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The Eight Battle of Izonso - The First World War - October 1916

The battles around the town of Izonso were an attempt by the Italians to push forward and, in the cases of later battles at Izonso, such as this one, consolidate gains or make further progress into Austro-Hungarian territory.

The Italian front of the war is little known to British history students. The bulk of the fighting took place along the banks of the Izonso River: the remainder of the border being mountainous and heavily fortified on both sides, making assaults there suicidal.

To be successful against the Austro-Hungarian army the Italians would have to achieve a number of initial objectives.

First they would need to remove the threat of artillery positioned in the foothills of the Alps in order to protect supply lines to the Izonso river. Then they would need to cross the river and secure a beachhead. Following this they needed to drive up both banks of the river until they were in a position to sweep around the rear of the mountains and into the heartland of the Austro-Hungarian empire.

Given the small zone in which assaults could feasibly launched it will come as little surprise to discover that the Austro-Hungarian army made life particularly difficult for the Italians Over the course of the war 12 assaults were made along the banks of the Izonso River, none of which penetrated Austro-Hungarian territory.