Battle of Asiago
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Battle of Asiago Südtirol Offensive | |||||||||
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Part of the Italian Front (First World War) | |||||||||
The remaining alpine vegetation after the attack on Asiago. | |||||||||
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Belligerents | |||||||||
Kingdom of Italy | Austria-Hungary | ||||||||
Commanders and leaders | |||||||||
Luigi Cadorna Roberto Brusati Guglielmo Pecori Giraldi Pietro Frugoni | |||||||||
Units involved | |||||||||
5th Army |
3rd Army | ||||||||
Strength | |||||||||
172 battalions 850 guns |
300 battalions 2,000 guns | ||||||||
Casualties and losses | |||||||||
15,453 Killed 76,642 Wounded 55,635 Missing or Captured[1] |
10,203 Killed 45,651 Wounded 26,961 Missing or Captured[2] |
The Battle of Asiago (Battle of the Plateaux) or the Südtirol Offensive (in Italian: Battaglia degli Altipiani), nicknamed Strafexpedition ("
Commemorating this battle and the soldiers killed in World War I is the Asiago War Memorial.[4]
Background
Already for some time the Austro-Hungarian commander-in-chief, General
The problem had appeared to be serious, mostly because the frontier ran through high mountains and the limited Italian advances of 1915 had worsened the situation and excluded a great advance beyond the valleys of Valsugana and Val Lagarina (both connected by railway) and the plateaus of Lavarone, Folgaria and Asiago.
The geographic location of the routes of advance was conducive to the original plan which called for an advance from
The preparations for the battle began in December 1915, when
Battle
On 15 May 1916, 2,000 Austro-Hungarian artillery guns opened a heavy barrage against the Italian lines, setting Trentino afire. The Austro-Hungarian infantry attacked along a 50 kilometres (31 mi) front. The Italian wings stood their ground, but the center yielded, and the Austro-Hungarians broke through, threatening to reach the beginning of the Venetian plain.
Cadorna hastily sent reinforcements to the
On 20 May, Austro-Hungarian troops advanced onto the Asiago plateau, and by May 28th Asiago had fallen. The Austrians, however, were exhausted, low on munitions, and had weak supply lines, and by the end of May had failed to break out into the lowlands.[8]
The new Italian defensive line on Mounts
, Buole Pass and Astico Valley held and repelled repeated Austro-Hungarian attacks; on 2 June, Italian troops started their counteroffensive, slowly regaining ground.Furthermore, on 4 June, the Russians
Although the Strafexpedition had been checked, it had political consequences in Italy: the Salandra Cabinet fell, and Paolo Boselli became the new Prime Minister.
Bibliography
- Enrico Acerbi, Strafexpedition, Gino Rossato Editore, 1992
- Gerhard Artl: Die "Strafexpedition": Österreich-Ungarns Südtiroloffensive 1916. Verlag A. Weger, Brixen 2015, ISBN 978-88-6563-127-0.
- Fritz Weber: Alpenkrieg. Artur Kollitsch Verlag, Klagenfurt 1939.
- Walter Schaumann: Dall'Ortles all'Adriatico Immagini del fronte italo-austriaco 1915–1918. Wien 1993.
- L'esercito italiano nella grande guerra LEINGG (1915–1918) Volume I – IV /Ministero della Guerra – Ufficio Storico, Roma 1929–1974.
References
- ^ Data for the period 15 May - 31 July 1916, from the diary of the First Army, in: Gianni Pieropan, 1916. Le montagne scottano, Tamari editori, Bologna, 1968, p. 214.
- ^ Numbers for the period 15 May - 31 July 1916, from Austrian official reports, in: Gianni Pieropan, 1916. Le montagne scottano, Tamari editori, Bologna, 1968, p. 214.
- ^ Thompson, Mark (2008). The White War: Life and Death on the Italian Front, 1915-1919. London: Faber and Faber, p. 163.
- ^ "Sacrario militare di Asiago-Leiten e museo del Sacrario" (in Italian). Itinerari della Grande Guerra. Retrieved 24 April 2013.
- ^ ISBN 978-0-465-01329-6.
- ^ ISBN 0-275-97204-6.
- ^ ISBN 0-275-97204-6.
- ^ ISBN 978-0-465-01329-6.