The battle of the solstice: the clash in which Italy stopped the Austro-Hungarian Empire

There Second battle of the Piavealso nicknamed “battle of the solstice” From Gabile d’Annunzio, he was fought Between 15 and 24 June 1918during the First World War, fromItalian army against the forces of theAustro-Hungarian Empire. The clash originated from the fact that, following the battle of Caporetto of 1917, the troops of Austria-Hungary had occupied a vast sector of the Italian territory and in June 1918 they had decided to launch one new offensive To force Italy to the surrender. After the head of Caporetto, the Italian army suffered a profound reorganization, led by Armando Diaz, who guaranteed a defensive line cooled along the Piave and better resource management. The Italian army, thanks also to the Support provided by the British and French alliesmanaged to hold up to the impact and to block the advance of the enemy. A few months after the clash, the Italian soldiers were able to counter and reconquer the territories lost after the defeat of Caporetto. The battle of the solstice is an important element of Italian patriotic memory and is also famous for the participation, as a volunteer of the Red Cross, of a famous writer: Ernest Hemingway.

The second battle of the Piave
  • 1The First World War and the Caporetto route: the first battle of the Piave
  • 2The plans of the Austrians
  • 3The battle: clashes on Monte Grappa and on the Piave
  • 4The consequences of the second battle of the Piave
  • 5Memory

The First World War and the Caporetto route: the first battle of the Piave

To understand the battle of the solstice, it should be remembered that in the First World War Italian forces fought mainly near the Isonzo river, in Friuli, while another less important front was in Trentino. The conflict was one War of position: the armies stationed in trenchesfrom which they came out to go to the assault of the enemy trenches, located at a short distance, under the fire of machine guns and cannons.

The assaults allowed to conquer a few kilometersif not a few hundred meters, at the cost of a large number of human lives. From 1915 to August 1917 they were fought Eleven battles at the Isonzo But the front moved only a few kilometers. The most significant result was Gorizia’s Italian conquest in 1916.

In October 1917, however, the situation changed. The Austrians, supported by German troops, broke through the front near the locality of Caporetto (today Kobarid, in Slovenia) and forced the Italian army to retreat of 150kmfrom the Isonzo to the Piave river. In November, in the First battle of the Piavethe Italian soldiers laboriously managed to constitute a defensive line and block the enemy’s advance. All of Friuli and a sector of Veneto were occupied by the Austrians.

Advanced Austrotedesca di Caporetto

The plans of the Austrians on the Piave

The front stabilized on the Piave for several months. In Italy, Caporetto’s defeat constituted a terrible shock, from which, however, the country and the armed forces managed to recover. After the defeat, both the government were replaced, with the appointment of Vittorio Emanuele Orlando to President of the Council, both the supreme command of the army, which passed by Luigi Cadorna ad Armando Diaz. The allies also decided to support Italian troops and sent some reinforcements

The Austrianfor their part, they were at the end of the forces and were aware of not being able to continue the war for a long time. Therefore they decided to launch a decisive attack, that would allow you to break through the defensive line on the Piaveto spread in the Po Valley and to force Italy to ask for the armistice. For this purpose, 73 divisions deployed, for a total of about 946,000 men and 6,800 cannons. The Italians were aware of the movements of the Austrians thanks to theaerial observation And they expected the attack. To withstand the impact of the empire, the Italian army, reinforced by some French and English departments, had about 965,000 men and 7,000 cannons.

The battle of the Solstice: clashes on Mount Grappa and on the Piave

The attack began on June 15th along a large section of the Piave. The Austrians managed to advance in some sectors, using platforms and wooden catwalks to cross the river. Furthermore, they occupied some strategic positions on the Monte Grappaamong which the top notes as With Moschin. The Italian army, however, managed to react. On the Grappa massif, The Arditithat is, the assault troops managed to win back the Col Moschin. Along the course of the river, The army was able to reject the enemy.

The supreme command made an effective use of theaviationat the time still not very developed, to bomb the platforms positioned by the Austrians on the Piave. In this way, the departments that had already crossed the river were isolated. The point of advance in which the Austrians arrived was the town of Fagarè, Today Fagarè della Battaglia, hamlet of the municipality of San Biagio di Callalta, in the province of Treviso. By 24 June all the Austrian units were obliged to return to the eastern bank of the river. The offensive had failed.

Battle map

The consequences of the second battle of the Piave

The second battle of the Piave provoked numerous losses: Among the Austrians, the dead were almost 12,000 and total losses, including wounds and prisoners, amounted to 118,000 men. The Italians and their allies lost 91,000 men, of whom about 8,400 deaths. The battle was The last great offensive attempt by the Austrian Armed Forcesnow short of resources and struggling with an increasingly deteriorated internal political situation. A few months later, the Italian army, taking advantage of the successes of the allies on the western front, was able to counterattack and recover the territories lost with the defeat of Caporetto. In November the war ended with the defeat of Austria.

The memory of the battle of the solstice

The battle entered the “National Mythology” Italian. Shortly after the facts, Gabriele D’Annunziothe most visible nationalist intellectual of the moment, baptized the second battle of the Piave as a “battle of the solstice”, because it fought during the summer solstice. Furthermore, in memory of the battle the lyricist and Mario composed the song The legend of the Piave, also known as Song of the Piave or The Piave murmuredwhich immediately spread among the soldiers and became one of the most popular patriotic songs. At Piave and Monte Grappa are now entitled Roads and Squares throughout Italy and an assault department of the Army is called “Col Moschin” in memory of the 1918 counterattack.

The battle of the solstice is also famous for the presence of a famous writer: Ernest Hemingway who, eighteen -year -old volunteer of the US Red Cross, operated in Italy during the war and drew inspiration from that experience for the novel Farewell to weapons.