The echo of gunfire resounded in the air of Northern Italy as the Lombardic defenders protected their lines against the charging Austrian Soldiers. Despite being entrenched in the earth, they could not fully prevent casualties. Whenever an Austrian soldier had hit their target with a wax bullet, the defeated soldiers would fall to the ground and act as if they were dead.
Though the Casualties were high, the Austrians continued to press forward through the gunfire and into the trenches that lie in front of them. As for Heimerich, he was in command of one of the flanking battalions, which under his orders had revealed their position as they poured into the relatively undefended sides of the trench line.