Battles in the Alps A History of the Italian Front of the First World War G. Irving Root copyright PublishAmerica Baltimore © 2008 by G. Irving Root. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means without the prior written permission of the publishers, except by a reviewer who may quote brief passages in a review to be printed in a newspaper, magazine or journal. First printing PublishAmerica has allowed this work to remain exactly as the author intended, verbatim, without editorial input. Hardcover 978-1-4489-7546-4 Softcover 1-60703-037-3 eBook 978-1-4560-6200-2 PUBLISHED BY PUBLISHAMERICA, LLLP www.publishamerica.com Baltimore Printed in the United States of America Foreword In May of 1915 the Kingdom of Italy declared war on the Empire of Austria- Hungary, thus initiating a new battle front in a wider conflict at that time already known as the Great War. Before doing so it repudiated an over thirty year old understanding known as the Triple Alliance, in which both nations and the German Empire, had been partners. Austria-Hungary had been at war for ten months, and was fighting on two other fronts at the time of the Italian declaration, but thereafter considered the struggle against Italy as the main one, for the duration of the war. Before it was over 166 combat divisions had made an appearance in this theatre and two and a half million men (and a few women) would become casualties. In addition the modern and powerful navies and air forces of the contestants became involved, widening the scope of the subsequent operations, both geographically and militarily. For Italy the war zone was known simply as the front; to the Austro- Hungarian command it became the Southwest Front, but for the rest of the interested world it was referred to as the Austro-Italian Front, and since there was not much chance of confusing it with any other, it was often called simply the Italian Front. Because of the topography of the region along the border between the two warring powers, it was sometimes dubbed the Alpine Front. By whatever name it was indicated as, however, it was the setting for a desperate contest between two of the larger countries of Europe, who were home to more than 85 million people. The Alps, Europe’s highest and most rugged mountain system, have long served as a barrier to human passage. As long ago as the Second Punic War a general named Hannibal had led an army across this notorious Range, a remarkable feat of logistical accomplishment that to this day earns him high marks from historians as a leader of great ability. Those who came later included names such as Caesar, Attila and Napoleon, but by and large the mountains by their mere existence have served to quell the aggressive spirits of lesser personalities and have long marked boundaries between racial, linguistic or ethnic groups. The inability of humans to subsistence-farm over much of the area, coupled with the harsh and unforgiving climate of the higher altitudes have kept the Alps an area of relatively low population density, even to this day. In 1915 few roads negotiated the difficult terrain, and even fewer railroads, those lifelines of early 20 Century Armies. Streams in the area, as in all mountainous th areas, tended to be icy and fast-flowing; having cut courses into the landscape that were almost always flanked with steep-sided heights over which no vehicle, and few animals, could travel. Rockslides and avalanches are always a problem. And in the Alps, winter is the dominant season, and generally dictates the nature of human activity there. The enormous difficulty of conducting military operations among high mountain peaks dictated that much of the fighting would take place where the international frontier eased down from the heights to meet the waters of the Gulf of Trieste, at the northern tip of the Adriatic Sea. Here the valley of a relatively small river became the setting for a dozen desperate campaigns with all the resulting death and destruction. Localities such as the small city of Görz, very much in harm’s way, were reduced to ruins and took many years to rebuild. Home to perhaps 40 or 45,000 residents in 1915, the place was an empty, blackened ruin by the end of the war, and only regained its pre-war population level more than two decades after the guns had finally fallen silent. In other areas along the border, majestic forests would be leveled, beautiful Alpine villages destroyed, and even mountain peaks would disappear to the devastating forces of modern explosives. For Americans, far and away the most destructive war in our history was the Civil War, a conflict which claimed roughly 600,000 lives, a figure that surpasses the total losses of all other American wars combined. As the fighting took place on U.S. soil, property loss was catastrophic, as was damage to the economies of the rebellious states. Hardly an American alive during the middle years of the 19 Century was not affected in one way or another by the war; after th the event, no one could deny that 1861-1865 had been a defining time in the evolution of the United States. As devastating and as deadly as the Civil War was, however, it was less so than the war on the Italian Front from 1915-1918, yet the latter conflict seems to have gone almost unnoticed in the histories of the 20 Century, indeed, even in the histories of the Great War itself. Most often, this th conflict, for those who are even aware of it, is waved off, along with the story of the Eastern, Balkan and Turkish fronts, as a mere ‘sideshow’ of the First World War, one of the many ‘peripheral’ campaigns. Webster’s New Collegiate Dictionary defines ‘sideshow’ as ‘an incidental diversion’ and ‘peripheral’ as ‘located away from the center or central portion’. Oxford American Dictionary calls a sideshow ‘A minor show attached to a principal one; peripheral is ‘of minor importance to something’. Indeed. Is it to be believed that the peoples of Italy and Austria-Hungary, who considered the Alpine Front to be the main one, fought so desperately and so long for an incidental diversion? Was Austria-Hungary struggling for its very existence in a minor show attached to a principal one? Did hundreds of thousands of young Italians charge uphill to their deaths over an issue of minor importance? Could 166 divisions have been committed to a battle away from the center of the war? Enough said. The arrogance of Western opinion that was spawned in 1914 continues to this day; into the 21 Century, confirmed advocates of Western st Front strategy are still talking and writing about ‘sideshows’ and ‘peripheral’ campaigns, but it is high time to do justice to these campaigns by taking a better look at them, and if that is accomplished, perhaps a more complete understanding of the war will be the result. No one doubts that Germany was the strongest of the powers on its side of the war and that it made its main effort on the Western Front. In opposing her, the United Kingdom, France and later the United States also used the Western Front as the primary one, and these were the nations that financed the war and dictated the peace. Neither Italy nor Austria-Hungary were the strongest powers in their respective coalitions, and as a result neither were able to convince their more powerful partners of the critical importance of the Italian Front. In as much as neither were able to force a decision there as well, at least until the dominos began to fall in the autumn of 1918, the myth of the paramount importance of the Western Theatre was able to be nourished without challenge. Once they had convinced themselves that the only way to kill the beast was with a blow to the head, they were prepared to rule out all other possibilities; it never occurred to them that a blow to the heart, kidneys, knees or groin may have done the job as well, and may have been much easier to deliver. General histories of the First World War rarely devote much space to the Italian Front, perhaps one chapter, most of which deals with Caporetto, a name they have attached to the Austro-German offensive of October 1917, which lasted well into November. Actually Caporetto is a small Isonzo town at which very little fighting took place. Known as Karfreit before the war, it has been known as Kobarid since 1945, when the local Slovene population was at last allowed to join with Yugoslavia; Italian ownership endured only a quarter- century. Multi-volume histories with much more space do the subject somewhat more justice but rarely enough. For example, one well-known ten volume set devotes only a half-volume to the Italian Front, while providing five and a half for the Western Front. In terms of numbers of men engaged and casualties sustained, the Alpine Theatre was easily the third most important of the war, and thus deserves better recognition. Even so, only a handful of books in English on the subject have ever emerged. It is time to correct this imbalance; the men who labored, suffered from the harsh elements, or bled and suffered great pain for a cause they believed in, deserve to have their story told. Their efforts and their sacrifices must never be forgotten. The following tale is told in chronological sequence or at least as close to such as was possible for the sake of the narrative. It is a format that I personally prefer to read, especially when dealing with historic events, as I believe a better understanding of the subsequent elapsing of time relative to the actual occurrences is thus gained, and the text becomes more of a story, as opposed to a dry statement of fact. A resultant day-by-day tale is hopefully quite noticeable, and tolerable. Every reader is encouraged to consult vintage maps whenever possible, as all place names are of 1915. In most cases the names have not changed since 1919, but the contested Italian-Slavic frontier is a notable exception. Caporetto has already been mentioned; Görz is another good example. After the war, Austrian Görz became Italian Gorizia, and when the borders moved again in 1945, the city was split between Italy and Yugoslavia. The latter’s portion was renamed Nova Gorica; today it is part of independent Slovenia and rivals Gorizia in size. In most cases where there had never been a heavy German presence, names have changed only once; examples include Pola (Austrian/Italian) to Pula (Yugoslav/Croat) and Fiume (Hungarian/Italian) to Rijeka (Yugoslav/Croat). Another point that begs explanation is my choice of terms when referring to the rival, warring coalitions. Before the war the Triple Alliance of the German and Austro-Hungarian Empires and the Kingdom of Italy represented one power bloc, the Triple Entente of France, Russia and the United Kingdom another. Throughout the pages below the Entente nations and those which fought alongside them (later including Italy and the United States) are called as such. The Austro-German combination, deserted by Italy but later joined by Ottoman Turkey and Bulgaria, is referred to as the Alliance. I believe this is more logical than the commonly-used terms Allies and Central Powers. For one thing, the U.S. never considered itself one of the Allies; it became an ‘Associated Power’, as did some others. For another ‘allies’ is a term for nations working or fighting together for a common cause and is therefore too generic to be specific. In his memoirs General Ludendorff wrote of ‘confederated’ powers when denoting his allies in the war, and General Hoffmann wrote of ‘Allied’ countries or contingents while doing the same. As for ‘Central Powers’, none of these nations referred to themselves as such until after the war. The well-documented desire of the Germans for a Mittel Europa (Central Europe), a large and powerful bloc of countries in east-central Europe, was pretty much frustrated when both Italy and Romania declined to fight for it, and eventually joined the other side. Entente leaders began to call their enemies the Central Empires, and at some point in time the designation Central Powers evolved, and found favor, and has been reused until the present day. I hope the reader will agree that my use of terms is less confusing. While researching this work I made use of sources published from 1916 to the present. Because so few books are devoted exclusively to the subject I found it necessary to piece together the story from whatever tidbits of information were available, yet I must report that for the persistent inquisitor, no such effort can be said to remain incomplete for lack of relevant material, it simply needed to be rounded up and sorted out. It is my sincere hope that the final product represents a worthwhile, medium-length rendition of a story that truly needs to be told more often. The book, like the bibliography that supports it, is not intended to be an exhaustive compilation of data and facts, but a very readable tale of the exploits of two great nations during an extremely traumatic period of European history. I do hope it inspires others, however few, to take a second look at some of the alternative campaigns of the First World War, a conflict that is all too often dismissed as the culmination of a commercial rivalry between Britain and Germany or of a long Franco-German vendetta. Those who served on the Italian Front did not do so to further the interests of the Western Powers (until Western contingents were sent there), but to honor their duties to their country, their communities, and their families. To downplay their efforts and achievements is to abuse their memory, and that of the war itself. Most sincere thanks go out to all of those persons who assisted directly or indirectly in the creation of this work, over the years of careful preparation. Any errors within are mine alone. Special thanks are due my family, especially my wife Elaine, who spent seemingly endless hours typing and correcting the manuscript. They encouraged me during times of frustration and lack of focus and aided me in a project which by its very nature deprived us of a good deal of quality time together. Chapter One Agenda: War Serious research into the origins of the war fought along the Austrian-Italian frontier during the second decade of the Twentieth Century will necessarily lead the inquisitor back to days deep within the Nineteenth. Ever since modern Europe began to take shape during the Middle Ages, the ground of the Central portion of the continent had always been a patchwork of kingdoms, dukedoms, principalities, Imperial and Free cities, and Church-owned parcels. Such was the framework of the Holy Roman Empire, a vast confederation which sprawled over what are the modern states of the Low Countries, Switzerland, Germany, Italy, Czech Republic, Slovenia, Austria, and much of France. For centuries, hundreds of otherwise vulnerable and ridiculously tiny political entities were thus nurtured under the Imperial banner, which, however, did not prevent the almost constant warfare amongst them and other foreign states. Napoleon I finally put an end to the old system; during his interlude the number of governments in mid-continent was reduced significantly, and a relative few were therefore increased substantially in size and strength. Perhaps even more importantly, another force was unleashed during the Napoleonic period: nationalism. The Congress of Vienna rearranged Europe immediately after the great Frenchman had been finally defeated. The delegates of the Convention, who represented the Great Powers of Europe, there attempted to usher in a new era of stability under the old, that is, pre-revolutionary rules. As might be expected, much of the continent remained restive, especially the still-splintered areas of the bygone Empire. A new wave of revolution shook the old order in 1830, then another even more serious wave in 1848; it is from this latter date that our story really begins. The ruling Habsburg dynasty of the Austrian Empire had at one time possessed nearly all of the Italian peninsula, including Sicily and Sardinia. Even in the mid-Nineteenth Century it still owned a large portion of the north, and exerted tremendous political influence on the remainder. When as a result of the 1848 disturbances, republics were set up in Venice and in Rome; the Austrian reaction was swift and predictable. Before long, the fledgling republics were
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