After building some bridges over the Sesia River, Cialdini’s Piedmontese troops and some French units advanced north toward Palestro. They prevailed with a bayonet charge. It was a good, though not a resounding, victory. The Austrians were forced to retreat in good order, but the intervention of the French Zouaves prompted a general Austrian retreat. Victor Emmanuel II, who had led some of the assaults, was proclaimed their corporal general by the Zouaves. Losses were heavy on both sides: 700 Piedmontese killed and wounded, 270 French, 1,140 Austrians, and 400 prisoners of the Franco-Piedmontese.
