to sue for peace. The small Austrian Auxiliary Corps, which fought under Sardinian command, was placed in a tight spot when its allies laid down their arms. Since its previous commander, Giovanni Marchese di Provera had been captured at the Battle of Millesimo, Beaulieu appointed Schübirz to bring the Corps to safety. In this he was successful, though he had to make a circuitous march in order to get away. Fombio and Codogno As Beaulieu fell back into the Duchy of Milan, Schübirz's troops reached a position at Lomello on the Agogna River on 2 May. By the 7th, his retreating troops joined those of Philipp Pittoni von Dannenfeld, forming a body of seven battalions and 12 squadrons. By dawn on the following day, Bonaparte managed to slip Claude Dallemagne's 5,000-strong advance guard across the Po River behind Beaulieu's strategic left flank. The 6,500 men of Amédée Emmanuel François Laharpe's division soon followed. During the day, the rapidly moving French defeated Anton Lipthay de Kisfalud at the Battle of Fombio and pressed forward to occupy the town of Codogno. As Beaulieu tried to retreat east beyond the Adda River, he found that the French were already across the southernmost roads. Hoping to cut his way through in the morning, the Austrian commander sent Schübirz toward Codogno with two battalions of the Reisky Infantry Regiment Nr. 13 and four squadrons of Uhlans, about 1,000 foot soldiers and 580 cavalrymen. Arriving at Codogno in the dark, Schübirz decided on his own initiative to capture the place. At around 10:00 PM, his troops routed the French pickets and infiltrated much of the town. Soon, Laharpe and his staff received reports of the Austrian incursion and went out to find out what was going on. It so happened that the French 51st Line Infantry Demi-Brigade was marching through the center of town. As the troops reached the town square, they were ambushed by soldiers of the Reisky Regiment and soon both sides were firing blindly into the darkness. After the French rounded up a number of Austrian prisoners, they found Laharpe shot dead, possibly by friendly fire. With the division commander down, Bonaparte's chief of staff Louis-Alexandre Berthier arrived to direct the fighting. In the wee hours, 75th Line and the 17th Light Infantry Demi-Brigades added their weight to the battle. By dawn, convinced that the odds against him were increasing, Schübirz withdrew. Given