Order of Battle of South Army 1866

In contrast to their colleagues fighting the Prussians in Northern Bohemia, the men of the much smaller Austrian army of the South effected a famous victory over the numerically superior Italian Mincio Army under General Alfonso La Marmora at the battle of Custozza on 24th June 1866. The three corps of Südarmee were each composed of only three brigades as opposed to the usual four and in the case of I. Corps five brigades in Nordarmee. The complement of cavalry and artillery was also consequently on a much reduced scale. This order of battle reflects the situation as at the 24th of June 1866 and does not include the division defending the Tyrol or the fortress garrisons and other occupation troops based in Venetia and in Dalmatia. It should be noted that after the war of 1859 the Austrian army had dispensed with infantry divisions and the individual brigades were placed directly under the command of corps headquarters.

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