The Great War of Rosolinian Soldiers

Di Vittorio Belfiore

L'autore traccia i contorni dei più importanti avvenimenti che coinvolsero i soldati rosolinesi nei tragici eventi del primo conflitto mondiale. La vittoria sul Piave è la catarsi di una nazione che seppe consolidarsi dopo la disfatta di Caporetto e reagire con Vittorio Veneto. Nel centesimo anniversario della Vittoria il popolo italiano commemora i Caduti della Grande Guerra con la consapevolezza che con la guerra tutto è perduto.

• Lingua: Italiano
• Editore: Youcanprint
• Data di uscita: 4 ott 2022
• ISBN: 9791221432107

Anteprima del libro

In that unnoticeable time between Spring and Summer, Sicily undergoes a metamorphosis that sees the green fields transformed into an arid terrain. Red poppies reign supreme among the ears of wheat that seemingly offer themselves up to the sharp blade of the scythe, a tool handled as if part of some ancient and sacred ritual, by men hardened by fatigue and sweat. At the foot of the Hyblaean mountains in south-easternmost Sicily, the deafening silence of the countryside near the town of Rosolini was replaced by the distant echo of war, slowly becoming more and more thunderous.

The hope among the people was that war could be avoided. For the peasants, so deeply entrenched in the Catholic culture of their local parishes, war and its misfortunes were unrelated to anything they knew. The thoughts and actions of Pope Benedict XV, garbed in the principle of non-violence, revealed a neutral pro-Habsburg attitude, favouring political conservatism. The population of Rosolini, for the most part illiterate yet intelligent, remained silent and distrustful when faced with the interventionist speeches of intellectuals, who saw the war instead as the fulfilment of national unity.

Italy’s entry into the war alongside the Triple Entente came at the end of complex and maybe even ‘adventurous’ foreign and domestic policy manoeuvres. The Italian government, initially neutral, asked the Austrians in the first months of 1915 to return the territories still under their rule. Diplomatic efforts between Rome and Vienna were fruitless, and any negotiation could only materialise with the sale of Trentino to Italy and the autonomy of Trieste. King Vittorio Emmanuele III reiterated the urgency with which Austria should immediately make these concessions.

Even Benedict XV, reaching out to the Habsburg Empire as the last great Catholic power, recognised that war could only be avoided with the prompt cession of Trentino. The Pope did his best to instruct Cardinal Piffl, Archbishop of Vienna, to speak personally with Emperor Franz Joseph. However, when the Cardinal espoused the terms put forward for negotiations with the Emperor, he was promptly removed. The Prime Minister of Italy, Antonia Salandra, together with his government, therefore, undertook secret negotiations with France, England and Russia, signing the Treaty of London on 26th April 1915. This pact committed Italy to war alongside the Entente powers within one month, in exchange for Trento and Trieste, southern Tyrol, most of Dalmatia, Albania, and the Dodecanese, consisting of vague colonial promises and a modest loan due to the certain brevity of the war.

The Italian Parliament, mostly neutralist and kept in the dark, initially sought a vote of no confidence in the government. However, following the King’s threat of abdication and cowed by interventionist demonstrations throughout the nation, Parliament resigned itself to granting extraordinary powers to the Italian government considering the now inevitable outbreak of war.

Obstinately uncooperative with regards to the long period of conscription (highlighted by the cries of megghiu porcu ca surdatu around the countryside, ‘better a pig than a soldier’) the Sicilian population meekly complied with the ‘red’ mobilisation of General Luigi Cadorna, which had already entered into force on 1st March 1915. The bill saw that retired soldiers were recalled to arms not via public announcement but via a personal red postcard, hence the name.

Italy’s latest irredentism was centred around the intention of national unity, both ethnically and territorially. On 23rd May, Salandra’s government, supported by a vote in parliament, communicated on behalf of the King to the Austrian ambassador in Rome that from the following day on the 24th, Italy would henceforth be at war with Austria-Hungary. The new Italian nation, born just fifty years prior, was risking the lives of over four million Italians sent to the front. Not even King Vittorio Emmanuele III believed in the war’s brevity or easy victory, as the first year of clashes on European battlefields suggested.

At four o’clock on 24th May, a cannon shot fired from Fort Verena signalled the start of the first Italian conflict. The army’s first offensive saw action over the entire war front of the River Isonzo (Slovenian: Soča). After crossing the river, General Robilant’s 4th Army Corps reached the narrow line between Saga and the Mount Nero (Slovenian: Krn)/Mount Jeza ridge, while the 2nd Army Corps under Reisoli arrived on the right bank of the Isonzo, proceeding beyond the river and arriving at the 383-metre level at Plava.

General Ruelle’s soldiers took the slopes of Sabotino and Podgora, while those under the command of General Cigliana established camp on the right bank of the Isonzo. General Tettoni’s 7th army corps were deployed on the Dottori Canal and in Monfalcone, while on 16th June, the Alpine troops took the ridge of Mount Nero.

The Italian advance obliterated the weak enemy positions, exposing the Habsburg defensive line which had been constructed to resist any enemy breakthrough. General Cadorna subsequently ordered a series of operations on the Giulia front, known as the ‘Battles of the Isonzo’.

The first of these battles began on 23rd June, when the Italians attacked the Tolmin and Gorizia bridgeheads and the Karst ridge, bringing the lines into close contact with the Austro-Hungarian 5th Army commanded by Borojević.

The Naples Brigade, which brought together the 75th and 76th Regiments, was located near Cividale under the 24th Division at the beginning of hostilities. On 12th June, it was deployed to the higher areas on the right bank of the Isonzo, north-west of Mount Sabotino. There, on 30th June, Gregorio Candido of the 75th Infantry Regiment was the first man from Rosolini to be killed, unfortunately followed by many others. Further action on Mount Sabotino was attempted by the 4th Division on the 29th and 30th, but despite their repeated offensives, the enemy’s mountainside defensive lines remained impassable.

The Pistoia Brigade, after crossing the border, proceeded towards the Gorizia bridgehead, stopping in front of the hills well-defended by the Austrians. The 35th Regiment was tasked with the attack on Podgora, which began on 10th June with an assault under enemy fire. Despite the vehemence of the offensive, the operation ended in the enemy’s wire fences with the 35th Regiment suffering heavy losses. After the initially unsuccessful first offensives, the Pistoia Brigade once again attacked Podgora. The lack of sufficient means to burst through the solid enemy defensive lines forced the Pistoia infantrymen into their initial trenches, where they unfortunately suffered heavy losses. During the operation, Corrado Garrone was killed on 11th July by an Austrian machine gun.

In the First battle of the Isonzo, the Italian army achieved very few advantages in the region: in the Tolmin area, there was some progress on taking Mount Nero, as well as the advance towards Sleme and Mrzli up to the 1,000-metre level. They also managed to approach the bridgehead of Santa Maria and Santa Lucia.