Battle of Mount Ortigara

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Battle of Mount Ortigara
Part of the Italian Front of the First World War
Monte Ortigara.JPG
Mount Ortigara summit
Date10–25 June 1917
Location
Southern Trentino, present-day Italy
46°0′36.000″N11°31′18.998″E / 46.01000000°N 11.52194389°E / 46.01000000; 11.52194389
Result Austro-Hungarian victory [1]
Belligerents
Flag of Italy (1861-1946) crowned.svg  Italy Flag of Austria-Hungary (1867-1918).svg Austria-Hungary
Commanders and leaders
Flag of Italy (1861-1946) crowned.svg Luigi Cadorna
Flag of Italy (1861-1946) crowned.svg Ettore Mambretti
Flag of Austria-Hungary (1867-1918).svg Arthur Arz von Straussenburg
Flag of Austria-Hungary (1867-1918).svg Viktor Graf von Scheuchenstuel
Units involved
Flag of Italy (1861-1946) crowned.svg 6th Army Flag of Austria-Hungary (1867-1918).svg 11th Army
Strength
300,000
1,600 guns
100,000
500 guns
Casualties and losses
23,000 dead or wounded 9,000 dead or wounded
Italy relief location map.jpg
Red pog.svg
Location within Italy

The Battle of Mount Ortigara was fought from 10 to 25 June 1917 between the Italian and Austro-Hungarian armies for possession of Mount Ortigara, in the Asiago Plateau.

Contents

Battle

The attack began on 10 June and after fierce and bloody fighting, the Italian 52nd Alpine Division managed to capture the top of Mount Ortigara.

The Austro-Hungarian command promptly sent many trained reinforcements. On 25 June, the 11 Italian battalions guarding the summit were attacked by Austro-Hungarian shock troops which retook it, the strenuous Italian resistance notwithstanding.

The 52nd Division alone suffered about half the Italian casualties. General Ettore Mambretti, commander of the Sixth Army, was considered responsible for the heavy casualties and removed from command.

A letter from a young soldier, written on the eve of the battle, is part of the museum of the Asiago War Memorial. [2] Adolfo Ferrero wrote this letter to his family shortly before dying in combat, and the letter was later discovered in the personal effects of his page, whose body was exhumed from Mount Ortigara in the 1950s. [2] [3]

Notes

  1. Gooch (2014), p. 222
  2. 1 2 "Sacrario militare di Asiago-Leiten e museo del Sacrario" (in Italian). Itinerari della Grande Guerra. Retrieved 24 April 2013.
  3. "Il Sacrario Militare" (in Italian). la radio dell'Altopiano 7 Comuni. Archived from the original on 14 October 2013. Retrieved 24 April 2013.

References