Sixth Battle of the Isonzo

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Part of the Italian Front
(First World War)

Italian troops entrenched along the Isonzo River.

Date	6 August-17 August 1916
Location	Gorizia, Italy
Result	Italian victory

Belligerents

Commanders

Strength

22 divisions

9 divisions

Casualties and losses

51,000(21,000 dead)

40,000(8,000 dead)

v • d • e 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 Sixth Battle of the Isonzo also known as the Battle of Gorizia was the most successful Italian offensive along the Isonzo River during World War I.

Franz Graf Conrad von Hötzendorf had reduced the Austro-Hungarian forces along the Isonzo front to reinforce his Trentino Offensive. Italian Chief-of-Staff Luigi Cadorna made good use of railroads to quickly shift troops from Trentino back to the Isonzo line for an offensive against the weakened Austro-Hungarian defenses. On August 6 the offensive was launched against Gorizia. On August 8, Gorizia fell to Cadorna and a bridgehead was finally established across the Isonzo River. The Austro-Hungarians shifted troops to the Gorizia sector to prevent a breakthrough. Content with having established the bridgehead, Cadorna ended the offensive on August 17.

The attack on Gorizia was the most successful Italian offensive along the Isonzo lines and greatly boosted Italian morale. In the wake of the battle Italy finally declared war against Germany, on August 28.

In later years, historians maintained that that battle (with 21,000 dead on the Italian side) was a useless and limited conquest, perhaps Cadorna's only victory. In reality, the Austrians, who were short on troops (having to fight on two fronts), retreated to Slovene territory where Cadorna sacrificed thousands of soldiers in futile attempts to advance toward Ljubljana and Triest. The Austrians, who were better equipped, preferred to preserve their forces. The Italian generals, in an attempt to make up for their poor equipment, committed the Italians to frontal assualts, resulting in massive casualties.

If one compares the number of dead Italians and the number of dead Austrians, the one sided-ness of the proportion highlights the high cost to this limited victory. In addition, like all other battles on the Isonzo, there were many missing soldiers, victims of the superior Austrian artillery.