Battle of Vittorio Veneto

Infobox Military Conflict
conflict=Battle of Vittorio Veneto
partof= the Italian Front (First World War)


caption=Battle of Vittorio Veneto
date=23 October-3 November, 1918
place=Vittorio Veneto, Italy
casus=
territory=
result=Decisive Italian victory, dissolution of the Austro-Hungarian Empire
combatant1=flagicon|Italy|1861-state Italy
flagicon|United Kingdom United Kingdom
flag|France
flag|United States|1912
combatant2=flag|Austria-Hungary
commander1=flagicon|Italy|1861-state Armando Diaz
commander2=flagicon|Austria-Hungary Svetozar Boroevic von Bojna
strength1=57 divisions
51 Italian , 3 UK
2 French , 1 US-regiment [cite web |url=http://www.firstworldwar.com/battles/vittorioveneto.htm |title=The Battle of Vittorio Veneto, 1918 |accessdate=2008-06-10 |first=Michael |last=Duffy |date=1 February 2002 |publisher=FirstWorldWar.com ]
7,700 guns
strength2=52 divisions
6,030 guns
casualties1=5,800 dead
26.000 wounded
casualties2=35,000 dead
100,000 wounded
300,000 capturedThe Battle of Vittorio Veneto was fought between 24 October and 3 November 1918, near Vittorio Veneto, during the Italian Campaign of World War I. The Italian victory provoked the collapse of the Austro-Hungarian Army and empire and swiftly led to the end of the war on the Italian Front.

Some Italians see Vittorio Veneto as the final cumulation of the Risorgimento nationalist movement, in which Italy was unified and achieved its present borders.Fact|date=February 2007

Background

During the Battle of Caporetto [(the Italian name of the town of Kobarid, today in Slovenia)] , 24 October to 9 November 1917 the Italian Army lost over 300,000 men and was forced to withdraw, causing the replacement of the Italian Supreme General Luigi Cadorna with the General Armando Diaz. Diaz reorganized the troops, blocked the enemy advance and stabilized the front-line around the Piave River.

On June 1918, a large Austro-Hungarian offensive, aimed to break the Piave defensive line ending the war, was launched. The Imperial army tried on one side to force the Tonale Pass and enter Lombardy, on the other side to make two converging thrusts into central Venetia, the first one southeastward from the Trentino, the second one southwestward across the lower Piave. The whole offensive came to worse than nothing, the attackers losing 100,000 men.

The battle

After the battle of the Piave, General Armando Diaz (the Italian commander in chief) deliberately abstained from offensive action until Italy should be ready to strike with success assured. In the offensive he planned, three of the five armies lining the front from the Monte Grappa sector to the Adriatic end of the Piave were to drive across the river toward Vittorio Veneto, so as to cut communications between the two Austrian armies opposing them.

On October 24, the anniversary of the battle of Caporetto, the offensive opened.A first attack in the Monte Grappa sector was launched to attract the Austrian reserves. The flooding of the Piave prevented two of the three central armies from advancing simultaneously with the third; but the latter having under cover of darkness and fog occupied Papadopoli Island [http://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grave_di_Papadopoli] farther downstream, won a foothold on the left bank of the river on October 27. The Italian reserves were then brought up to exploit this bridgehead.

After crossing the Piave River, the Italian Army took Vittorio ("Veneto" was added to the name only in 1925) and advanced in the direction of Trento, threatening to block the retreat of Austrian forces.

On October 28 the Austro-Hungarian high command ordered a general retreat. Vittorio Veneto was occupied the next day by the Italians, who were also pushing on already toward the Tagliamento river.

On October 29, Austro-Hungarians were asking the Italians for an armistice.

General Graziani's 11th Italian army made advances, and he was supported on his right by the 9th army. The result was that Austria-Hungary lost about 30,000 casualties and between 300,000-500,000 prisoners (50,000 by October 31st, 100,000 by November 1st, 428,000 by November 4th). The Italians lost about 38,000 casualties, including 145 French and 374 Britons [Pier Paolo Cervone, "Vittorio Veneto, l'ultima battaglia", 1994. ]

On 30 October 1918 the Austro-Hungarian army was split in two.

The armistice was signed on November 3 at 3.20PM, to become effective 24 hours later, at 3.00PM of November 4. Under its provisions, Austria-Hungary’s forces were required to evacuate not only all territory occupied since August 1914 but also South Tirol, Tarvisio, the Isonzo Valley, Gorizia, Trieste, Istria, western Carniola, and Dalmatia. 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.

It led to the Austrian-Italian Armistice of Villa Giusti which was effective on 4 November 1918.

A source for the battle is George M. Trevelyan, "Scene's from Italy's War" (1919).

Result

The battle determined the end of the First World War on the Italian front and confirmed the end of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. On October 31st Hungary officially left the personal union with Austria. Other parts of the empire had declared independence some days before.

The surrender of their primary ally was another factor (on October 30th was the Wilhelmshaven mutiny, shortly afterwards the November revolution started to spread from Kiel) to make the continuation of the war for Germany impossible as an additional front in the south could have been opened.

Controversies

Austrian command autonomously ordered its troops to cease hostilities on November 3. When the armistice was signed, Austrian General 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 general Badoglio, who menaced to stop all negotiations and to continue the war. General Weber retired the request. [ Stato Maggiore dell'Esercito, "L'esercito italiano nella Grande Guerra", Ufficio Storico, vol. 5, Tomo 1,2, 2bis, Roma, 1988] . Even without the order to cease hostilities, the Imperial Army was already collapsed beginning a chaotic retreat. [Fritz Weber, "Tappe della disfatta", Mursia (Gruppo Editoriale), 2004. Note: Split in two the Imperial army collapsed, starting a chaotic retiring the collapse, since October, 28.] Italian troops went on in their advance until 3.00 PM of November 4. The occupation of all Tyrol (including Innsbruck) was completed in the next days, under the armistice therms: Austria-Hungary had to move from southern Tyrol till the Brenner pass to allow Italian occupation, it had furthermore to allow the transit of the Entente armies, to reach Germany from South. [Pier Paolo Cervone; "Vittorio Veneto l'ultima battaglia"; Mursia; 1994"] The legend of an Italian army surpassing an already collapsed army, to complete its "great victory" against undefended troops, was later enforced to discredit the Italian victory and justify the Imperial defeat, [Pier Paolo Cervone; "Vittorio Veneto l'ultima battaglia"; Mursia; 1994"] among several others legends such us the supposed "treachery" of 1915, or the "cowardice" of the Italian soldiers conducting the war on the back or the allied troops. [Pier Paolo Cervone; "Vittorio Veneto l'ultima battaglia"; Mursia; 1994"] Despite all the evidences, some sources still claim that Italians overrunned Austrian positions which were "undefended" and for this reason they advanced into Tyrol (claimed to be still "untouched") until its capital Innsbruck, capturing some 356,000 "unoffensive" soldiers of the Austrian [ [http://aeiou.iicm.tugraz.at/aeiou.encyclop.w/w438953.htm Weltkrieg, Erster ] ] .

Footnotes