of Turbigo
1859 CE.
Shown on the map at 45.312°, 8.546°.
The Battle of Turbigo took place on 3 June 1859 saw the French army secure two crossing points over the Ticino River, allowing them to get a foothold in Austrian Lombardy. In 1859 there were two main crossing points over the Ticino near Magenta. The main road and rail bridges crossed the river just to the west of Magenta. The road bridge was called the Ponte di Boffolara, after a village a few miles to the north east. On the western bank was the hamlet of San Martino, with an inn, railway station and Piedmontese custom post. Five or six miles further to the north, at Turbigo, there was another river crossing, this time by ferry. In both cases the western bank of the river was higher than the eastern bank, so if the Austrians wanted to defend the river crossings they would have to do it on the west bank. They chose to fortify a bridgehead at San Martino, which by the start of June was defended by troops from Eduard Clam-Gallas's newly arrived corps. For most of the month May the main armies had been campaigning, with the French and Piedmontese concentrated in the area around Alessandria and the Austrians to their north.
Text from the Wikipedia article Battle of Turbigo, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.