The Italian Job 1917

Troops arriving in Italy, but sadly not 2BORDER

The 2nd Battalion of the Border Regiment arrived in Italy in late 1917 as part of an Anglo-French force to prevent Italy being knocked out of the First World War.

Politics

Most countries fought in WW1 due to the domino effect of Austria declaring war on Serbia. Each of their allies  taking sides, one by one. However, Italy joined the war in 1915 against Austria to gain territory, even though Italy had been a member of the Triple Alliance with Germany and Austro-Hungary. That Alliance was, amongst other things, aimed at isolating France.

There was a British internal political-military dispute at the heart of the Campaign. The new Prime Minister, Lloyd George, saw Italy as one of the alternatives to the Western Front, a way to defeat Germany and Austro-Hungary without a repeat of the casualties of the Somme. Like Churchill in 1943 and his  Mediterranean ‘soft under-belly’ plan

France had played a leading role in Italian unification in the 1860s, when Austria was the enemy. France and Italy should therefore have been allies, but France clashed with Italy over  colonial ambitions in North Africa, so despite Austria being an opponent of Italian unification, in 1882 Italy allied itself with their old enemy and formed the Triple Alliance.

Italy was the was the youngest of the western powers. Regaining its historic birthright, in some cases its Roman birthright, led it to seek territory in the Alps and, northern and eastern Adriatic. For many Italians World War One was the chance to complete unification that had started in 1848. At the outbreak of war 1914 the Austrians offered Italy the Italian-speaking territory in the Alps around Trento and Bolzano, in the Tyrol, to remain neutral. In their turn, the French and British offered territory in the Alps; the land bordering the Adriatic, which had a large Italian-speaking population; and a financial subsidy, if the Italians joined them.

Heroic Spring

In Italy there was a groundswell of feeling that War was beneficial to society. Many thought that democracy led to political consensus and muddle. Better to commit to action. The spiritual leader of the war lobby was Gabriele d’Annunzio. He was based in Paris, were he had gone to avoid bankruptcy, from France he promised Italy a “heroic Spring” if it joined the War. One of his quotes was:

“We have no other value but that of our blood to be shed.”

Although the Italian Prime Minister felt that Italy could gain more advantage by remaining neutral, the Allied offers proved too tempting and in 1915 Italy signed the secret Treaty of London, changed sides, and declared war on Austria. A year later Italy declared war on Germany.

Joining the War would cost Italy an enormous loss of life and, when, after the War, the Allies reneged on parts of the Treaty of London, disillusionment with democracy became entrenched. This led to Mussolini and Fascism.

The objectives of the Central Powers towards Italy were clear, they didn’t want to fight Italy. The Western Powers saw Italy as another peripheral front, fronts which in time would include fighting in Palestine, Iraq, the Dardanelles and Salonica. Lloyd George believed that this indirect war would “knock out the props from under Germany.” In fact “the props” Austro-Hungary, Bulgaria and Turkey, were being kept in the War by Germany.

Stalemate

Italy was ill prepared for war in 1915. The army had not performed well in Libya against Turkey in 1912. To make matter worse, apart from the the north-east, their border with Austria ran along the Alps with the Austrians occupying the high ground. The Italians only had two brigades of mountain troops - ‘Alpini’. The rest of the Army was made up of poorly trained infantry from the South, ill-suited to Alpine warfare.

Even so, until 1917 the Italians held their own against the Austrians. The Italians scored victories and made some small territorial gains at a very heavy cost in the north east across the Isonzo River. Eventually there were twelve battles of the Isonzo, but early ambitions of a swift push through Slovenia and on to Vienna were soon seen as fantasy. Fighting in the mountains, it was not just the altitude and climate that was against both sides. The Alpine rock splintered under shell fire producing deadly showers of natural shrapnel.

Germans on the Isonzo

The final battle of Isonzo brought disaster.

In 1917 the Germans persuaded the Austrians that the stalemate in Italy could be ended, and Italy knocked out of the War, by a major offensive on the Isonzo at Caporetto. As well as troops, the Germans would supply poison gas. Amongst the German troops that took part in the offensive was Oberleutnant Erwin Rommel. The attack, although expected by the Italians, was dramatically successful. The front line was pushed back over 90 miles from just in Austrian territory to within 20 miles of Venice. To support the Italians the Allies sent six French and five British divisions to Italy. 2BORDER were part of 7th Division.

Allied Troops to Italy

Britain and France had agreed a contingency plan to support Italy earlier in the year. It was based on the presumption that the Anglo-French support would provide Italy with reserves and that Italy would stabilise any crisis before the Allied troops would be sent.

The British troops that were sent were from XIV Corps on the Western Front: 7th Infantry Division, 23rd Infantry Division and 48th Infantry Division all from Picardy

2BORDER were part of 20th Brigade. With the Borders in the Brigade were 2nd Battalion Gordon Highlanders and the First Battalion The Devon Regiment. They had been stationed between St Omar and Ypres. On 19 November the battalion left for Italy on two trains. They reached Italy on the morning of the 22 November. The trains moved slowly across northern Italy, with frequent stops at stations. The Regimental history records that despite there being no hot water for tea, “the country wine was found to be more potent than the thin French beer.” They arrived at their railhead at Mantua on 23 November.

Asiago Front

Italy had stabilised the front line on the River Piave and along the Alps before the Anglo-French troops arrived. The Austrians and Germans were to some extent victims of their own success and had out-run their supplies.

7th Division were posted to the mountains east of Lake Garda along the northern front. Here the fighting  was to gain local advantages. A particular objective was the mountain ‘Monte Grappa’. The Borders spent the time in the Alps patrolling and raiding. When not in the front line they built defence lines, in case of an enemy breakthrough.

Private to Colonel

In May the Battalion’s commander, Lieutenant-Colonel W Kerr, DSO, MC, from Crummerdale, was killed by a stray shell. Kerr had joined the Regiment as a Private Soldier. By 1914 he was a Company Sergeant Major and three years later was commanding the battalion. Kerr was at Battalion headquarters when he was killed, four other officers and men were wounded. Kerr is buried at Bordighera English Cemetery, on the Mediterranean coast, east of Nice.

In August ‘B’ Company and ‘C’Company raided an Austrian position ‘Stella Fort’ west of Monte Grappa. The Regimental history described the operation as successful but that there were heavy losses due to mortar fire.

When ‘Kaiserschlacht’ the German Spring 1918 offensive, swept all before them in France, there were rumours of a return to France, but as the Germans were held in Flanders, the need for reinforcements evaporated and The Borders stayed in Italy.

Piave Front

In late October 1918 the battalion moved to Preganziol, just south of Treviso. They began to practise river crossings. 20th Brigade preparing to join an Italian attack across the rivers of the north east coastal plain. Their task was to cross the River Piave at the island of Papadopoli and advance to the River Livenza. Austrian morale was low and their troops were short of food. There were rumours that Vienna had asked for a cease fire. But they were still German troops fighting alongside them.

The offensive began on 24 October, with 2BORDER as the Brigade reserve. The battalion crossed the Piave during the night of the 26/27 October. On the morning of the 27th they attacked the raised embankment that marked the eastern bank of the Piave. In places the opposition was slight in others it was hard going. During the afternoon 2BORDER were ordered to relieve the Gordons and the Devons, whilst maintaining the attack. Without support the Borders not were not able to advance. The following day, now supported by artillery the advance continued. It soon became evident that the Austrians were collapsing. In the afternoon Austrian surrenders accelerated. ‘A’ Company captured a complete Austrian Company.

Despite this the battalion still met pockets of resistance. On the 28th two platoons who had advanced well in front of the battalion were surrounded at the River Monticana, close to Fontanelle and forced to surrender.

The following day the battalion was tasked to cross the Monticana. Before the attack could start they received new orders that if if severe casualties were anticipated the attack need not be undertaken. The attack was cancelled and the Brigade was replaced by Italian troops. 20th Brigade now prepared to fight their way across the River Tagliamento. Before the attack could go in news of the armistice arrived. The Austro-Hungarian Empire  with a history of over a 1,000 would be dissolved, but the promises of territory for Italy were not fully met.

Aftermath

7th Division’s war in Italy was over. British troops remained to police the cease fire and eventually enforce the Treaty of Versailles that overruled most of the Allies cynical obligations to Italy under the Treaty of London.

The Border Regiment would be in Italy next in 1943; in Sicily and Puglia fighting an Italian enemy largely created by France and Britain’s failure to deliver on their treaty obligations to Italy, or perhaps better described as to deliver on its bribes.

In 1946, the Regiment would return to Italy, at Trieste guarding the frontier with Communist Yugoslavia, another country, whose fate was largely dictated by 1918 and the Treaty of Versailles.

Peter Green