ORDER OF BATTLE // June 4, 1859
Battle of Boffalora
Estimated force strength by side, with confidence labels per surviving record.
Forces engaged
2 sides catalogued · combined 30,000 estimated
French Empire
15,000
Medium-confidence figure
Austria
15,000
Medium-confidence figure
Battle context
The Battle of Boffalora was a subsidiary engagement of the Second Italian War of Independence fought on 4 June 1859 at Boffalora sopra Ticino, where approximately 15,000 French forces under La Motte-Rouge engaged a comparable Austrian force under Eduard Clam-Gallas. The engagement formed part of the broader French-Piedmontese advance from Piedmont into Lombardy. Rather than a decisive action in its own right, Boffalora constituted an opening phase of the Battle of Magenta, which concluded a few hours later several kilometers away. French casualties were relatively light, in the range of 100–200. The battle's significance lies in its role as a component action feeding into the larger Franco-Austrian contest at Magenta, a battle that proved pivotal to French and Piedmontese control over Lombardy in the wider campaign.
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