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| Battle of Vittorio Veneto | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part of theItalian Front ofWorld War I | |||||||
 Map of the battle | |||||||
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| Belligerents | |||||||
 Italy United Kingdom France United States |  Austria-Hungary | ||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||
| Armando Diaz | Svetozar BoroevićAD. Joseph AugustAlexander von Krobatin | ||||||
| Strength | |||||||
| 55 divisions[7] 6,145 artillery pieces[8] | ||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||
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 | |||||||
TheBattle of Vittorio Veneto was fought from 24 October to 3 November 1918 (with an armistice taking effect 24 hours later) nearVittorio Veneto on theItalian Front duringWorld War I. After having thoroughly defeated Austro-Hungarian troops during the defensiveBattle of the Piave River, theRoyal Italian Army launched a great counter-offensive: theItalian victory marked theend of the war on the Italian Front, securedthe dissolution of theAustro-Hungarian Empire and contributed to theend of the First World War just one week later.[1][2][10][4] The battle led to the capture of over 5,000 artillery pieces and over 350,000 Austro-Hungarian troops, including 120,000 Germans, 83,000 Czechs and Slovaks, 60,000 South Slavs, 40,000 Poles, several tens of thousands of Romanians and Ukrainians, and 7,000 Austro-Hungarian Italians.[11][12]
When the battle was fought in November 1918, the nearby city was called simply Vittorio,[13] named in 1866 forVittorio Emanuele II, monarch from 1861 of the newly createdKingdom of Italy. The engagement, the last major battle in the war (1915–1918) between Italy and Austria-Hungary, was generally referred to as the Battle of Vittorio Veneto, i.e. 'Vittorio in theVeneto region'. The city's name was officially changed toVittorio Veneto in July 1923,[14] about nine months afterBenito Mussolini and hisNational Fascist Party hadascended to power.
During theBattle of Caporetto,[15] from 24 October to 9 November 1917, theItalian Army suffered over 300,000 casualties (dead, injured and captured) and was forced to withdraw, causing the replacement of the Italian Supreme CommanderLuigi Cadorna with GeneralArmando Diaz. Diaz reorganized the troops, blocked the enemy advance by implementingdefense in depth and mobile reserves, and stabilized the front line around thePiave River.[citation needed]
In June 1918, a large Austro-Hungarian offensive, aimed at breaking thePiave River defensive line and delivering a decisive blow to the Italian Army, was launched. TheAustro-Hungarian Army tried on one side to force theTonale Pass and enterLombardy, and on the other side to make two converging thrusts into centralVenetia, the first one southeastward from theTrentino, and the second one southwestward across the lower Piave. The whole offensive, which became known as theBattle of the Piave River ended in a heavy defeat for the imperial army, with the Austro-Hungarians losing 11,643 killed, 80,852 wounded and 25,547 captured.[16] On 1 November, the new Hungarian government of CountMihály Károlyi decided to recall all of the troops, who were conscripted from the territory of Kingdom of Hungary, which was a major blow for the Habsburgs' armies.[17]
After the Battle of the Piave, General Armando Diaz abstained from offensive action until Italy would be ready to strike with success assured.[18] In the offensive he planned, three of the five armies lining the front from theMonte Grappa sector to theAdriatic end of the Piave were to drive across the river towardVittorio Veneto, so as to cut communications between the two Austrian armies opposing them.[citation needed]
Allied forces totaled 57 infantry divisions, including 52 Italian, three British (23rd,7th and48th), two French (23rd and 24th), and the332nd US Infantry Regiment, along with supporting arms. The Austro-Hungarian army had 46 infantry divisions and six cavalry divisions, but both sides were ravaged byinfluenza andmalaria and the Austrians only had 6,030 guns to Allied forces' 7,700.[19][unreliable source?]
The Italian armies in the mountains were merely to hold the front line and follow up the enemy when it retreated. The task of opening the attack and taking on the strongest positions fell to the Fourth Army (Lieutenant-GeneralGaetano Giardino) on the Grappa. TheTwelfth Army, consisting of one French and three Italian divisions, was commanded by the English-speaking Lieutenant-GeneralEnrico Caviglia and he had under his command theTenth Army (Lieutenant-General LordCavan) to protect his right flank. Lord Cavan's army consisted of two British and two Italian divisions, and they too were expected to cross the Piave by breaking the Austrian defenses at Papadopoli Island. TheThird Army was simply to hold the lower Piave and cross the river when enemy resistance was broken. The Ninth Army, which contained two Italian divisions as well as the6th Czechoslovak Division (consisting of formerPOWs captured by the Italians),[20] and the 332nd US Infantry Regiment, was held in reserve. The Allies had 600 aircraft (93 Anglo-French, including fourRAF squadrons) to gain completeair superiority in the final offensive.[21]
The Allies:[22][23](Armando Diaz)
In reserve:
Austria-Hungary[26]
As night fell on 23 October, leading elements of Lord Cavan's Tenth Army were to force a crossing at a point where there were a number of islands. Cavan had decided to seize the largest of these – the Grave di Papadopoli – in preparation for the full-scale assault on the far bank. The plan was for two battalions from the22nd Brigade of the British 7th Division to occupy the northern half of Papadopoli, while the Italian 11th Corps took the southern half.[27] The British troops detailed for the night attack were the 2/1Honourable Artillery Company (an infantry battalion despite the title) and the 1/Royal Welch Fusiliers. These troops were helpless to negotiate such a torrent as the Piave and relied upon boats propelled by the 18thPontieri under the command of CaptainOdini of the Italian engineers. On the misty night of the 23rd, the Italians rowed the British forces across with a calm assurance and skill which amazed many of those who were more frightened of drowning than of fighting the Austrians. For the sake of silence, the HAC used only theirbayonets until the alarm was raised, and soon seized their half of the island. The Italian assault on the south of Papadopoli was driven off by heavy machine-gun fire. Nevertheless, the Austrians surrendered the island by the end of the night.[28]
In the early hours of 24 October, the anniversary of the beginning of theBattle of Caporetto,Comando Supremo launched the splintering[clarification needed] attack onMonte Grappa designed to draw in the Austro-Hungarian reserves. At 03:00 the right wing of the Italian Fourth Army began abarrage to give time for its men to move into position. At 05:00 the rest of the artillery joined in. The infantry began to struggle up the steep slopes and secondary peaks which the Austrians had held. The flooding of the Piave prevented two of the three central armies from advancing simultaneously with the third; but the latter, under the command of Earl Cavan, after seizing Papadopoli Island farther downstream, won a foothold on the left bank of the river on 27 October. In the evening, the Allies had covered so much ground that they were over-extended and vulnerable to a counter-attack. The Italian Tenth Army maintained its ground and established a bridgehead 2.5 miles (4.0 km) deep and 5 miles (8.0 km) broad. The British captured 3,520 prisoners and 54 guns.[29]Svetozar Boroević von Bojna, the Austro-Hungarian commander, ordered a counter-attack on the Italian bridgeheads on the same day, but his troops refused to obey orders, a problem confronting the Austrians from that time on, and the counter-attack failed.[30] The first days of the battle involved heavy artillery dueling between the two sides, which were fairly evenly matched in firepower, with the Italians possessing 7,700 guns to the Austro-Hungarians' 6,000. From 24 to 31 October alone, the Italian artillery fired 2,446,000 shells.[31]
On 28 October, a group ofCzechs declaredBohemia's independence fromAustria-Hungary. The next day, another group purporting to represent the eventualSouth Slavs proclaimed their independence, and on 31 October, theHungarian Parliament proclaimed their withdrawal from the union, officially dissolving the Austro-Hungarian state. On 28 October, under these new political and military conditions, the Austro-Hungarian high command ordered a general retreat.[citation needed]
On 29 October, the Italian Eighth Army pushed on towards Vittorio Veneto, which its advance guard oflancers andBersaglieri cyclists entered on the morning of the 30th. The Italian Third Army forced a crossing of the lower Piave, while raids in the mountains disclosed that the Austrians were withdrawing there. Reserves, including the332nd US Infantry Regiment poured over the Piave behind the Italian Tenth Army.[citation needed]
Vittorio Veneto was seized the next day by the Italian Eighth Army, which was already pushing on to theTagliamento river.Trieste was taken by an amphibious expedition on 3 November. The Italian Eighth Army troops which had managed to cross the Piave were only able to communicate with the west bank by using swimmers. The swimmers were furnished by one of the most elite assault units in Italian history – theArditi Corps, theCaimani del Piave ("Caimans of the Piave"). Eighty-two had been recruited by Captain Remo Pontecorvo Bacci. These specialized troops were created after analyzing the mistakes the year before at Caporetto. Carrying aresolza knife and twohand grenades, they were trained to remain in the powerful currents of the icy Piave for up to 16 hours; 50 died in the river during the campaign, a casualty rate of over 60%.[29] The Italian Twelfth Army, commanded by French GeneralJean Graziani, continued to advance, supported on the right by the Eighth Army.[citation needed]
At dawn on the 31st, the Italian Fourth Army resumed the offensive on Monte Grappa and this time was able to advance beyond the old Austrian positions towardsFeltre. In the mountains and on the plain, the Allied armies pushed on until anarmistice was arranged. Austria-Hungary lost about 30,000 killed and wounded and 300,000 prisoners (50,000 by 31 October; 100,000 by 1 November; 300,000 by 4 November).[16][19][unreliable source?] The Italians captured 448,000 Austrian-Hungarian soldiers (about one-third of the imperial-royal army), 24 of whom were generals,[32] 5,600 cannons and mortars, and 4,000machine guns.[33]
The Italians suffered during the 10 days' struggle 37,461 casualties (dead and wounded) – 24,507 of them on Monte Grappa.[34][page needed] British casualties were 2,139, while the French lost 778 men.[16]
TheArmistice of Villa Giusti was signed on 3 November at 15:20, to become effective 24 hours later, at 15:00 on 4 November.[citation needed]
The Austrian command ordered its troops to cease hostilities on 3 November. Following the signing of the armistice, AustrianGeneral Weber informed his Italian counterparts that the Imperial army had already laid down its weapons, and asked to cease combat immediately and to stop any further Italian advance. The proposal was sharply rejected by the Italian GeneralBadoglio, who threatened to stop all negotiations and to continue the war. General Weber repeated the request.[35][page needed] Even before the order to cease hostilities, the Imperial Army had already started to collapse, beginning a chaotic retreat.[36][page needed] Italian troops continued their advance until 3 p.m. on 4 November. The occupation of all Tyrol, includingInnsbruck, was completed by end of November.[37]
Under the terms of theAustrian-Italian Armistice of Villa Giusti, Austria-Hungary's forces were required to evacuate not only all territory occupied since August 1914 but also South Tirol,Tarvisio, theIsonzo Valley,Gorizia,Trieste,Istria, westernCarniola, andDalmatia. All German forces should be expelled from Austria-Hungary within 15 days or interned, and the Allies were to have free use of Austria-Hungary's internal communications. They were also obliged to allow the transit of theEntente armies, to reachGermany from the South.[34][page needed]
In order to block this, Bavarian troops marched into Tyrol. Austrian institutions protested as they were obliged to do according to the terms of the armistice. Apart from the blowing up of a bridge south ofBrixen to slow down Italian advances no combats ensued. The Bavarians retreated as soon as Italian troops arrived. Thus they leftFranzensfeste on 9 November andGossensass on 10 November. The discipline of the soldiers also suffered from the fact that the German socialistKurt Eisner had declaredBavaria to become thePeople's State of Bavaria, on 8 November 1918.[38]In early November Italian troops received orders to march towardsLandeck andInnsbruck and by the end of November 1918, the Italian Army with 20,000–22,000 soldiers occupiedNorth Tyrol.[39]
The battle marked the end of the First World War on the Italian front and secured the end of the Austro-Hungarian empire.[4][5][40] As mentioned above, on 31 October Hungary officially left the personal union with Austria. Other parts of the empire had declared independence, notably what later becameYugoslavia. The surrender of their primary ally was another major factor in theGerman Empire's decision that they could no longer continue the war.[4][41] During the night of 29 to 30 October 1918 theWilhelmshaven mutiny erupted; shortly afterwards theGerman Revolution of 1918–1919 started to spread fromKiel (Kiel mutiny). Less than a week after the Austro-Hungarians, the Germans requested an armistice.The Armistice was signed at 5:00 a.m. of 11 November 1918 and came into force at 11:00 a.m.CET).
German chief-of-staffErich Ludendorff, a prominent World War I figure, stressed the importance of the battle, claiming that its outcome prompted the collapse of the Austro-Hungarian monarchy, "dragging Germany in its fall".[4] In his memories Ludendorff wrote: "The Austro-Hungarian Army had completely dissolved as a result of the fighting in Upper Italy between the 24th October and the 4th November.Hostile forces were moving on Innsbruck. G.H.Q. took comprehensive measures for the protection of the southern frontier of Bavaria. In the Balkan theatre we held the Danube.We stood alone in the world.At the beginning of November the Revolution, the work of the Independent Socialists, broke out, starting in the navy."[42] German historianErnst Nolte contended that Vittorio Veneto was "an encounter which had merely given thecoup de grace to the abandoned army of an already crumbling state."[43]
... Ludendorff wrote:In Vittorio Veneto, Austria did not lose a battle, but lose the war and itself, dragging Germany in its fall. Without the destructive battle of Vittorio Veneto, we would have been able, in a military union with the Austro-Hungarian monarchy, to continue the desperate resistance through the whole winter, in order to obtain a less harsh peace, because the Allies were very fatigued.internet version
The Battle of Vittorio Veneto during October and November saw the Austro-Hungarian forces collapse in disarray. Thereafter the empire fell apart rapidly.
According to the Commando supremo the Allies had 57 divisions and 7,700 guns.
Foch urged Diaz to exploit the success. Diaz, knowing his troops were weary and short of munitions, confined himself to local operations.
Split in two the Imperial army collapsed, starting a chaotic retiring, since October 28.
