Seventh Battle of the Isonzo

Seventh Battle of the Isonzo
Part of the Italian Front
(First World War)

Italian troops with a captured Austrian machine gun
Date14 – 17 September 1916
Location
Gorizia, Italy
Result Italian tactical victory
Territorial
changes		 Soča River Valley, Slovenia
Belligerents
 Kingdom of Italy  Austria-Hungary
Commanders and leaders
Kingdom of Italy Luigi Cadorna (Chief of Staff of the Italian Army)
Kingdom of Italy Emanuele Filiberto di Savoia (Commander of Third Army)		 Austria-Hungary Archduke Friedrich (Supreme Commander of the Austro-Hungarian Army)
Austria-Hungary Franz Conrad von Hötzendorf (Chief of the General Staff)
Austria-Hungary Svetozar Boroević von Bojna (Commander of Fifth Army)
Strength
240 battalions
1,150 artillery pieces		 150 battalions
770 artillery pieces
Casualties and losses
17,000–21,000 20,000[1]

The Seventh Battle of the Isonzo was fought from September 14–17, 1916 between the armies of the Kingdom of Italy and those of Austria-Hungary. It followed the Italian successes during the Trentino Offensive and the Sixth Battle of the Isonzo in the spring of 1916.[2]

Battle

A short, sharp encounter fought from 14 to 17 September 1916, the Seventh Battle of the Isonzo saw Italian Chief of Staff Luigi Cadorna shift his focus from broad-based diversionary attacks to tightly focused initiatives directed at single targets.[3] This latest Isonzo battle saw the Italian Third Army, with a large amount of artillery, attack on the Carso toward Nova Vas. Following a successful first day, Nova Vas was assaulted on the second day with substantial artillery bombardments on German bunkers. Within minutes of the Italians ceasing fire, the Austro-Hungarian forces surrendered.[4]

Nevertheless, Cadorna's continued offensives along the Soča (Isonzo) did succeed in wearing away at Austro-Hungarian resources, both in terms of manpower and in crucial artillery availability. As each battle proceeded the Italians' war of attrition seemed ever more likely to wear the Austro-Hungarians into defeat, short of assistance from their German allies.

The Eighth Battle of the Isonzo followed on 10 October 1916.[5]

See also

References

  1. ^ "La Grande Guerra 1914 - 1918".
  2. ^ Willmott, H.P. (1994). The Historical Atlas of World War I. Swanston Publishing Limited. ISBN 0-8050-2651-7.
  3. ^ .Schindler, John R. (2001). Isonzo: The Forgotten Sacrifice of the Great War. Praeger. ISBN 0275972046. OCLC 44681903.
  4. ^ Evans, Martin (2003). Forgotten Battlefronts of the First World War. Sutton Publishing Limited. pp. 144–145. ISBN 0-7509-3004-7.
  5. ^ Evans, Martin (2003). Forgotten Battlefronts of the First World War. Sutton Publishing Limited. p. 146. ISBN 0-7509-3004-7.

45°55′59″N 13°36′58″E / 45.9330°N 13.6160°E / 45.9330; 13.6160