The Battle of Doberdò took place near Doberdò del Lago () in August 1916 between armies of

Kingdom of Italy The Kingdom of Italy (, ) was a unitary state that existed from 17 March 1861, when Victor Emmanuel II of Kingdom of Sardinia, Sardinia was proclamation of the Kingdom of Italy, proclaimed King of Italy, until 10 June 1946, when the monarchy wa ...

and

Austria-Hungary Austria-Hungary, also referred to as the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the Dual Monarchy or the Habsburg Monarchy, was a multi-national constitutional monarchy in Central Europe#Before World War I, Central Europe between 1867 and 1918. A military ...

. The Austro-Hungarian army was primarily made up of regiments filled with Hungarians and

Slovenia Slovenia, officially the Republic of Slovenia, is a country in Central Europe. It borders Italy to the west, Austria to the north, Hungary to the northeast, Croatia to the south and southeast, and a short (46.6 km) coastline within the Adriati ...

ns. The battle was a part of the sixth battle of the Isonzo, and occurred in a strategic area of westernmost edge of the Karst Plateau. Italians had already conquered the lowland area surrounding

Monfalcone Monfalcone (; Venetian language#Regional variants, Bisiacco: ; ; ; archaic ) is a town and (municipality) in the Province of Gorizia, Regional decentralization entity of Gorizia in Friuli-Venezia Giulia, northern Italy, located on the Gulf of Tr ...

and Ronchi, and attempted to push over the Karst Plateau to seize control of the major road that linked the city of

Trieste Trieste ( , ; ) is a city and seaport in northeastern Italy. It is the capital and largest city of the Regions of Italy#Autonomous regions with special statute, autonomous region of Friuli-Venezia Giulia, as well as of the Province of Trieste, ...

and its port with

Gorizia Gorizia (; ; , ; ; ) is a town and (municipality) in northeastern Italy, in the autonomous region of Friuli-Venezia Giulia. It is located at the foot of the Julian Alps, bordering Slovenia. It is the capital of the Province of Gorizia, Region ...

. After fierce combat, and sustained heavy casualties, Italian forces forced Austro-Hungarian forces to retreat and captured Gorizia.

Battle

Before the battle, Austro-Hungarians shifted forces from the Izonzo front to other parts of the war. Lack of Austro-Hungarian soldiers in the region resulted in Italian general

Luigi Cadorna Marshal of Italy Luigi Cadorna, (4 September 1850 – 21 December 1928) was an Italian people, Italian general, Marshal of Italy and Count, most famous for being the Chief of Staff of the Italian Army from 1914 until 1917 during World War I ...

deciding to attack the river. Fighting started on 6 August, with Italian forces, led by general Luigi Capello, assaulting Austro-Hungarian positions guarding the main transport road between

Duino Duino (, ) is today a seaside resort on the northern Adriatic Sea, Adriatic coast. It is a ''hamlet (place), hamlet'' of Duino-Aurisina, a municipality (''comune'') of the Friuli–Venezia Giulia region of northeastern Italy. The settlement, pict ...

and

. Seizing the transport road would secure southern approach to Gorizia. Capello drafted a plan to split his forces in half, with one attacking the Austro-Hungarian positions head-on, and the other flanking them to the rear. On morning of 6 August, Austro-Hungarian artillery began shelling Italian infantry as they were approaching. As planned, four divisions of Italian forces began with a frontal assault, which resulted in huge casualties due to heavy machine gun fire. Italians managed to break through the Austro-Hungarian lines with new reinforcements, eventually seizing the village of Doberdò itself. By this time, the Austro-Hungarian forces needed reinforcements desperately in order to prevent further Italian advances. The other portion of the Italian forces commenced their assault from the rear, and started hand-to-hand fighting with heavy losses on both sides. The now-surrounded Austro-Hungarian army was forced into retreat.

Results

Both armies took heavy losses, with roughly 20,000 men killed or missing. Although Italians had secured their objective, their loses were significant, with roughly 5,000 men dead due to frontal assaults on superior enemy defenses and the Austro-Hungarians' use of

chemical weapons A chemical weapon (CW) is a specialized munition that uses chemicals formulated to inflict death or harm on humans. According to the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), this can be any chemical compound intended as ...

. Italian military leaders remained eager to destroy Austro-Hungarian presence in the area, desiring to push to

Ljubljana {{Infobox settlement , name = Ljubljana , official_name = , settlement_type = Capital city , image_skyline = {{multiple image , border = infobox , perrow = 1/2/2/1 , total_widt ...

, while their Austro-Hungarian counterparts desired to preserve their men, as they had to fight against both Italy and Russia, giving them two fronts to fight on. Their desire to preserve their men gave the Austro-Hungarians fewer soldiers to defend their borders with Italy and Russia. The battle was strategically significant for Italy despite the numerous losses on both sides. The Italian army gained territory around a front that stretched 20 kilometers.

Battle

Results

References

Further reading