Second Battle of the Piave River

Background

Emperor Karl, with support from chief of staff Arthur Arz von Straußenburg and South Tyrolean Army Group commander Conrad von Hötzendorf, agreed to a new offensive. The Central Powers defeated Italy at Caporetto in autumn 1917, forcing the Italians back to the Piave River. France and Britain sent reinforcements, though these accounted for less than a tenth of Italian forces and were largely redirected to the Western Front after the German spring offensive began on 21 March 1918.

Battle

Diaz learned the Austro-Hungarian attack would begin at 3:00 a.m. on 15 June, so at 2:30 a.m. Italian artillery opened fire along the entire front, inflicting heavy casualties.

In some sectors the barrage delayed or stopped the attack, but on most of the front the assault proceeded. Boroević launched the first assault south along the Adriatic coast and the middle Piave. Austro-Hungarians crossed the river and gained a bridgehead 15 miles wide and 5 miles deep under heavy Italian resistance before Boroević was stopped and ordered a retreat.

Japanese writer Harukichi Shimoi recounted seeing many dead and wounded. Boroević renewed the assault in subsequent days, but artillery destroyed many bridges, leaving units on the west bank isolated and easy targets; many soldiers drowned trying to reach the east bank. On 19 June, Diaz counterattacked and hit Boroević in the flank, causing heavy casualties. Meanwhile, Conrad attacked on the Asiago Plateau on 15 June, aiming for Vicenza.

His forces gained some ground but met stiff resistance from Italian units stationed from Mount Zovetto and Mount Lemerle to the Tre Monti. Mount Zovetto hosted Italian and Scottish positions connected by tunnels. Conrad’s sector added 40,000 casualties to the Austro-Hungarian total. Boroević later criticized Conrad for continuing assaults with diminished strength instead of sending reinforcements to the Piave.

Aftermath

Crossing the river would also create the same logistic problems the Austro-Hungarians faced. Only limited actions followed to gain better starting positions. The battle was Austria-Hungary's last great offensive; its failure struck a major blow to army morale and cohesion, and had political repercussions. It signaled the beginning of the end of the army as an effective fighting force and foretold the empire's internal collapse, finalized at Vittorio Veneto four months later.

The army resisted for four days from 24 to 28 October during the Allied offensive but collapsed when word of the empire's disintegration reached the troops. The battle also damaged German strategy for a separate peace with Italy and concentration on the Western Front. Ludendorff wrote that the unsuccessful attack was extremely painful and that he could no longer hope for relief in Italy. Conrad was dismissed from military service on 15 July as a result of the defeat.

In popular culture

Two mottos from the battle are preserved on wall fragments in the military shrine of Fagarè della Battaglia: 'E' meglio vivere un giorno da leone che cent'anni da pecora' and 'Tutti eroi! O il Piave o tutti accoppati'. The poet Gabriele D'Annunzio coined the name 'Battle of the Solstice' and on 9 August 1918 conducted a flight over Vienna dropping leaflets praising the Italian victory. American ambulance driver Ernest Hemingway was wounded on 8 July by an Austrian mortar attack; fragments entered his lower extremities, and two Italian soldiers with him were killed.

The 1932 film adaptation of Hemingway's A Farewell to Arms shows Frederic Henry wounded in the leg at this battle. The battle appears in Andrew Krivak's novel The Sojourn and in André Aciman's novel Call Me by Your Name and its film adaptation, where a scene overlooks a memorial in Pandino; the film states 170,000 died. Pope Francis mentioned in June 2022 that one of his grandfathers participated in an experience on the Piave River during World War I. The first-person tactical shooter Isonzo includes maps 'Piave', 'Montello', and 'Moschin' based on the battles.