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| Südtirol Offensive Battle of Asiago | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part of theItalian Front (First World War) | |||||||
 The remaining alpine vegetation after the attack on Asiago. | |||||||
| |||||||
| Belligerents | |||||||
 Italy |  Austria-Hungary | ||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||
| Luigi CadornaRoberto BrusatiGuglielmo Pecori GiraldiPietro Frugoni | Conrad von HötzendorfArchduke Eugen of AustriaViktor Dankl von KrasnikHermann Kövess | ||||||
| Units involved | |||||||
| 1st Army5th Army | 11th Army3rd 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] | ||||||
TheBattle of Asiago, also known asSüdtirol Offensive orBattle of the Plateaux (in Italian:Battaglia degli Altipiani), wrongly nicknamedStrafexpedition " (German for "punitive expedition"; this name has no reference in official Austrian documentation of the time and it is considered to be of popular origin),[3] began with a major offensive launched on 15 May 1916 by theAustro-Hungarians on the territory ofVicentine Alps in theItalian Front ofWorld War I. It was an "unexpected" attack that took place in theAsiago plateau (province ofVicenza, now in northeastItaly) at the border between theKingdom of Italy andAustria-Hungary) after theFifth Battle of the Isonzo (March 1916). The Austro-Hungarian offensive, initially successful, was followed by an Italian counter-offensive reconquering much of the lost ground and Asiago.
Commemorating this battle and the soldiers killed inWorld War I is theAsiago War Memorial (province of Vicenza, Veneto, northeast Italy).[4]
For some time the Austro-Hungarian commander-in-chief, GeneralConrad von Hötzendorf, had been proposing the idea of an offensive on the Italian western front that would lethally cripple Italy, Austria-Hungary's ex-ally, claimed to be guilty of betraying theTriple Alliance, and in previous years he had had the frontier studied in order to formulate studies with regard to a possible invasion.[5][6]
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 ofValsugana and Val Lagarina (both connected by railway) and the plateaus ofLavarone,Folgaria andAsiago.
The geographic location of the routes of advance was conducive to the original plan which called for an advance fromTrent toVenice, isolating the Italian 2nd and 3rd Armies who were fighting on theIsonzo and the Italian 4th Army who was defending theBelluno region and the easternTrentino.[5]
The preparations for the battle began in December 1915, when Conrad von Hötzendorf proposed to his German counterpart, GeneralErich von Falkenhayn, shifting divisions from theEastern Front inGalicia to the Tyrol, substituting them with German divisions.[5] His request was denied because Germany was not yet at war with Italy (which would declare war on Germany eight months later), and because redeploying German units on the Italian Front would have diminished German offensive capability against Russia, as well as against France in the anticipated offensive in Verdun.[5]After having received a negative reply from the Germans, who refused the proposed replacement and actively tried to discourage the Austro-Hungarian proposed attack, Conrad von Hötzendorf decided to operate autonomously.[6] The11th Austro-Hungarian Army, under the command of CountViktor Dankl, would carry out the offensive followed by the3rd Army underHermann Kövess. It was not so easy, however, because the Italians had deployed in the area about 250,000 well-entrenched troops (General Brusati's First Army and part of the Fourth Army).[6]Italian intelligence had been gathering information about an impending enemy offensive in Trentino — and a big one — for about a month, but Cadorna dismissed those reports, persuaded as he was that nothing could happen in that region.[5]
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.[7] The offensive overwhelmed the undermanned and disorganizedFirst Army, and withVicenza about 30 kilometres (19 mi) away, all the Italian forces on the Isonzo would face outflanking.[7]
Cadorna hastily sent reinforcements to theFirst Army, and deployed the newly formedFifth Army underPietro Frugoni to engage the enemy in case they succeeded in entering the plain. The situation was critical, but the commitment of reserves and the replacement of several Italian commanders who were judged unfit gradually improved the situation.[8]
On 20 May, Austro-Hungarian troops advanced onto the Asiago plateau, and by 28 May 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 MountsPasubio,Novegno,Zugna, 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 Russiansunexpectedly took the initiative inGalicia, where they managed to enter Austrian soil. Although they were effectively countered by German and Austro-Hungarian troops, Hötzendorf was forced quickly to withdraw half of his divisions from Trentino. With that, theStrafexpedition could no longer be sustained and the Austro-Hungarians retired from many of their positions. Italian troops in the region were increased to 400,000 to counter the Austro-Hungarian positions.[7]
Although theStrafexpedition had been checked, it had political consequences in Italy: theSalandra Cabinet fell, andPaolo Boselli became the new prime minister.
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