The Fifth Battle of the Isonzo was a battle which was fought on the Italian front of World War I from 9 to 15 March 1916.
History[]
Since May 1915, the Royal Italian Army had suffered 400,000 losses during its four battles against the Austro-Hungarian Army, bringing the Italian war effort close to collapse. The survivors' morale was shaky, as they lacked weaponry, had been forced to charge en masse into machine-gun defenses, had faced cholera and typhus, were poorly-clothed and poorly-fed, and slept on mud and wet hay. Most of the front line was exposed to Austro-Hungarian counterattacks, and the trenches were of poor quality, as were the Italian soldiers' equipment, such as their near-useless wire cutters, their poor-quality uniforms, their wooden and un-hygenic canteens, and their poor rations (which tasted like gasoline due to their poor stoves). Italian soldiers were banned from entering cafes or pubs during the day and were banned from interacting with civilians, including their fiancees; only alcohol and authorized brothels were available to entertain the Italian soldiers. The 3,000-strong 48th Regiment had been reduced to 700 men after four months in the trenches, with 500 of those men mutinying on 11 December 1915 after they were not given leave. Days later, another regiment mutinied rather than be sent to the front lines, and eight men were sentenced to death and many more to twenty years of hard labor. The Italian Army reinstilled discipline in its ranks, although morale was low.
In March 1916, the Italian front came back to life after French General Joseph Joffre asked for the Russians and Italians to launch offensives on their fronts to relieve the German pressure on Verdun. General Luigi Cadorna moved his fifth offensive on the Isonzo River forward to March of 1916, with promises French artillery support. On 11 March 1916, 1,300 heavy guns began a two-day bombardment of the Austro-Hungarian positions. However, their bombardment was along the whole front, weakening its impact and inflicting fewer losses on the Austrians. On 13 March, the Italian infantry attacked, but snow and ice obstructed the Italian advance into the Julian Alps, and fog reduced the Italians' visibility on the main front. The Italians gained some ground on Monte Sabotino, but Cadorna called off the attack after 1,300 Italian casualties, deciding that he needed more heavy artillery in the future. Austrian Chief-of-Staff Conrad von Hotzendorf decided to turn the tide by launching an offensive against the Italians, preparing for the Battle of Asiago.