Buzz
Erik Sass is documenting the events of the war precisely a century after they occurred. This is the 246th entry in his ongoing series.
August 6-17, 1916: Italy Secures Victory in the Sixth Battle of Isonzo
Following the collapse of Austria's “Punishment Expedition” against Italy in June 1916, prompted by the Russian Brusilov Offensive which forced Austria-Hungary’s chief of the general staff Conrad von Hötzendorf to redeploy troops to the Eastern Front, the Italians regained the upper hand. Chief of the general staff Luigi Cadorna began planning another offensive in the Isonzo River Valley. Despite previous setbacks and costly victories in the first five battles of the Isonzo, this time the outcome would be different. The Sixth Battle of the Isonzo, fought from August 6-17, 1916, marked Italy’s most significant triumph until the decisive victory at Vittorio Veneto near the war's end.
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Cadorna, in collaboration with the Duke of Aosta, commander of the Italian Third Army, devised a new strategy focusing on a narrower front than previous offensives. The target was a stretch of the Isonzo River Valley, less than ten miles long, between Podgora Hill (also known as Mount Calvario) to the north and Mount San Michele to the south. This time, they scaled back their ambitions, abandoning the goal of a decisive breakthrough toward Trieste in favor of a more limited campaign centered on Gorizia. By moderating their objectives, Cadorna and Aosta concentrated greater artillery firepower and infantry strength, deploying 200,000 troops against a smaller Habsburg force. The Habsburg commanders, overconfident after Italy's narrow escape during the Punishment Expedition, were caught off guard by the swift Italian offensive.
On the morning of August 6, the Italian artillery launched an unprecedented bombardment, unmatched in intensity relative to the front's length. Italian gunners achieved remarkable accuracy, aided by detailed aerial reconnaissance. War correspondent Julius Price described the scene two days later:
From Monte San Gabriele to Monte San Michele, spanning roughly nine miles, the horizon was ablaze with continuous shell bursts of every caliber… The landscape resembled a volcanic eruption, with columns of multicolored smoke rising in surreal shapes. Through the telescope, the devastation was horrifying. At first glance, the countryside appeared lush and radiant under the Italian summer sun, but closer inspection revealed villages reduced to rubble. No signs of life remained – the God of war reigned supreme.
Following relentless shelling throughout the morning and afternoon, Italian troops emerged from their hillside shelters at 4 pm, overwhelming the outnumbered defenders. The assault began at Mount Sabotino, northwest of Gorizia, where the Italians had secretly dug tunnels and concealed trenches, allowing them to launch a surprise attack from close range. Similar tactics succeeded at the southern end of the battlefield, securing the strategic transportation hub at Doberdò and Mount San Michele, a site of previous futile battles. Despite heavy casualties, the Italians achieved a significant victory.
Civic Musei di Storia e Arte di Trieste via Itinerari della Grande Guerra
With his forces stretched thin and no immediate reinforcements, Svetozar Boroević, the skilled commander of the Austro-Hungarian Fifth Army, had no option but to authorize a gradual retreat to the secondary defensive line behind Gorizia on August 7. The next day, the Italians were stunned to find Gorizia nearly undefended. As the nearest bridge remained under Austrian artillery fire, a small Italian unit of about 100 soldiers crossed the shallow river on foot and took control of the town, marking an anticlimactic end to the fierce battles fought nearby.
Recognizing their newfound momentum, Cadorna directed the Duke of Aosta to press the attack on the Habsburg second line in the western Carso plateau behind Gorizia, while deploying the Italian Second Army to capitalize on the unexpected breakthrough by advancing from the north to secure the bridgehead at Plava. However, with Gorizia lost, Boroević saw little value in holding the western Carso plateau. On August 9, the Habsburg forces retreated to a robust new defensive position along the eastern Carso's Vallone valley. The Italian offensive eventually stalled here, as repeated assaults over the next week failed to dislodge the entrenched Habsburg defenders. Cadorna called off the offensive on August 17.
As was typical, casualties on both sides were staggering, with the attackers bearing the brunt: Italian losses totaled around 100,000, including 21,000 dead, while the Habsburgs suffered approximately 42,000 casualties, with 8,000 dead. The aftermath of the battle revealed the grim reality of war, as no man’s land and captured trenches were littered with horrifying scenes. Price, witnessing the aftermath as he followed the victorious Italian troops into Gorizia, recounted:
The scene of devastation and death before us was beyond description. The Italian artillery had reduced everything to rubble, leaving the landscape pockmarked with shell craters and littered with debris… shattered rifles, thousands of unused cartridges, shell fragments, bloodied boots, medical bandages, and torn uniforms.
The first line of Habsburg trenches, where countless soldiers had fought valiantly before the retreat order was issued, presented an even more gruesome sight:
The Austrian dead were piled in mounds along the trench floors. In some areas, their numbers were so great that, except for the occasional glimpse of a face, hand, or foot, one might have mistaken the heaps for discarded uniforms or equipment. Walking alongside these rows of death evoked an eerie sense of dread, amplified by the eerie silence and the absence of any other living souls… It felt as though we were a small group of explorers venturing through a surreal, otherworldly realm.
Turks Overcome in Sinai
Approximately 1,500 miles to the southeast, across the Mediterranean, a starkly different battle unfolded in the Sinai Desert from August 3-7. The Turks aimed to disrupt British plans for an offensive and potentially seize the Suez Canal, a critical link between Britain and India, the empire’s most prized possession. The majority of the fighting occurred near the village of Romani, roughly 23 miles east of the canal, deep within the Sinai Desert.
The Ottomans and their German allies grew increasingly concerned as the British constructed a new railway and water pipeline extending eastward from Kantara on the canal into the Sinai. This infrastructure would eventually allow the British to traverse the desert and launch an assault on Palestine, paving the way to Syria and ultimately the Turkish heartland in Anatolia. In a final attempt to halt the British advance, a Turkish force of around 16,000, partially led by German officers, marched westward across the Sinai in late July to early August. Their target was the British defenders—primarily Dominion troops from the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps (ANZAC)—stationed at the advancing railhead near Romani.
The Battle of Romani saw the Turkish 3rd Division and the German-led Pasha I formation, supported by irregular camel cavalry, clash with a slightly smaller British force. The British contingent included infantry from the 52nd (Lowland) Division and light cavalry from the ANZAC Mounted Division. Initial contact between British cavalry patrols and the advancing enemy occurred during nighttime skirmishes on August 3, continuing into August 4. Outnumbered, the British cavalry gradually retreated.
Reinforcements from the ANZAC cavalry strengthened the British defenders, who mounted a determined resistance as they withdrew to more fortified positions guarding the southern approach to the railway. Meanwhile, the main infantry force of the 52nd Division held the railhead east of Romani. The Turkish and German attackers, struggling with water shortages and the treacherous desert sands, lost their momentum and were forced onto the defensive. Relentless attacks by the mobile ANZAC cavalry further disrupted their advance. By August 6, the attackers were in retreat, though they maintained their formation and repelled repeated British-ANZAC assaults, avoiding a complete collapse.
Oskar Teichman, a medical officer with the ANZAC forces, reflected on the aftermath of the battle near Romani, highlighting the empathy soldiers often felt for their enemies when the fighting ceased:
It was heartbreaking to consider the many wounded and dying Turks left behind. We did our best to help, but lacked the resources to handle such large numbers… It was striking how attitudes shifted after the battle – during the combat, every fallen Turk brought a sense of relief, but once the fighting ended and our wounded were safe, thoughts turned to the countless injured Turks likely abandoned in the vast desert, doomed to perish from thirst.
While the ANZAC wounded were in better condition than the abandoned Turks, they still faced grueling hardships. Teichman, himself wounded, endured over a day of waiting, first at a field ambulance station and then on open train cars, before finally being evacuated to Kantara on August 7:
This marked the terminus of the desert railway, which was being rapidly extended across the Sinai Peninsula. The Field Ambulance was overcrowded, with rows of stretchers bearing both our wounded and injured Turks. At 5:30, we were moved from the tents and loaded onto the train. This so-called “hospital train” consisted of an engine and several open trucks, devoid of even basic comforts like straw… Upon reaching Pelusium, the engine failed, and the train remained stationary for hours. The cries and moans of the wounded pierced the night’s silence. Matters worsened when we had to be shunted aside to allow a supply train to pass… It was a harrowing night, and the horrors of that journey remained unforgettable.
For the remaining ANZAC and British troops stationed further back to protect the Suez Canal, the greatest adversary was not the Turks or Germans but the harsh environment. They faced sandstorms, swarms of insects, disease, and the relentless heat of the Egyptian summer (below, Australian troops are pictured along the canal banks in April 1916).
Australian War Memorial
John Tennant, a British air commander who traveled through the Suez Canal in July, recounted the unbearable conditions aboard the ship in the nearby Red Sea, making it clear that
the “Briton” was ill-suited for such climates; the dining saloon felt like an inferno, and sleep was impossible due to the oppressive heat… On the second afternoon, the ship’s doctor succumbed to heatstroke; we buried him over the poop deck the next morning under a stifling haze. The human body could barely endure more; sweat poured from heads onto the deck and down legs into boots. Shortly after the doctor’s burial, a crew member collapsed outside my cabin. We stripped his clothes and placed him near the ship’s edge for air, but despite our efforts, he passed within two hours.
Naturally, the British and ANZAC troops sought refuge from the heat by spending as much time as possible in their tents or cooling off in the waters of the Suez Canal (below, ANZAC soldiers are seen bathing and relaxing under the sun).
Australian War Memorial
Much like soldiers across Europe, the British and ANZAC troops stationed at the Suez Canal often felt a sense of neglect during long stretches of inactivity and monotony. Tennant recounted the somber exchanges between homesick soldiers on the ship and restless troops on the shore as the vessel navigated the canal in July 1916:
Throughout the sweltering July night, we passed British encampments; many soldiers were floating in the Canal, desperate to cool off, even at 1 a.m. All night, a barrage of questions echoed between the ship and the shore. Soldiers aboard were eager to know if any battalions from their own units were stationed on land. In response to shouts like “Any Welshmen?” or “Any Leicesters?” faint, weary attempts at cheerfulness drifted back from the shadowy banks: “Any beer?” The men on shore seemed to feel abandoned in the vast desert…
See the previous installment or all entries.
