In covering the countryside of France in the region where elements of the American Expeditionary Force took part in the Second Battle of the Marne on a corps level, I ran across two Italian military cemeteries. Certainly, the appearance of these cemeteries came as a surprise to me. The story of how the Italians got here and their battles do not show up in many histories of the war. So, here is a quick rundown of Italy in France.
BACKGROUND TO WAR – TRIPLE ALLIANCE
Before World War 1, Italy and France belonged to separate alliance systems. Italy allied with Germany and Austria-Hungary in the Triple Alliance. France and Russia lay on the other side in the Entente. German moves into Belgium added the United Kingdom to the Entente ranks, as well.
Italy ended up with the Triple Alliance in 1882. The kingdom had been helped by Prussia in 1866. This brought about the addition of the Veneto region to the country unified for the first time only since 1860. Ironically, many of the additions came at the cost to their other ally in the Alliance, Austria-Hungary. Italy worried about the situation in north Africa where she worked against France for an edge in the control over Tunisia. Searching for an ally, Italy went back to Prussia – now the German Empire. Included in the deal, an uneasy alliance with their other erstwhile nemesis, Austria-Hungary.
The late 19th century saw a series of fortifications built on both sides of the Franco-Italian alpine borders – similar to the fort building on the Trentino border where Italy and Austria – allies, supposedly – did the same thing. By the early 20th century, relations between France and the Kingdom of Italy mellowed. The Italian army was still poised to send troops to help Germany in the case of a war with France, but the problems in Africa had sorted themselves out for the most part.
NEUTRALITY TO WAR
With the onset of World War 1, Italy declared neutrality. The feeling was Austria-Hungary had ignored her when they went after Serbia following the assassination of Archduke Ferdinand. Eventually, Italy, with a 50-million-pound loan and promises of territorial aggrandizement – at the expense of Austria-Hungary and the Ottoman Empire – declared war at the end of May 1915. She did so at first against only Austria-Hungary. It would take another year before Italy finally added the German Empire to the official list of her enemies. The late entry into the full picture did nothing good for relationships with her new allies.
IN THE BEGINNING
The Italian army was not ready for war when it was declared. Especially not ready for war on the industrial scale with which World War 1 played out. Italian forces fiercely engaged along a 650-kilometer-long front mostly in the Alps, but also in the rugged ground of the Carso rising above the northeastern end of the Adriatic Sea. Most of Italy’s actions in the war centered upon the Carso and the areas along the Isonzo River to the immediate north. Eleven hard-fought offensives slowly edged into Austrian territories over the first two years of Italy’s participation. Mostly earned, however, was an ever-lengthening casualty list. Also Italy faced, like other participants by this time of the war, a decline in the morale of her armies.
Italy, while exhausting herself, did push Austria-Hungary to the edge, as well. Germany, reacting to the Austrian need, sent troops and materiel. They needed to help stabilize the front with Italy in late October 1917.
The resulting Battle of Caporetto went disastrously for the Italians. They stemmed the tide with the help of six French and five British divisions rushed to the front with artillery and air assets. The German divisions returned to the Western Front in December which ended the threat for the time being.
SUPREME WAR COUNCIL
One aspect of the disaster was the formation of a Supreme War Council. This group followed a conference in Rapallo, Italy on 5 November. The Council met for a series of meetings taking place on the average weekly – 90 meetings overall – in Versailles, France. Each Allied country was represented by their head of government and an appointed senior military officer. For France, the military member was Ferdinand Foch. The British sent Sir Henry Hughes Wilson and the US had General Tasker H. Bliss. Italy dispatched Luigi Cardona, the disgraced commander-in-chief of the Italian army before Caporetto.
The Council decided in January 1918 to go on the defensive on the Western Front for the year. With the Central Powers victory in Russia, German troops were transferring in large numbers to the West. American reinforcements would not arrive in large enough numbers until later in the year. Italy spent much of 1918 trying to recover from the Caporetto disaster, rebuilding its army both strength-wise and materially hile France recovered from her own 1917 disasters. In the short term, no offensive operations were planned in Italy. Only a small-scale offensive on the Asiago plateau – the Battle of the Three Mountains. This lasted from 28 to 31 January showing the army could still be a force to reckon with.
WESTERN FRONT HARD PRESSED – HELP IS ON ITS WAY
Germany’s Spring Offensives rolled forward 21 March 1918. The offensives caused considerable damage to Allied armies on the Western Front. First, the British – and Portuguese – suffered the Teutonic scourge, but then the French. With reinforcements to staunch the bleeding scarce, Italy decided to reciprocate the favor of Entente forces help after Caporetto. Even in spring 1918, there were still British forces on the ground in Italy in 1918. Italy decided to send the Italian Second Corps to France to help stabilize the critical situation.
ITALIAN SECOND CORPS – THE DIVISIONS AND LEADERS
The Second Corps consisted of 41,000 men deployed in two divisions. The 3rd Division – Brigades Naples and Salerno – was under the command of General Vittorio Emanuele Pittaluga. Pittaluga had come up through the Alpini holding brigade command at the beginning of the war on the Isonzo front. Wounded in the shoulder during the Sixth Isonzo, he led the Cuneo Brigade during the capture of Gorizia in August 1916. He earned the Silver Medal for Military Valor for his part. After the war, he played a major role in the expedition led by Gabriele D’Annunzio. He allowed the poet and his accompanying Arditi to occupy the port city of Fiume in 1919.
The 8th Division – Brigades Brescia and Alpi – was the other division of the corps led by General Giovanni Beruto. Beruto had long served with the Royal Army. He spent seven years in Eritrea. There, he took part in several battles in Abyssinia in 1890 earning three medals for military valor. Beruto entered the war as commander of the Cyclist Battalion of the 1st Bersaglieri. Leading those men to conquer Monte Sei Busi in 1915 – site of the massive Italian ossuary at Redipuglia – he was wounded.
Returning to duty, he commanded the 11th Bersaglieri Regiment in which Benito Mussolini served. Going on to help stop the Austro-German offensive in November 1917, Beruto gained a fourth Medal for Military Valor and command of the 8th Division.
alberico albricci
Alberico Albricci was the commander of the Second Corps. Originally a lieutenant in the artillery in 1886, participating in the 1888 undeclared war with Abyssinia. Moving up through the ranks, he became an honorary aide-de-camp to King Vittorio Emanuele III in 1910, gaining the title of Count in 1913. Immediately before the war, Albricci – then a lieutenant colonel – served as military attaché in Vienna.
After serving as the chief of staff for the 1st Army, he commanded the 5th Infantry Division. That division lay in front of the Adamello and Ortler, the highest mountains along the long Italian front. Next, Albricci saw promotion to command the 2nd Corps 5th Reserve Army. Before Caporetto, the Corps belonged to the 2nd Army. With Albricci in command, he succeeded in withdrawing his men from Monte Santo on the north side of Gorizia to the west. His corps helped stabilize the Italian line near Montello on the Piave River. For his role in his successful retreat, he earned a Silver Medal for Military Valor.
sECOND CORPS BEFORE FRANCE
2nd Corps had fought long and hard in the mountains just to the north of Gorizia. They were one of the few units to be able to retreat intact successfully from their positions after the Austro-German breakthrough occurred to their north at Tolmin-Caporetto. Able to retreat, the Corps fought delaying actions on the Tagliamento River losing many casualties doing so. With the reconstruction of the Italian army after Caporetto, 2nd Corps found itself placed into the Italian Strategic Reserve – the 5th Reserve Army.
2nd Corps and the 5th Reserve Army stationed behind the main Italian line around Lake Garda. It was chosen to go to France for the simple reason that it was the closest unit to France. The Corps began their transfer from Italy to France on 18 April with the last units arriving 28 April. Just as the transfer began to take place, for political reasons at the insistence of Italian Prime Minister Vittorio Emanuele Orlando, the 8th Division gave up one of its brigades – Udine – in favor of the Alpi brigade. The Alpi brigade had a strong lineage going back to the Cacciatori delle Alpi formed by Giussepi Garibaldi in 1859 which fought with the French army during the Second War of the Risorgimiento.
OFF TO FRANCE
Another important political decision led to the formation of a March brigade. March units were reserve units from which replacements for losses to frontline troops could be pulled. Very few Italian units on the Italian Front could maintain their full strength due to the losses suffered after Caporetto. The normal Italian units – on the Italian Front – stayed at about 85% of their listed strength. Because of the political importance of the troops in France, Italy maintained the Corps at nearly 100% for the duration of its campaign.
Upon the Corps’ arrival in France, the men underwent a period of training and acclimatization to conditions on the Western Front. Communication was a major point in training. Other aspects included training for mustard gas, not found much on the Italian Front. By 4 May, French High Command felt the Corps was ready to move to the front for their final training. The two divisions went into the lines separately. The 3rd Division moving into a sector on the Aire River first on 16 May. The 8th Division later relieved the 3rd on 28 May.
ON THE FRONT
The men of the 2nd Corps, now working together, became part of the 5th French Army under General Henri Mathias Berthelot. On 17 June, the Corps took over a 12-kilometer section of the French frontline along the Ardre River to the southwest of Reims. One advantage the Italian divisions had when relieving French units was their divisions used four regiments instead of the three used by the French. This gave Italian commanders a greater number of reserves to use in times of need.
Using the French system of defense by depth, three lines of defense went up, though not continuous, due to terrain and forest obstructions. The defensive positions developed from nothing since the situation due to the penetration by previous German offensives was fluid.
THE “PEACE OFFENSIVE”
15 July, the final German Spring Offensive began. German goals were to push through Allied lines to reach the Marne River at Epernay. This threatened the French positions in Reims and, indirectly, Paris. They hoped, as with all of their other offensives, to force the French to concentrate all of their reserves to the south. Then, the main German blow would come in Flanders to push the British into the sea.
Chemical bombardment followed a very effective German shelling of the Italian advanced frontline. Communications became quickly disrupted. Many Italian units were isolated under direct attack from four German divisions with another two in reserve. The 8th Division took the main brunt of the attack. Eventually, the division withdrew about four miles to the second line of defense. This, after ten hours of uninterrupted fighting losing 6,262 casualties. The French 5th Colonial Corps, stationed to the west of the Italians, suffered several breakthroughs. Reserves plugged the holes.
counterattack
Realizing their quick push already failing, the Germans began to resume defensive operations by the end of 16 July. French 5th Army command ordered the 2nd Corps to begin to get ready to counterattack to regain their original positions. Counterattacks began 18 July with German gains erased by the end of the next day. With the situation reversed, the 2nd Corps saw itself replaced by the 22nd British Corps which continued the attack. For the best description of the Italian Corps during the last German offensive, the venerable New York Times describes.
RESTORATION
2nd Corps began a period of reorganization near Mailly. Reassigned to the 4th Army and then the 2nd Army, the Corps replenished with men and materiel by 6 August – most the materiel provided by the French Army. The Corps then moved to replace the American 77th Division in the Dormans area – American divisions were moving to the east in readiness to concentrate as an all-American army for operations first in St. Mihiel and then in the Meuse-Argonne.
The Italians occupied quiet areas of the front while losses from the July battles became made whole again. Finally, in September, the 2nd Corps returned to the front as part of the 2nd Army along with the 5th on the Aisne River.
FIGHTING ON THE CHEMIN DES DAMES
Coming back into the 5th Army, the Corps went to the left end of the 5th Army sector just in front of the Chemin des Dames where the Germans lay formidably entrenched. The French attacked the German positions on 26 September with 2nd Corps not figuring into the initial plans.
On the left, the French 10th Army pushed the Germans back. Albricci, not wanting to be left out of the biggest Allied offensive of the front, pushed his Corps across bridges over the Aisne used by the 25th Division of the 10th Army. The Italians captured Chavonne and pushed into the ruins of Soupir on the north side of the Aisne on 30 September. Even in retreat, the Germans were not quite finished holding the Italians in the nearby Ravine Braye from 4 until 10 October causing heavy casualties in the Italians trapped below.
The Corps finally pushed over the crest of the hills on 13 October, advancing as the German Army was now giving up ground with defeats to the north coming into bear. By 14 October, the Corps crossed the Ailette River seizing Sissonne pushing over the Chemin des Dames in doing so.
ENDPOINT
Swampy terrain east of Sissonne slowed the Italian advance next as they came up onto formidable German fortifications of Hunding Stellung. Going back into reserve, the 2nd Corps resumed its push forwards two weeks later as now the advance resembled more of a pursuit than a deliberate attack. Finally, on dawn on 11 November 2nd Corps liberated Rocroi on the Belgian border. Here, the last Italian to fall – Lieutenant Calo Bombrini – fell, a good week after la Grande Guerra had ended along the Italian Front.
With the end of the war, only one Italian brigade remained behind in France with the occupation of the Rhineland while the rest of the Corps returned to Italy. Because of its previous bonds to the French, the Alpi Brigade stayed behind, first in Belgium and then moving to the villages of Winden and Schaidt near Karlsruhe in March 1919. They remained in Germany until 28 July.
AFTERWORDS
Italy deployed to France the 2nd Corps for fourteen months. Its main goal was to create deeper ties with the Allies demonstrating Italy’s commitment to the Allied cause. French evaluation of the Italian effort was positive. Because of the failure of Italy to gain all of the territories she sought at Versailles, the Italian perception of the deployment to France became muted, especially after the Fascists gained control in 1922. An official history of the 2nd Corps’ efforts in France would have to wait until 1951.
Albricci became Minister of War shortly after his return to Italy 24 March 1919. Retaining that position for a year, he faced not only the challenge of demobilizing the Italian army but huge challenges within the government itself in the war’s aftermath. He returned to France in 1921 for the dedication of the largest Italian military cemetery in France located near where the 2nd Corps fought during the late days of July 1918. Dying in 1936, he and his wife lie buried in the elaborate Faccanoni Mausoleum in Sarnico, Italy just above the shores of Lake Iseo.
THE CEMETERIES
bligny
Located atop Bligny Hill – there are a series of British (3), French and German cemeteries nearby, as well – the cemetery holds the remains of 3,440. 400 buried together as unknowns in a common crypt – Italian soldiers, most dying from combat during the days of July 1918. But other Italians are gathered here too.
General Ugo Bagnani served as a military attaché in Paris – earlier, he had been an aide-de-camp to the King. While on a mission to the British forces in northern France, Bagnani died of pneumonia 7 February 1917, not from the Spanish flu, but one of the many other diseases running rampant along the frontlines at the time.
In the center of the cemetery is a monument commemorating the dead of the 2nd Corps. On the opposite side of the highway – D980 – is a memorial garden – a Park of Remembrance – with a poplar lined alley pointing to the south and Rome. A broken Roman column further commemorates the dead of Italy’s commitment to her World War 1 allies.
soupir
Another military cemetery at Soupir on the southern edge of the Chemin des Dames holds another 592 graves from their later battles. The cemetery is but one of six military cemeteries in the immediate vicinity – three French, one German and one English.
Total losses for Italy and her efforts in France came to 4,375 dead with 10,000 wounded.
For one of the more complete versions in English of the Italian Second Corps in France, see this paper written as a master thesis.