Italy's armed forces at the ready in a 1915 postcard. In the foreground the artillery, infantry, an Alpine soldier (in feathered hat), and a Bersaglieri (in plumed headgear). Behind them are a bugler and lancer; in the distance marines and colonial troops. The Italian navy is off shore, an airship and planes overhead. On the reverse are the lyrics of a patriotic Italian March by Angelo Balladori, lyrics by Enrico Mercatali. It ends with a call to the brothers of Trento and Trieste, Austro-Hungarian territory with large ethnic Italian populations.

Reverse:

Marcia Italica

D'Italia flammeggin le sante bandiere

Baciate dal sole, baciate dal vento,

Su l'aspro sentier di Bezzecca e di Trento

De l'alma Trieste, sul cerulo mar.

. . .

Fratelli di Trento, Triestini fratelli,

La patria s'è desta alla grande riscossa!

Dell'aquila ingorda la barbara possa

Dai liberi petti domata sarà!





Parole di Enrico Mercatali

Musica di Angelo Balladori.



Casa Editrice Sonzogno - Milano. 1915.

Other views: Larger, Back

When Italy declared war on Austria-Hungary in 1915, the Italian Army was unprepared, not yet having recovered from the 1913 war against Turkey to seize the north African territory that would become Libya.

Italy began the war with 35 divisions in 4 armies. The First and Fourth faced north along Trentino and the mountain passes between the two countries. The Second and Third Armies were concentrated in the narrow plain in Italy's northeast. Here the front line roughly paralleled the Isonzo River flowing through Austro-Hungarian territory just east of its border with Italy. Before the war had ended, Italy and Austria-Hungary would fight eleven Battles of the Isonzo.

The Fifth Army was formed shortly before the Austro-Hungarian Asiago Offensive begun May 14, 1916.

By the end of 1916, Italy had 48 divisions and 1.5 million men at the front.

The Italian Second Army was destroyed in the October 1917 Battle of Caporetto, the only Battle of the Isonzo launched by Austria-Hungary.

General Luigi Cadorna was the Army's Chief of Staff from July 27, 1914 until his replacement by General Armando Diaz on November 7, 1917 after the disaster at Caporetto. British and French units were rushed to Italy to support the Italian Army.

In late September, 1918, Diaz fielded two new armies, the Tenth, with two Italian and two British divisions, and the Twelfth with three Italian divisions and one French.