Fourth Battle of the Isonzo
Brief Italian offensive on the Isonzo front in late 1915.
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The Fourth Battle of the Isonzo, from 10 November to 2 December 1915, was a short follow-up to the third. Italy’s Second Army captured hills near Gorizia, while the Third Army’s larger assaults gained little. Fighting peaked in late November, then faded into skirmishes before cold and supply shortages ended operations.
Overview
The Fourth Battle of the Isonzo was a short offensive, seen as an extension of the third. The Italian Second Army, targeting Gorizia, seized the high ground around Oslavia and San Floriano del Collio, which gave them a view of the Soča River and the town. Meanwhile, the Italian Third Army, covering the rest of the front to the sea, carried out several large assaults that achieved nothing. Five separate attempts to take Mount Sei Busi failed.
The fighting grew more intense until late November, when the Tolmin bridgehead suffered heavy shelling and losses hit their peak. By early December, the battle had shrunk to minor skirmishes. An informal truce took hold on the Karst Plateau as the weather turned cold, and operations stopped due to supply shortages. The Austro-Hungarian command, alarmed by its heavy casualties, asked the German Empire for help, which later entered the Italian Front during the eleventh battle of the Isonzo.
More in Military History of Italy During World War I
Sources
Compiled from Wikipedia and the sources listed below. Text from Wikipedia is available under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is adapted from it.
- Wikipedia: Fourth Battle of the Isonzo (CC BY-SA 4.0).
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