the fight. They drove off the division of Cugia, capturing six guns and many prisoners on the top of Monte Torre, which they had earlier failed to capture. After a bombardment by 40 Austrian guns, at 5:00pm the Italians were driven out of Custoza by Maroicic. Aftermath The Austrians were victorious, both strategically and tactically. The Italians were driven back across the Mincio out of Veneto. It was, however, not a decisive defeat. To inflict a decisive defeat on the Italians, Albrecht's forces needed to drive southwest to seize the bridges across the Mincio (which the Italians had neglected to fortify). Such a pursuit would have trapped the disbanded remnants of the two Italian corps on the east bank of the river and enabled Albrecht to invade the Kingdom of Italy itself. Instead, Albrecht did not order a pursuit because he thought the Austrians were too exhausted and the Austrian cavalry had been mauled by frivolous attacks in the morning. He thus squandered the possibility of destroying the demoralized Army of the Mincio. On the 26 June 1866, Albrecht shifted his headquarters back to Verona, because he was concerned about a possible French reply to an Austrian invasion of Lombardy. He should not have been: even the Emperor advised Albrecht to ignore all political considerations. After their loss at Königgrätz (3 July), the Austrians were forced to transfer one corps from South Army to Austria to cover Vienna, weakening their forces in Veneto. The Italians, however, resumed their offensive only in mid-July. Cialdini crossed the Po and occupied Rovigo (11 July), Padua (12 July), Treviso (14 July), San Donà di Piave (18 July), Valdobbiadene and Oderzo (20 July), Vicenza (21 July) and finally Udine, in Friuli (22 July). In the meantime Garibaldi's volunteers had pushed forward from Brescia towards Trento (see Invasion of Trentino) fighting victoriously at the battle of Bezzecca of the 21 July. Despite the victory at Custoza and a naval defeat of the Italians at Lissa, due to Königgrätz the Austrians were forced to surrender to the Prussians and were forced to cede Veneto. Scenes from the Italian side of this battle were recreated for the 1954 Luchino Visconti film Senso. See also Quadrilatero References Bibliography Encyclopædia Britannica: Second Battle of Custoza Geoffrey Wawro, The Austro-Prussian War. Austria's war with Prussia and Italy in 1866 (New York 2007) Further reading Friedrich Engels. Notes on the War in