In the spring of 1796, Lipthay served in
Johann Beaulieu's army in northwest Italy. Lipthay led a brigade in
Eugène Argenteau's wing during the
Montenotte Campaign. After this campaign's unsuccessful conclusion, Beaulieu pulled the Austrian army back to the north bank of the
Po River. Assigned to guard a long stretch of the river near
Pavia, Lipthay found himself confronted with Bonaparte's major flanking maneuver. At the
Battle of Fombio, his outnumbered command was beaten and driven back over the
Adda River at
Pizzighettone. Beaulieu next ordered him to seize the
Venetian fortress of
Peschiera del Garda, which he successfully carried out. When
Dagobert von Wurmser launched the first relief of the
Siege of Mantua in late July, Lipthay commanded a brigade in
Paul Davidovich's left center column. On 3 August, while his 4,000 troops formed the army's advance guard at
Castiglione delle Stiviere, he was attacked by 11,000 French soldiers under
Pierre Augereau. "Lipthay's gallant defence had won precious time for Wurmser to arrive" and soon the Austrians assembled 20,000 men near
Solferino. On 5 August at the
Battle of Castiglione, "the Austrians had the misfortune to lose Lipthay, who was severely wounded." During the third relief of
Mantua, which ended in the
Battle of Arcola on 15–17 November, Lipthay commanded a brigade in the
Friaul Corps of
Jozsef Alvinczi's army. In the
Second Battle of Bassano on 6 November, his four battalions made a "heroic resistance" against
André Masséna's repeated attacks on the Austrian left wing. Though his foot was injured when his horse was shot and fell on him, he did not leave his post. During the fourth relief attempt, Lipthay led one of the assault columns at the
Battle of Rivoli. On the morning of 14 January 1797, his brigade succeeded in breaking the French left flank. Only the fortuitous arrival of French reinforcements under Masséna restored the line. In the 1799 Italian campaign, Lipthay was wounded at
Verona on 26 March. He received promotion to
Feldmarschal-Leutnant on 2 October. However, he never recovered from his injuries and died at
Padua on 17 February 1800. ==References==