Battle of Asiago

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Battle of Asiago Strafexpedition
Part of the Italian Front (First World War)
Date May 15 – June 10, 1916 Location Trentino, today part of Italy Result Curbed Austro-Hungarian offensive
Combatants
Italy	Austria-Hungary
Commanders
Luigi Cadorna	Conrad von Hötzendorf
Strength
172 battalions + 800 guns	300 battalions + 2,000 guns
Casualties
150,000 (of whom 50,000 prisoners)	50,000 – 150,000 (estimates vary)

Italian Front
1st Isonzo – 2nd Isonzo – 3rd Isonzo – 4th Isonzo – 5th Isonzo – Asiago – 6th Isonzo – 7th Isonzo – 8th Isonzo – 9th Isonzo – 10th Isonzo – Ortigara – 11th Isonzo – Caporetto – Piave River – Vittorio Veneto

The Battle of Asiago or Battle of the Plateaux (in Italian: Battaglia degli Altipiani), nicknamed Strafexpedition ("Punitive expedition") by the Austrians, was a counteroffensive launched by the Austro-Hungarians on the Italian Front on May 15, 1916, during World War I. Unexpectedly, it took place in Trentino (now in northeast Italy, then part of Austria-Hungary) after the Fifth Battle of the Isonzo (March 1916).

The idea came from Conrad von Hötzendorf, who had been maintaining for years (even before the outbreak of the war) the need of a punitive action against Italy, distrusting Italian loyalty to the Triple Alliance. Now, after Serbia's collapse and a series of Russian defeats on the Eastern Front, he had been allotted the resources to put that idea into practice. His plan consisted in a quick attack from Trentino toward the Adriatic Sea, cutting off Venetia and ensnaring General Cadorna's army in a giant trap.

It was not so easy, however, because the Italians had deployed in the area about 250,000 troops (General Brusati's First Army and part of the Fourth Army). Hötzendorff had asked Germany for help, but his request was denied because Germany was not yet at war with Italy (which would declare war on Germany three months later), and because redeploying German units on the Italian Front would have diminished German offensive capability against Russia.

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.

On May 15, 2,000 Austrian artillery guns suddenly opened a heavy barrage against the Italian lines, setting Trentino afire. The Austrian infantry attacked along a 50-km front. The Italian wings stood their ground, but the center yielded, and the Austrians broke through, reaching the beginning of the Venetian plain. With Vicenza about 30 km away, all the Italian forces on the Isonzo faced outflanking.

Cadorna hastily sent reinforcements to the First Army, and deployed the newly formed Fifth Army to engage the enemy in case they had succeeded in entering the plain. The situation was critical.

However, on June 4, the Russians unexpectedly took the initiative in Galicia, where they managed to break into Austrian soil. Although they were effectively countered by German troops, Hötzendorf was forced quickly to withdraw half of his divisions from Trentino. With that, the Strafexpedition could no longer be sustained, and failed. Anyway, the Austrians retired in good order, keeping some of the positions they had initially conquered, so the number of Italian troops needed in the region to confront them had to be increased to 400,000.

Although the Strafexpedition had been checked somehow, it had some political consequences in Italy: the Salandra Cabinet fell, and Paolo Boselli became the new Prime Minister.