other battles?

[armourersergeant]

just a general question really but any feed back appreciated

Was the war in Italy a mountanious type of warfare and thus a limited type of engaement, or a more sweeping western front type of action with massed armies. What was the volume of troops involved from both sides?

Not knowing much about this part of the war my only recollections are of some old war films from the thirties showing high mountains and windey roads which leads me to think that it was a peicemeal war where the junior commander would excel and not the army general.

I have looked at this site but it doesn't seem to answer my question. The impression i get is that it was fairly static like the western front with lots of battles being fought in the same area, but more on the smaller scale.

Arm.

[Greenwoodman]

Bit of each, Arm, really. When the British Divisions went out in 1917, they mainly operated on the edge of the mountain massif just north of where it dropped to the N Italian Plain. What was feared was that any further advance by the Central powers would cause the loss of Venice. So the line was held at the Piave river, and across the southern edge of the mountains. The Asiago plateau (where the British Divisions were in early 1918) is about three miles from a precipitous 4,000 feet drop to the Plain below. A fairly hefty shove would have pushed the Allies off, and such an attempt was made 15 June 1918 against 48th and 23rd Divisions (plus French and Italian formations) holding the line. The Austrians made inroads against both Divisions, but counter-attacks were successful.

Attacks were made at the same time against Italian formations on the plain below, but the line held there as well.

The line on the Piave was created by the Austrian victory at Capporetto, where they pushed the Italians back from the River Isonzo across the plain to the Piave. There had been a great deal of fighting in mountainous country around the Isonzo before that. The Wilkes book on "The British Army in Italy 1917-1918" gives a good outline of the war in Italy, and a detailed account of the British contribution.

But the Piave line and mountain lines were a continuously held set of defences. The British Divisions operated in the mountains like they did on the WF, rotating in and out of the line. 11th Sherwood Foresters for instance on the San Sisto ridge on 15 June 1918 held trenches carved out of rock. A collection of sangars was occupied by the support troops. All accessed through switch line trenches. Home from home really for the WF-experienced, but a lot quieter. And they had to get used to Italian red - hard life! Well worth a visit - the cemeteries in the pine forests in the still mountain air have an atmosphere all of their own.

[Chris_Baker]

Seen this? The Italy campaign

[armourersergeant]

thanks for the info guys

Arm.

[Theo]

Norman Gladden wrote a memoir of his experiences in this campaign, entitled 'Across the Piave'. Probably not easy to find but I enjoyed the book. Also, a novel called 'Sardinian Brigade' by an Italian writer called Emilio Lucci (?) not 100% on the name, was republished a year or so back. It deals with the campaign in that part of the world and is superb in my opinion. A bit of an Italian Remarque.

Theo