The Battles of Monte Grappa
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The Battles of Monte Grappa Overview of the four battles fought by the Italian Army during the Great War 13th November 1917 – 30th October 1918 Rough translation by Susan Fortescue & Martin Willoughby April 2020 1 Sketch map of the road network in the Grappa massif 2 3 The Battles of Monte Grappa Overview of the four battles fought by the Italian Army during the War of 1915-1918 There were four fierce battles on Monte Grappa from 11th November 1917 to 30th October 1918. General Cadorna arrived on Monte Grappa for the first time on 7th October 1917. He was able to hold out against the occupation of Monte Grappa in 1917 due to the disagreements that existed between Marshal Krauss and his collaborators. General Krauss wanted to force an entry to the valleys as he had done at Caporetto, that is, focus on the valleys of the River Piave and the River Brenta, and head directly towards Venice and Bassano Vicenza. His colleagues thought it would be easier to capture the mountain ridges, so the orders of Krauss were badly executed, and the forces, which were equal in strength, consisting of 11 Austro-Hungarian divisions against 11 Italian divisions, were dispersed, without concentrating the forces in just one or two areas, that is the valleys of the Brenta and the Piave. (The Piave in particular had a very easy outlet towards the Venetian plain). Defensive Battle 1st phase 14th -27th November 1917 When the Austro-Hungarians attacked Monte Grappa on 13th November 1917, there were only tracks for lorries and carts, 2 cable railways, 1 water pumping plant at the summit, and trenches and fences on the slope leading down to the River Brenta. The road to Romano for lorries had not been completed. The first work on the mountain ridges began on 12th November 1917. No strongholds, no trenches, fences, shelters, caves, machine gun emplacements, walkways, or camouflage (thus writes General Clemente Assum in his book ‘The First Defence of the Grappa’ in 1924. The mountain was ‘naked’. On 10th November 1917, in rain and snow, a few battalions of Alpini arrived, drawn from the Cadore 9th Army Corps. They were poorly supplied with arms, food and blankets. For several days they had only dry rations, sleeping on the bare ground with just one blanket at an altitude of 1400 – 1600 metres. Monte Tomatico and Monte Roncone 11th -15th November 1917 The Alpini of the Val Tagliamento Battalion stoutly defended these areas, having retreated from Fonsaso on 11th November. They fought on Monte Roncone from 12th to 15th November. Monte Tomatico fell on November 15th. The Val Cismon (awarded the Bronze Medal for Military Valour) and the Alpini of the Val Tagliamento Battalion were surrounded and the majority were captured, while the remaining troops retreated to Monte Prassolan. Officers: 2 dead, 2 wounded, 24 missing Men: 27 dead, 52 wounded, 552 missing 4 Prassolan – Peurna 17th – 23rd November 1917 Prassolan and Peurna fell on 16th November. The 1st and 2nd Battalions of the 145th Trapani Infantry Brigade fought there. Pertica 17th November 1917 During the afternoon of November 16th, if the enemy had attacked the summit of Monte Grappa from the direction of Monte Pertica they would have been able to occupy it even if they only used a single inexperienced Battalion because in that sector and at that time there were very few men defending the summit. However the enemy did not attack. On November 17th, after the fall of Monte Prassolan, Monte Pertica was attacked. It was defended by the 1st Battalion of the 149th Infantry. Monte Pertica fell on 23rd November despite 6 bloody attacks during which the summit was lost and recaptured 7 times. During the defence of Monte Pertica and of Cà Tasson the Monte Rosa Alpine Battalion acquitted themselves with great valour. Monte Pertico was lost during the evening of November 23rd after having been attacked 18 times and the summit passed from one side to the other repeatedly. On November 23rd the summit remained neutral because it was being attacked so fiercely by the artillery of both sides. During these engagements the 149th Infantry lost: Officers: 5 dead, 11 wounded, 37 missing Men: 88 dead, 219 wounded, 975 missing Monte Pertica was recaptured, and then lost by the Assault Troops of the 251st and 252nd Massa Carrara on November 22nd. Chronology of the attacks on Monte Pertica from 17th – 26th November 1917 17th – Ist enemy attack on Monte Pertica is repelled by the Ist Battalion of the 149th, and the Monte Rosa Battalion at 19:00. 2nd assault by the enemy at 24:00, suffers the same fate, is repelled by the same Divisions. 18th - 3rd assault from 21:00 to 24:00, fighting takes place but the positions remain unchanged. 19th - 4th assault, after 5 hours of fighting the 1st and 3rd Battalions of the 149th and the 134th Company of the Monte Rosa Battalion do not yield. 20th - 5th, 6th, 7th, three new assaults by the enemy are again repelled by our soldiers with the enemy suffering heavy losses. 21st - 8th, 9th, 10th: three more assaults by the enemy at 03:00, 16:00 and 21:00 are all repelled. 22nd - 11th, 12th, during the second attack the 134th Monte Rosa Company is overwhelmed and abandons the summit of Monte Pertica which is recaptured by the 3rd Battalion of the 263rd Infantry and the 2nd Battalion of the 93rd Infantry. 23rd - 13:00: within a few hours the summit of Monte Pertica is lost and recaptured 7 times, finally remaining in the possession of the enemy while our forces take up position a little below the summit. 24th - 14:00: another enemy attack from Val Cesilla, to surround Monte Pertica, fails. 5 Austrian Attack on the Col della Beretta 6 Austrian attacks in the Asolone sector during December 1917 7 26th - 15:00: the Edelweiss Division launches an assault from Val Cesilla but is repelled by the 5th and 6th Infantry of the Aosta Brigade, the 94th Messina Brigade and the Val Brenta Alpine Battalion. Col della Beretta, Col Caprile 26th November 1917 After the fall of Monte Pertica, came the defence of the Col della Beretta and Col Caprile. The Massa Carrara Brigade lost 41 officers and 1100 men while saving the Asolone front. On 26th November the Col della Beretta was attacked by the 3rd Edelweiss Regiment, breaching our front in several places but it was overcome and repelled after hours of desperate fighting. It was defended by the 2nd Battalion of the 5th Aosta Infantry Brigade, the 7th Company of the 6th, two platoons of the Val Brenta Alpine Battalion and a Battalion of the 94th Infantry. Due to this action the main battle front was saved. 2nd phase of the battle 11th and 12th December 1917 Col della Beretta 5th December 1917 It was defended by the 57th and 58th Infantry, which had arrived there on December 5th. On 11th, 12th and 13th December the enemy, using the entire 4th Austro-Hungarian Army Division, launched a violent attack on the positions which our Infantry stoutly defended, repelling the assailants several times, but in the end, due to the powerful pressure of the enemy, the forces were obliged to yield and to abandon the Col della Beretta after losing about 2200 men including 70 officers, killed, wounded or taken prisoner. December 16th – the Modena 41st and 42nd Infantry Brigade waged fierce battles to recapture Col Caprile, Col della Beretta and Asolone. On December 18th it repelled a fierce enemy counter-attack on Asolone but then, overwhelmed by the enemy, it had to retreat, losing Officers: 6 dead, 21 wounded, 49 missing Men: 183 dead, 655 wounded, 1694 missing December 14th -18th: relentless attacks by the enemy, constant barrages and gas over the entire front, the enemy Infantry are driven away from Col della Beretta. They return to the attack and set foot on Col Caprile which is held by the enemy, and on Asolone, most of which they then lose. On December 20th Asolone is recaptured after 7 counter-attacks. The 5th Regiment was awarded the Gold Medal for Military Valour. 2nd defensive battle 1st phase 15th June to 6th July 1918 Battle of the Solstice The enemy plan was to surround the summit of Monte Grappa, and from there to descend to the plain. 8 4 Divisions were to fight on Monte Pertica, Asolone and Col Moschin, and another 4 Divisions were to take possession of the slopes of Solarolo and adjacent sectors thus blocking access to Val Calcino and enabling the capture of Monte Tomba and Monfenera. The enemy artillery began firing at 03:00 on June 15th and by 06:30 it was intense. Galleria (Tunnel) Vittorio Emanuele III It was begun on 1st January 1918. 600 soldiers specialised in mining worked on it until 1st August 1918 with 8 drilling machines and 8 sledgehammers. Every day 3.30 metres of rock were excavated. It is 2 km long, 4.5 km if the side tunnels are included. Engineer Gavotti directed the project. It consists of a central tunnel, with branches leading off, on the edges of which are 103 loopholes with views of the various slopes of the mountain, armed with cannon, machine guns and searchlights. It was these loopholes that halted the enemy offensive on 15th June 1918. Col del Miglio, Fenilon, Col Moschin At 07:00 a column of the enemy’s 27th Division, under cover of the fog, overwhelmed the defences of the 59th Infantry (Calabria Brigade), located on Col del Miglio, capturing the Fenilon then cutting off and occupying Col Moschino which was defended by the 57th Infantry (Abruzzi) and the 33rd – 34th Infantry (Livorno).