Roberto Brusati

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For no reason, the troops will have to let themselves be dragged by resistance on advanced positions, but any retreat will have to be done promptly so that troops remain efficient to defend the main line. [10]

In open disagreement with Cadorna, Brusati ordered the exact opposite, [10] arranging the indefinite defense of the advanced positions, counting on the solidity of the strengthening works carried out up to then. [11] In addition, on April 1, the Royal Italian Army went on the offensive again, launching assaults that achieved some decisive but partial successes. [11]

On April 6, Brusati confirmed to the Supreme Command that they certainly give a very significant concentration of artillery and roadways in the region of the highlands. [12] This concentration appeared in smaller proportions in the Lagarina and Sugana valleys. [12] The deployment of the Italian troops continued, however the Italian forces became an easy target of the Austrian artillery while the stronger defensive positions behind it remained abandoned. [5] Brusati believed in the immediacy of the Austrian offensive, so much so that on March 22, he renewed the requests to receive further reinforcements, motivating them with the fact that the enemy offensive would be unleashed within a few days, but Cadorna replied curtly that he already had enough troops at his disposal. [7]

Hötzendorf's offensive

In the second half of April, General Cadorna visited the lines of the 1st Army, and became aware of the exposure of the Italian lines to a possible enemy offensive. Fearing that the entire deployment of the Army would be in crisis, he didn't feel like ordering the retreat of the troops from the forward positions to those behind. Cadorna, not satisfied with the use of reinforcements already granted, and not convinced of the need to grant others, on May 8, [13] exempted Brusati from command, replacing him with the general Count Guglielmo Pecori Giraldi. [1] [14] [15] Still on May 14, Cadorna, in a confidential letter written to General Ugo Brusati, Adjutant of the Field of the King, protested Roberto's dismissal with the fact that he didn't believe in the imminent Austrian offensive. [16] A few hours later however, Ugo was blatantly denied. [16]

In the afternoon of the same day the Austro-Hungarian artillery opened an intense blank fire on the Italian lines, firing at the same time on an arch that went from Dos Cassina to Col San Giovanni. [17] At the dawn on May 15, the Austro-Hungarian troops went on the offensive, easily overwhelming the advanced positions of the 1st Army and the troops deployed there in Val Lagarina, Monte Maronia and at Val d'Astico. [17] [18] The enemy troops swept towards the Venetian plain, and it took four weeks of dramatic and uncertain fighting for Cadorna to be able to stop them, bringing in huge reinforcements from the Isonzo River. [18] Faced with public unrest, and while the battle was in full swing, the government and the Supreme Command sought the scapegoat. On May 25, [13] a press release from the Stefani agency announced, with unusual relief, that the Council of Ministers had placed General Brusati at rest with the Lieutenancy Decree of May 25, 1916. [13] [14] It was a very serious provision, omitting that the exemption took place a week before the enemy attack. [13] In addition, Cadorna Court-martialed Brusati on charges of treason, based on Chapter 1, Article 72, Paragraph 7 of the Military Criminal Code in time of war. [14] However while the Court-Martial never met, [14] public opinion was led to believe that Brusati had serious faults in the Army and was the subject of a smear campaign, which neither the government, nor the Supreme Command intervened to stop. [13] There were even rumors that his son was fighting within the Austro-Hungarian Army. [19] The police could no longer guarantee his safety and he had to go into hiding. [13] Considering himself a victim, he closed himself in indignant silence, so as not to disturb the national war effort.

After the War

After the war, Roberto requested for full justice to be done. [13] On September 2, 1919, the Commission chaired by Admiral Felice Napoleone Canevaro [20] absolved him of all charges, revoking the retirement of authority, and re-admitting him to service with retroactive effect from 1916. [1] [14] [20] Having reached the age limit, however, he was placed in the reserves. This measure did not satisfy him as he would have wanted a solemn reparation of the wrong suffered amidst so much clamor. In addition, if the recall to service canceled the retirement, he did not remove the torpedo received by Cadorna. However, at that time public opinion was unwilling to criticize and without qualms about the war, nor did he want to write a controversial publication, even though he continued to collect material in defense of him. The advent of fascism gave him new hope. On November 3, 1922, General Armando Diaz granted him the War Merit Cross which was one of his first acts as the new Minister of War and immediately promoting Brusati to the rank of General of the Army. The subsequent promotion to Marshal of Italy of Cadorna possibly meant the definitive renunciation of any possible re-examination. In 1926 he was retired for seniority and retired from being a senator in 1936. [3] He died in Santa Margherita Ligure on November 23, 1935.

Awards

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References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani (in Italian). Rome: Istituto dell'Enciclopedia Italiana. 1960–2020. ISBN   978-8-81200032-6.
  2. ↑ Paolo Gaspari, Paolo Pozzato: I generali italiani della Grande Guerra. Atlante biografico Volume 1 A–B. p. 155.
  3. 1 2 "Brusati Roberto" (in Italian). Senatori d’Italia. Retrieved August 21, 2021.
  4. 1 2 Cadorna 1921, p. 100.
  5. 1 2 3 4 Thompson 2010, p. 176.
  6. ↑ Cadorna 1921, p. 131.
  7. 1 2 Thompson 2010, p. 175.
  8. ↑ Ferrari, Massignani 2010, p. 238.
  9. ↑ degli Azzoni Avogadro 2010, p. 18.
  10. 1 2 Gaspari 2011, p. 50.
  11. 1 2 Gaspari 2011, p. 49.
  12. 1 2 Cadorna 1921, p. 194.
  13. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Thompson 2010, p. 177.
  14. 1 2 3 4 5 Frassati 1979, p. 183.
  15. ↑ degli Azzoni Avogadro 2010, p. 58.
  16. 1 2 Frassati 1979, p. 185.
  17. 1 2 Cadorna 1921, p. 208.
  18. 1 2 Thompson 2010, p. 178.
  19. ↑ Paolo Gaspari, Paolo Pozzato: I generali italiani della Grande Guerra. Atlante biografico Volume 1 A–B. S. 155–156.
  20. 1 2 Frassati 1979, p. 184.
  21. ↑ Bollettino ufficiale delle nomine, promozioni e destinazioni negli ufficiali e sottufficiali del R. esercito italiano e nel personale dell'amministrazione militare (in Italian). 1922. p. 2695. Retrieved September 14, 2019.

Bibliography

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  • Luigi Cadorna (1921). Fratelli Treves editori (ed.). La guerra alla fronte italiana. Vol. 1. Milan.
  • Luciano degli Azzoni Avogadro; Gherardo degli Azzoni Avogadro Malvasia (2011). Gaspari editore (ed.). L'amico del re. Il diario di guerra inedito di Francesco degli Azzoni Avogadro, aiutante di campo del Re Vol.2 (1916). Udine. ISBN   978-88-7541-234-0.
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  • Mark Thompson (2009). Il Saggiatore s.p.a. (ed.). La guerra bianca. Vita e morte sul fronte italiano 1915-1919. Milan. ISBN   978-88-6576-008-6.
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Roberto Brusati
OSML OCI
Roberto Brusati 02.jpg
Senator of the Kingdom of Italy
In office
22 March 1915 –c. 1932