First battle of the Isonzo

date	June 23, 1915 to July 7, 1915
place	From Monte Krn to the Adriatic Sea
output	Italian offensive fails

Parties to the conflict
Austria-Hungary Austria-Hungary	Italy 1861 Italy
Commander
Svetozar Boroëvić Géza Lukachich Guido Novak from Arienti	Luigi Cadorna Duke of Aosta Pietro Frugoni
Troop strength
92 battalions 8 divisions 115,000 men 356 guns	225 battalions 18 divisions 225,000 men 700 guns
losses
about 10,000	approx. 15,000

The First Isonzo Battle was one of a total of twelve battles between the Kingdom of Italy and the Empire of Austria-Hungary, named after the Isonzo River ( Soča in Slovene ) . It was the first major attempt by Italy to force a breakthrough into the Hungarian lowlands in the valley of the river. June 23, 1915 is generally assumed to be the beginning of the First Isonzo Battle, although the fighting had already started four weeks earlier immediately after Italy declared war on Austria-Hungary (May 23, 1915). The period known as the battle lasted, with brief interruptions, until July 7, 1915. (The Austro-Hungarian General Staff, however, declared the battle to be over on July 5.)

Starting position

The Italian 3rd Army was to break through between Monfalcone and Sagrado to the high plateau of Doberdo, while the 2nd Army had to advance between Monte Sabotino and Podgora. The minimal goal was to conquer the bridgehead near Gorizia (Italian Gorizia , Slov. Gorica ), the crossing of the Isonzos, the conquest of the mountains Kuk and Priznica (height 383 east of Plava) and an attack on the bridgehead near Tolmein (Italian Tolmino , slow. Tolmin ). The strategic goal was the breakthrough to Trieste.

In a daily order from May 1915, General Cadorna had instructed his 2nd and 3rd Armies to advance into Austro-Hungarian territory with energetic and surprising actions immediately after the declaration of war. The attackers initially encountered little resistance, as the existing defenses were made up of gendarmerie , landsturm and rifle companies . They were given the task of delaying the advance of the enemy as much as possible and slowly withdrawing in order to then, as in Tyrol, establish themselves on the heights. This tactic also succeeded in disguising the approach of the combat troops from the Serbian front, which had already arrived on the day the war was declared. These troops then immediately reinforced the hard-pressed defenders and gradually built the previously non-existent front from the Julian Alps to the sea. As a result, the Italians' far-reaching goal of a surprising breakthrough had already failed.

First fighting

Austrian trench on the Isonzo

On May 24th, the Italian units reached the Mossa – St. Florian – Verhovlje and the Kolowrat ridge between the Korrada and Ježahöhe. Goodfreit was occupied and the artillery attack opened against the forts of Malborghet and Predil in the Canal Valley . Italian infantry units (8th Infantry Division) massing up in the area of the Mrzli vrh and the Krn indicated the intention to take possession of these dominant heights here as soon as possible. On the lower Isonzo the attackers were held up by the Austro-Hungarian forces for two days until they were finally able to fight their way to the river on May 25 between Pieris and Gradiska (south of Gorizia). In the neighboring section, too, the leaders of the 2nd Italian Army did not reach the west bank of the Isonzo until the same day between Monte Sabatino and the village of Selz. The Austro-Hungarian troops were outnumbered, but had a great tactical advantage in that they could fight the attacking Italians from higher positions.

Since June 5th, the Italian 3rd Army directed its attacks against the Doberdo plateau, the 2nd Army sent the VI. Corps against the city of Gorizia. A first attempt to cross the Isonzo at Pieris , Sagrado and Sdraussina failed. The attack against Monte Sabatino and against Gorizia also failed. Attempts by the Italians to reach the Monfalcone - Sagrado ridge or to force the river crossing between Plava and Wippach were rejected. These failures in the early stages of the war prompted General Cadorna to mobilize additional forces, particularly heavy artillery. Thus his troop strength had already increased to 214 battalions of infantry (it. Fanti), Alpini and Bersaglieri , 40 squadrons of cavalry and 118 batteries of artillery . On the Austro-Hungarian side there were only 36 battalions of infantry , landsturm and volunteer riflemen, 16 squadrons of cavalry and 75 batteries of artillery in the association of the 5th Austro-Hungarian Army of the General of Boroevic's Infantry at the front.

Between June 12th and 16th, the 2nd Italian Corps managed to cross the Isonzo with the 3rd Infantry Division at Plava. The immediate attempt to subsequently take possession of the height 383 east of Plava failed due to the resistance of the 1st Mountain Brigade under its commander Major General Novak von Arienti . The recurring attacks by the Italians in this section lasted until June 28th. The alpine battalions of Grupo Alpini A + B (6 battalions each, several machine gun groups and 4 or 2 mountain batteries), which fought their way up to the summit of the Krn massif (2245 m) on June 16 against the resistance of the 3rd Mountain Brigade , were more successful could. Set in the Mountain Brigade Honvéd - regiments were not up to the war on the heights, the positions will be transferred back had. The neighboring summit of Mrzli vrh (1360 m), on the other hand, could be maintained. Equally unsuccessful were the efforts of the Italian 19th and 21st Infantry Divisions to cross the Isonzo at Sdraussina and Sagrado against the 39th and 81st Honvéd Infantry Brigades. The previous battles had cost the Italians a total of 450 officers and about 11,000 NCOs and men in failures.

The battle

Dissatisfied with the course of the fighting so far, the Italian General Staff made every effort to achieve success. The attacking troops were doubled and the 3rd Army was given the task of attacking the Doberdò ridge between Monfalcone and Redipuglia again. The 2nd Army had to push in the bridgehead of Gorizia and should take the Kuk (611 m) with the 3rd Infantry Division beyond the conquered Plava. However, the infantry attacks that began on June 23 after heavy artillery preparations could not achieve success anywhere, as they were in places already repulsed by the forward defensive works of the Austrians. It was only when the defenders abandoned the area in places to straighten the front that units of the 21st Italian Infantry Division managed to cross the river and dig in at Sagrado and Polazzo at the foot of the karst plateau. Further north, the 1st Mountain Brigade repulsed Italian attacks on height 383 (east of Plava) several times.

Major General Geza Lukachich von Šamorín (Hungarian Somorja)

Main fights broke out around the Monte San Michele, the heights in the east and north of Monfalcone and around the bridgehead of Gorizia. The situation at San Martino del Carso (Martinscina) with the strategically important road connection to the Doberdoplateau was particularly difficult for the defenders because of the great losses, the heavy artillery fire and the lack of water. The Brigade Commander Colonel Stauffer fell there on June 29, 1915, but the defensive positions (Kote 197) were held by the X March Battalion of the Triestine 97th Infantry Regiment, which had defended the positions at Redipuglia until mid-June. Oslavija and the Podgora heights could not be taken, and the Italians had to withdraw again from Plava.

The area in front of Sdraussina abandoned by the Austrians remained in Italian hands. Attacks by the 14th Italian Infantry Division against Selz and Doberdò failed due to the bitter resistance of the 16th Mountain Brigade. After mass artillery preparation and several persistent attacks, three regiments of the 14th Italian infantry division managed to take the place Redipuglia. In a counter-attack, Colonel Mitlacher and the 38th Infantry Regiment from Peterwardein , Bileća and Großwardein and some of the troops that had been gathered together fought back the attackers via their starting positions. However, the pressure on the Austrian troops increased noticeably. Until July 5th, there was an uninterrupted fight with bitterness. On that day, troops of the 22nd Italian Infantry Division managed to break into the Austrian defense line again at 8 a.m. Major General Geza Lukachich von Šamorín (Hungarian: Somorja) as commander of the 14th Mountain Brigade threw the Honvéd Infantry Regiment No. 17 at them, which managed to clear up the situation at Redipuglia. Repeated attacks north of it at Polazzo were so resolutely repulsed by Infantry Regiment No. 46 from Szeged and Avtovac (Bosnia) that the Italians did not undertake any further attacks. After that, the battle subsided noticeably, although three Alpini battalions were still trying to take the Austro-Hungarian positions in the Krn area. The attacks failed because of the Croatians standing there. Further attacks against the Gorizia bridgehead had already run out of momentum and, like various advances by the Italian 21st Infantry Division on July 6th and 7th against Sdraussina, Palazzo and Redipuglia, came to nothing.

Result

The Italians' profit from this battle was small. Only at Sagrado was the edge of the plateau climbed and to the south of it the edge of the karst area was reached. From the beginning the valuable strategic advantage of the numerically inferior Austro-Hungarian troops became apparent, that they could fight the Italian troops from the higher defensive positions in the mountainous terrain, which offered little cover for the attackers. The use of machine guns in particular caused a high blood toll among the attacking Italian troops in the almost uncovered area. The Italian troops suffered unexpectedly high losses in the 1st Isonzo battle without significant gains in land. A trench warfare began on the Isonzo, as it was already known from the western front .

swell

Austrian State Archives / Vienna War Archives

literature

L'esercito italiano nella grande guerra (1915–1918) Volume I – IV / Roma: Ministerio della Guerra - Ufficio Storico, 1929–1974
Ministero della Guerra Stato Maggiore centrale - Ufficio Storico. Guerra Italo-Austriaca 1915-18. Le medaglie d'Oro . Volume secondo - 1916. Roma: 1923
Austria-Hungary's Last War 1914–1918 Volume II Verlag der Militärwissenschaftlichen Mitteilungen Vienna 1931–1933
Anton Graf Bossi-Fedrigotti: Kaiserjäger - Fame and End . Leopold Stocker Verlag , Graz 1977