Fifth Battle of the Isonzo

The Fifth Battle of the Isonzo was fought from March 9–15, 1916 between the armies of the Kingdom of Italy and those of Austria-Hungary. The Italians had decided to launch another offensive on the Soča (Isonzo) River.

Fifth Battle of the Isonzo
Part of the Italian Front (World War I)
Italian trenches at the beginning of the Fifth Battle of the Isonzo
Date 9–15 March 1916 Location Soča river, western Slovenia Result Inconclusive
Belligerents
Kingdom of Italy	Austria-Hungary
Commanders and leaders
Luigi Cadorna (Chief of Staff of the Italian Army) Pietro Frugoni (Commander of Second Army) Emanuele Filiberto di Savoia (Commander of Third Army)	Archduke Friedrich (Supreme Commander of the Austro-Hungarian Army) Franz Conrad von Hötzendorf (Chief of the General Staff) Archduke Eugen of Austria-Teschen (Commander of Southwest Front) Svetozar Boroević von Bojna (Commander of Fifth Army) Franz Rohr von Denta (Commander of Tenth Army) Gustav Globočnik Edler von Vojka (Commander of Group Globočnik in Tenth Army)
Strength
286 battalions (plus 90 in reserve) 1,360 guns	100 battalions (plus 30 in reserve) 470 guns
Casualties and losses
1,882 killed, wounded and missing	1,985 killed and wounded

Background

After four attempts to cross the Soča (Isonzo) river and invade Austro-Hungarian territory, Luigi Cadorna, the Italian commander-in-chief, organized a strong new offensive following the winter lull in fighting which had allowed the Italian High Command to regroup and organize 8 new divisions for the front.^[1]

However, it was an offensive launched not after detailed strategic planning, but rather as a distraction to shift the Central Powers away from the Eastern Front and from Verdun, where the greatest bloodshed of the war was occurring. The attack was a result of the allied Chantilly Conference of December 1915.^[1]

The battle

Starting on March 11th with a 2-day artillery bombardment, the Fifth Battle concentrated on the middle reach of the river between Tolmin and Monte San Michele. The Italians fought a bloody attempt at taking Podgora Hill from Dalmatian soldiers. ^[2]

Several kilometers away, the Italians scaled and took Mount Sabatino from the Austrians, which had been well-planned since the previous winter. This, however, was the only real gain they made during the battle: offensives elsewhere, including at Mount Mrzli, Tolmin, and the hamlet of San Martino, were unsuccessful.^[2]

Snow and fog in the south forced the Italian attacks to end, after a week of fighting that cost the lives of 4,000 men between both sides. The attacks ordered by Cadorna for the 2nd and 3rd Italian Armies as "demonstrations" against the enemy, proved to be less bloody than those previously. ^[3]

After a week of fighting that cost the lives of 4,000 men between both sides, the clashes ceased because of the terrible weather conditions that worsened the trench conditions and because of the Austro-Hungarian "punitive" offensive in the Trentino.

Along certain parts of the front, especially around Gorizia, skirmishes continued between enemy platoons until March 30 and beyond, in a protracted struggle that produced no clear victor.

Cadorna had called upon his Russian allies to keep the Austria-Hungarian units at bay on the Eastern front given Cadorna the chance to redeploy his forces at Trentino all the while abandoning the Fifth Battle of the Isonzo.

Aftermath

A Croatian newspaper stated that the offensive had "ended in the same kind of success as the first four." Cadorna concluded from this battle that he needed more heavy artillery, and planned a sixth offensive after hearing promises of resupply from Italy's allies.

See also

• First Battle of the Isonzo – June 23 – July 7, 1915
• Second Battle of the Isonzo – July 18 – August 3, 1915
• Third Battle of the Isonzo – October 18 – November 3, 1915
• Fourth Battle of the Isonzo – November 10 – December 2, 1915
• Sixth Battle of the Isonzo – August 6–17, 1916
• Seventh Battle of the Isonzo – September 14–17, 1916
• Eighth Battle of the Isonzo – October 10–12, 1916
• Ninth Battle of the Isonzo – November 1–4, 1916
• Tenth Battle of the Isonzo – May 12 – June 8, 1917
• Eleventh Battle of the Isonzo – August 19 – September 12, 1917
• Twelfth Battle of the Isonzo – October 24 – November 7, 1917, also known as the Battle of Caporetto

References

1. Schindler, John (2001). Isonzo: The Forgotten Sacrifice of the Great War. Connecticut: Praeger Publishers. pp. 138–141. ISBN 0-275-97204-6.
2. Thompson, Mark (2009) [2008]. The white war: life and death on the Italian front, 1915-1919. New York: Basic Books, a member of the Perseus Books Group. p. 157. ISBN 978-0-465-01329-6.
3. Thompson 2009, p. 158.

Further reading

• Schindler, John R. (2001). Isonzo: The Forgotten Sacrifice of the Great War. Praeger. ISBN 0275972046. OCLC 44681903.

External links

• FirstWorldWar.Com: The Battles of the Isonzo, 1915–17
• Battlefield Maps: Italian Front
• 11 battles at the Isonzo
• The Walks of Peace in the Soča Region Foundation. The Foundation preserves, restores and presents the historical and cultural heritage of the First World War in the area of the Isonzo Front for the study, tourist and educational purposes.
• The Kobarid Museum (in English)
• Društvo Soška Fronta (in Slovenian)
• Pro Hereditate – extensive site (in En/It/Sl)

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