5th Army (Austria-Hungary)

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The Austro-Hungarian 5th Army was a major formation of the Austro-Hungarian army in the First World War . At the beginning of the war in 1914, the Army High Command was in the Serbian theater of war , but was disbanded before the end of the year because of the heavy losses. After Italy entered the war (May 1915), the army was reactivated and from May 24, 1917 until the end of the war was called the Isonzo Army .

history

As 5th Army

Serbia campaign 1914

The commander in chief of the Balkan Forces, Feldzeugmeister Potiorek , believed that an invasion from Bosnia would also cause internal turmoil in Serbia. The 5th Army had to attack in the Serbian campaign in 1914 on the lower Drina , while two corps of the 2nd Army were to attack between Šabac and Belgrade . The 5th Army was under General of the Infantry Ritter von Frank , Major General Maximilian Csicserics acted as Chief of Staff , in August 1914 the following corps groups were assigned to the Army High Command:

General of the Infantry, Liborius Ritter von Frank, Commander-in-Chief of the 5th Army

VIII Corps: Gen. the Kav. Arthur Freiherr Giesl von Gieslingen

XIII. Corps: Gen. the Inf. Adolf von Rhemen zu Barensfeld

further assigned:

The initial attack of the army led the XIII. Corps across the Drina on both sides of the Loznica-Zavlaka road in the direction of Valjevo . The VIII Corps was to cross the Drina in the north with the 9th ITD east of Bijeljina. On August 12, the Landsturm Brigade under Major General Letovsky attacked Šabac. The brigade under Major General von Dáni crossed the Sava at Klenak and captured Šabac with massive artillery support. The XIII. Corps and the 36th Division had to get their hands on the heights east of Loznica after crossing the Drina and to force the entrance into the Jadar Valley. The 42nd Honved Division standing on the south wing of the 5th Army in front of Zvornik had to support the advance towards Krupanj . The 5th Army fought in the Battle of Jadar (August 1914), the Battle of the Drina (September to October 1914) and the Battle of the Kolubara (November to December 1914). On December 2, the Combined Corps succeeded in briefly occupying Belgrade , which had to be evacuated two weeks later because of the Serbian counter-offensive.

Isonzo Front 1915

As a result of Italy's entry into the war (May 23, 1915), AOK 5 was reactivated and relocated to the Isonzo Front as part of the Southwest Front (Colonel General Archduke Eugen , Chief of Staff: FML Krauss ) . General Boroevic von Bojna , who had been recalled from the Eastern Front, was appointed Commander in Chief , and FML Aurel von le Beau was appointed Chief of Staff . The Italian chief of staff, General Cadorna , ordered his troops to quickly advance into Austrian territory after the declaration of war. At the lower Isonzo the Italian 3rd Army ( Duke of Aosta ) was held up by the weak kuk forces for two days until they could finally fight their way up to the river on May 25th between Pieris and Gradiska (south of Gorizia). In the neighboring section, too, the leaders of the 2nd Italian Army (General Frugoni ) reached the west bank of the Isonzo between Monte Sabatino and the village of Selz on the same day. The Austro-Hungarian Lieutenant Colonel Richard Körner ordered his heavy artillery brigade to start fighting the attackers immediately. In doing so, he saved the Gorizia bridgehead, although there was a contrary order from the command of the Southwest Front , thus creating the conditions for the construction of the Isonzo front . The troops of the 2nd Mountain Brigade under Major General Géza Lukachich , which first arrived from Serbia , played an important role in fortifying the positions on the Doberdo Karst plateau.

Svetozar Borojević from Bojna

XV. Corps General of Infantry Vincent Fox ( Tolmein )

XVI. Corps Feldzeugmeister Wenzel Wurm ( Isonzo )

  • 58th ITD: GM Erwin Zeidler (Gorizia)
  • 18th ITD: GM Eduard Böltz (Plava)
  • 48th ITD: FML Theodor Gabriel (reserve)

Goiginger group

From June 5, 1915, the attacks of the Italian VI. Corps against the Doberdo plateau and against Gorizia. The first attempt to cross the Isonzo at Pieris, Sagrado and Sdraussina failed, but Gradisca fell into the hands of the Italians. While Cadorna had 214 battalions of infantry, 40 squadrons and 118 batteries, the Austro-Hungarian 5th Army was only able to oppose the enemy with 36 battalions, 16 squadrons and 75 batteries. Between June 12 and 16, the Italian II Corps succeeded in crossing the Isonzo at Plava.

In mid-October 1915, the 5th Army had six defense groups:

  • XV. Corps under FML von Stöger-Steiner (1st and 50th ITD)
  • XVI. Corps under FZM Wenzel von Wurm (18th, 58th and 61st ITD)
  • VII Corps under General of the Cavalry Archduke Joseph (20th, 17th, and 106th ITD)
  • III. Corps under FML von Krautwald (22nd and 28th Divisions, 19th Landsturm Brigade, 187th Infantry Brigade)
  • Coastal protection Trieste: Major General Alexander Ritter von Wasserthal
  • Coast of Fiume: Major General Nikolaus Istvanovic

In the first four Isonzo battles alone (June, August, October and November 1915) the Italians lost around 175,000 men. The Austrian casualties, on the other hand, amounted to around 123,000 soldiers.

1916

Between February 14 and 18, 1916, the III. Corps on the Karst plateau replaced by the VII Corps. The 20th Honved Division replaced the 6th ITD, the 17th ITD replaced the 28th ITD. The 106th kk Landsturm Division replaced the 22nd kk Landwehr ITD. Between March 11 and 16, during the Fifth Battle of the Isonzo , the Italians carried out only half-hearted relief attacks to relieve the French allied soldiers off Verdun . The III. Corps was brought to South Tyrol between March 12 and 26. In addition, until March 23, the 18th ITD was replaced by the 62nd ITD, which was cleared from the Balkan front. In mid-March 1916, in anticipation of new Italian attacks, the 5th Army was reinforced with the 34th ITD brought in from Galicia , which gathered at Ranziano as an army reserve.

In the sixth battle of the Isonzo (August 1916), the Italians succeeded in conquering the Doberdo plateau and the city of Gorizia, as well as building a strong eastern Isonzo bridgehead. The eighth Isonzo battle (October 1916), like the previous one, had the port city (Trieste) as its target. In addition, a diversionary attack was made between the Wippach and St. Peter near Gorizia. The Italians managed to conquer a few trenches east of Gorizia, as well as to achieve a minimal gain in land at Hudi log and Kostanjevica. The target of the Italian attacks in the Ninth Battle of the Isonzo (October 31 to November 4) was Trieste. This time Cadorna tried with an enormous concentration of troops (8 divisions on a front width of only 8.5 km) to force the breakthrough. The Italians achieved the breakthrough at Mount Volkovnjak (Kote 284) and the temporary conquest of the Fajti hrib hill as well as the advance to Kostanjevica and the encirclement of the village Hudi log. The Austro-Hungarian 5th Army was close to collapse in this battle.

As an Isonzo army

Isonzo Front 1917

On May 24, 1917, the Austro-Hungarian 5th Army was renamed Isonzo Army. During the Eleventh Battle of the Isonzo (August 18, 1917 to September 12), the superior strength of the Italian artillery in the ranks of the Isonzo Army caused heavy losses. This time the Italians used 51st infantry and 2.5 cavalry divisions, 3600 guns and 1700 mortars along the entire Isonzo front. The 5th Army defended itself against it with only 20.5 divisions, which were reinforced to 29 in the course of the battle, in addition there were 1434 guns and 112 mortars. In the IV and XXIV section, a large part of the Bainsizza-Heiligengeist plateau was lost to the Italian 2nd Army . The attacks of the Italian 3rd Army, which aimed to break through the karst plateau of Comen, were from the kuk VII. And XXIII. Corps repulsed. After the surrender of Monte Santo, Monte San Gabriele was the focus of the fight from 23 August. Between September 4th and 11th the main battle raged over this "Monte del Morte", the loss of which would have meant the loss of the southern Gorizia front.

In the middle of the major battle of the Eleventh Isonzo Battle on August 23, the Isonzo Army was divided into two army high command for tactical considerations:

1st Isonzo Army under Feldzeugmeister Wenzel von Wurm

Colonel General Wurm as commander of the 1st Isonzo Army

Chief of the General Staff: Colonel Theodor Edler von Körner

  • XVI. Corps under Gen. the Inf. Rudolf Kralicek (14th, 58th and 63rd ITD)
  • VII Corps under FML Georg von Schariczer (17th, 44th and 48th ITD)
  • XXIII. Corps under FML Maximilian von Csicserics (10th, 12th and 41st ITD)
  • Reserve: 21st Rifle Division, 106th Imperial and Royal Landsturm Division
  • Section Trieste and Fiume (Rear Admiral Koudelka, FML von Istvanovic)

2nd Isonzo Army under Infantry General Johann von Henriquez

Chief of the General Staff: Colonel von Salis-Samaden

  • Group FML Kosak (35th, 57th and 60th ITD)
  • XXIV Corps under Gen. the Inf. Luke (24th and 53rd ITD)
  • IV. Corps under Gen. the Kav. Schönburg von Hartenstein (20th and 43rd ITD)
  • II. Corps under Gen. the Inf. Kaiser (9th, 28th and 29th ITD)

The Italians failed to make the breakthrough, the 11th Isonzo battle cost them 40,000 dead and 108,000 wounded. With 10,000 dead, 45,000 wounded and 30,000 missing, the Austrian losses were so heavy that the only way to secure the front for the next battle was to try to forestall the Italians by attacking them on their own. Strong troop aid was also promised by the German Army Command.

At the end of October 1917, the offensive of the German 14th Army was able to force the breakthrough between Flitsch and Tolmein in the twelfth battle of the Isonzo . The collapse of the Italian 2nd Army (General Capello) also forced the 3rd Army, standing in front of the two Isonzo armies, to retreat. At the mouth of the Piave near Zenson , the 44th Rifle Division under FML von Iwanski succeeded in forming a small Piave bridgehead on the west bank on November 12th, but this had to be abandoned on December 26th.

Piave 1918

With the planned reactivation of the Austro-Hungarian 6th Army , the 2nd Isonzo Army was disbanded on January 6, 1918, the remaining "Isonzo" Army took part in the Second Battle of the Piave (June 1918) and the Battle of Vittorio Veneto .

The Isonzo Army had four corps groups in June 1918:

The losses in the second Battle of the Piave, at almost 117,000 men, were higher than those in the Eleventh Battle of the Isonzo, although it lasted twice as long and amounted to 11,643 dead, 80,852 wounded and 25,527 prisoners. In the Third Battle of the Piave , the Austrian front was breached by the Italians on October 28, 1918 and the end of the war was forced with the armistice of Villa Giusti (near Padua ).

Commander in chief

literature

  • Austrian Federal Ministry of the Army from the war archive. "Austria-Hungary's last war 1914-1918", seven volumes of text and supplements, Verlag der Militärwissenschaftlichen Mitteilungen, Vienna 1930
  • Anton Wagner: The First World War . Troop service series, Carl Ueberreuter Verlag, 1981

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Austria-Hungary's Last War, Volume I, Kriegsgliederung, pp. 63–64.
  2. ↑ Austria-Hungary's Last War, Volume III, pp. 40–44
  3. ↑ Austria-Hungary's Last War, Volume IV, pp. 167–172
  4. ^ Anton Wagner: The First World War, Vienna 1981, p. 267
  5. ↑ Austria-Hungary's Last War, Volume VI., Supplement volume

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