Battle of Caporetto

Battle of Caporetto
Part of the Italian Front (World War I)

Battle of Caporetto and Italian retreat.
Date 24 October – 19 November 1917
Location Kobarid (Caporetto), Matajur, Kolovrat Range, Slovenia
Result Decisive Central Powers victory
Belligerents
 German Empire
 Austria-Hungary		  Italy
Commanders and leaders
Otto von Below
Svetozar Boroević		 Luigi Cadorna
Luigi Capello
Strength
400,000 soldiers
2,213 artillery		 856,000 soldiers
2,200 artillery
Casualties and losses
20,000 dead and wounded 13,000 dead,
30,000 wounded,
350,000 deserters,
265,000 captured
Total
658,000 casualties

The Battle of Caporetto (also known as the Twelfth Battle of the Isonzo or the Battle of Karfreit as it was known by the Central Powers; Slovene: Čudež pri Kobaridu), took place from 24 October to 19 November 1917, near the town of Kobarid (now in Slovenia), on the Austro-Italian front of World War I. The battle was named after the Italian name of the town of Kobarid (known as Karfreit in German).

Austro-Hungarian forces, reinforced by German units, were able to break into the Italian front line and rout the Italian army, which had practically no mobile reserves. The battle was a demonstration of the effectiveness of the use of stormtroopers and the infiltration tactics developed in part by Oskar von Hutier. The use of poison gas by the Germans played a key role in the collapse of the Italian Second Army.[1]

Contents

Battle

The German offensive began at approximately 02:00 on 24 October 1917. Due to the inclement weather that morning, particularly the mist,[2] the Italians were caught by complete surprise. The battle opened with a German artillery barrage, poison gas, and smoke, and was followed by an all-out assault against the Italian lines.[3] The Italians had primitive gas masks, gave no counter fire and had given the Germans all the weather information they needed over their radio.[4] The defensive line of the Italian Second Army was breached almost immediately. The German forces made extensive use of flamethrowers and hand grenades as a part of their infiltration tactics, and were able to tear gaping holes in the Italian line, especially in the Italian strongholds on Mount Matajur and the Kolovrat Range. By the end of the first night, von Below's men had advanced a remarkable 25 km (16 mi). German and Austro-Hungarian attacks from either side of von Below's central column were less effective, however. The Italian Army had been able to repel the majority of these attacks, but the success of von Below's central thrust threw the entire Italian Army into disarray. Forces had to be moved along the Italian front in an attempt to stem von Below's breakout, but this only weakened other points along the line and invited further attacks. At this point, the entire Italian position on the Tagliamento River was under threat.

2nd army commander Luigi Capello was Italy's best general but was bedridden with fever while still retaining command. Realizing his forces were ill-prepared for this attack and were being routed, Capello requested permission to withdraw back to the Tagliamento. He was overruled by Cadorna, however, who believed that the Italian force could regroup and hold out against the attackers. Finally, on 30 October, Cadorna ordered the majority of the Italian force to retreat to the other side of the river. It took the Italians four full days to cross the river, and by this time the German and Austro-Hungarian armies were on their heels. By 2 November, a German division had established a bridgehead on the Tagliamento. About this time, however, the rapid success of the attack caught up with them. The German and Austro-Hungarian supply lines were stretched to breaking point, and as a result, they were not able to launch another concerted attack. Cadorna took advantage of this to retreat further, and by 10 November had established a position on the Piave River.[2]

Italian Army Order of Battle

ITALIAN 2ndARMY (Lt. General Luigi Capello)

IV Corps (tenente generale Alberto Cavaciocchi)

XXVII Corps (Lt.General Pietro Badoglio)

XXIV Corps (Lt.General Enrico Caviglia)

II Corps (Maj.General Alberico Albricci)

VI Corps (Lt.General Giacomo Lombardi)

VIII Corps (Maj.General Francesco Grazioli)

Deployed in second line :

VII Corps (Maj.General Luigi Bongiovanni)

XIV Corps (Lt.General Sagramoso) – ARMY RESERVE

XXVIII Corps (Maj.General Saporiti) – ARMY RESERVE

GHQ RESERVES

Austro-Hungarian and German Armies Order of Battle

AUSTRIAN-HUNGARIAN 14th ARMY (General otto v.Below)

Austrian-Hungarian I Corps (Group Krauss -General Alfred Krauß)

3rd Austrian-Hungarian Infantry Division “Edelweiss” (Maj.General v.Wieden)

22nd Austrian-Hungarian Schützen Division (Maj.General Müller)

55th Austrian-Hungarian Infantry Division (Maj.General Prince von Schwarzemberg)

German Jäger Division (Colonel von Wodkte)

III Bavarian Corps (Group Stein – Lt.General Hermann Freiherr von Stein)

50th Austrian-Hungarian Infantry Division (Maj.General Gerabek)

12th German Infantry Division (Maj.General Lequis)

117th German Infantry Division (Maj.General von Seydel)

German Mountain Corps (Alpenkorps) (Maj.General von Tutschenk)

LI German Corps (Group Berrer – Lt.General Albert von Berrer)

26th German Infantry Division (1st Württemberg) (Maj.General von Hosacker)

200th German Infantry Division (Maj.General von Below)

XV Austrian-Hungarian Corps (Group Scotti - FML Karl Scotti)

1st Austrian-Hungarian Infantry Division (FML Metzger)

5th German Infantry Division (Maj.General von Wedel)

Army Reserve

4th Austrian-Hungarian Infantry Division (FML Pfeffer von Ehrenstein)

13th Austrian-Hungarian Schützen Division (FML von Kalser)

33rd Austrian-Hungarian Infantry Division (Maj.General Iwansky von Iwanina)

Later reinforcements to the 14nd Army

35th Austrian-Hungarian Infantry Division (FML von Podhoransky) (from 2nd Army)

94th Austrian-Hungarian Infantry Division (FML von Lawrowski)

AUSTRIAN-HUNGARIAN 2nd ARMY (FML Ferdinand Kosakć)

60th Austrian-Hungarian infantry Division (FML Goiginger)

35th Austrian-Hungarian infantry Division (FML von Podhoránszky) (later to 14th Army)

57th Austrian-Hungarian infantry Division (Maj*General von Hrozny)

Failures of German Logistics

Even before the battle, Germany was struggling to feed and supply its armies in the field. Erwin Rommel, who, as a junior officer, won the Pour le Mérite for his exploits in the battle, often bemoaned the demands placed upon his "poorly fed troops".[5] The Allied blockade of the German Empire, which the Kaiserliche Marine had been unable to break, was responsible for food shortages and widespread malnutrition in Germany and allied countries. When inadequate provisioning was combined with the gruelling night marches preceding the battle of Caporetto (Kobarid), a heavy toll was extracted from the German and Austro-Hungarian forces. Despite these logistical problems, the initial assault was extremely successful. However, as the area controlled by the combined Central Powers forces expanded, an already limited logistical capacity was overstrained. By the time the attack reached the Piave, the soldiers of the Central Powers were running low on supplies and were feeling the physical effects of exhaustion.[5] As the Italians began to counter the pressure put on them by the Central Powers, the German forces lost all momentum and were once again caught up in another round of attrition warfare.

Aftermath

Italian losses were enormous: 11,000 were killed, 20,000 wounded and 265,000 were taken prisoner – morale was so low among the Italian troops, mainly due to Cadorna's harsh disciplinary regime, that most of these surrendered willingly. Furthermore, roughly 3,000 guns, 3,000 machine guns and 2,000 mortars were captured, along with an untold amount of stores and equipment.[6] Rommel then an Oberleutnant, captured 1,500 men and 43 officers with just 3 riflemen and 2 officers to help.[4] In addition, a large number of Italian soldiers deserted the army following the battle. Austria-Hungarian and German forces advanced more than 100 km (62 mi) in the direction of Venice, but they were not able to cross the Piave River. Although to this point the Italians had been left to fight on their own, after Kobarid (Caporetto) they were reinforced by six French infantry divisions and five British infantry divisions as well as sizeable air contingents. However, these troops played no role in stemming the advancing Germans and Austro-Hungarians, because they were deployed on the Mincio River, some 60 miles behind the Piave, as the British and French strategists did not believe the Piave line could be held. The Piave served as a natural barrier where the Italians could establish a new defensive line, which was held during the subsequent Battle of the Piave River and later served as springboard for the Battle of Vittorio Veneto, where the Austro-Hungarian army was finally defeated after 4 days of stiff resistance.

The battle led to the conference at Rapallo and the creation of a Supreme War Council, with the aim of improving Allied military co-operation and developing a unified strategy.[6]

Luigi Cadorna was forced to resign after the defeat. The defeat alone was not the sole cause, but rather the breaking point for an accumulation of failures, as perceived by the Italian Prime Minister, Vittorio Emanuele Orlando. Throughout much of his command, including at Kobarid (Caporetto), Cadorna was known to have maintained poor relations with the other generals on his staff.[7] By the start of the battle he had sacked 217 generals, 255 colonels and 355 battalion commanders.[8] In addition, he was detested by his troops as being too harsh.[9] He was replaced by Armando Diaz and Pietro Badoglio. He had already been directing the battle 20 miles behind before fleeing another 100 miles to Padua.

This led governments to the realization that fear alone could not adequately motivate a modern army. After the defeat at Kobarid (Caporetto), Italian propaganda offices were established, promising land and social justice to soldiers. Italy also accepted a more cautious military strategy from this point on. Just one fifth of the total 650,000 Italian casualties during the war occurred after Kobarid (Caporetto), a marked improvement.

After this battle, the term "Caporetto" gained a particular resonance in Italy. It is used to denote a terrible defeat – the failed General Strike of 1922 by the socialists was referred to by Mussolini as the "Caporetto of Italian Socialism". Many years after the war, Caporetto was still being used to destroy the credibility of the liberal state.[7]

Popular culture

The Battle of Caporetto has been the subject of a number of books. The Swedish author F.J. Nordstedt (e.g. Christian Braw) wrote about the battle in his novel Caporetto. The bloody aftermath of Caporetto was vividly described by Ernest Hemingway in his novel A Farewell to Arms.

References

  1. ^ Seth, Ronald (1965). Caporetto: The Scapegoat Battle. Macdonald. p. 147
  2. ^ a b Stearns, Peter; Langer, William (2001). The Encyclopedia of World History (6th ed.). Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. p. 669. ISBN 0395652375. 
  3. ^ Dupuy & Dupuy (1970), p. 971
  4. ^ a b Geoffrey Regan, More Military Blunders, page 161
  5. ^ a b Macksey, Kenneth (1997). Rommel: Battles and Campaigns. Da Capo Press. pp. 224. ISBN 0306807866. 
  6. ^ a b Simkins, Peter; Jukes, Geoffrey; Hickey, Michael (2003). The First World War. Osprey Publishing. pp. 352. ISBN 1841767387. 
  7. ^ a b Townley, Edward (2002). Collier, Martin. ed. Mussolini and Italy. Heinemann. p. 16. ISBN 0435327259. 
  8. ^ Geoffrey Regan, More Military Blunders, page 160
  9. ^ Morselli, Mario (2001). Caporetto, 1917: Victory Or Defeat?. Routledge. p. 133. ISBN 0714650730. 

Further reading

External links