Second Battle of the Piave River

The Second Battle of the Piave River (or Battle of the Solstice), fought between 15 and 23 June 1918, was a decisive victory^[3]^[4] for the Italian Army against the Austro-Hungarian Empire during World War I, as Italy was part of the Allied Forces, while Austria-Hungary was part of the Central Powers. Though the battle proved to be a decisive blow to the Austro-Hungarian Empire and by extension the Central Powers, its full significance was not initially appreciated in Italy. Yet Erich Ludendorff, on hearing the news, is reported to have said he 'had the sensation of defeat for the first time'.^[5] It would later become clear that the battle was in fact the beginning of the end of the Austro-Hungarian Empire.^[6]

(Giulio Cesare Tassoni)

7th Italian Army

(Guglielmo Pecori Giraldi)

1st Italian Army

(Luca Montuori)

6th Italian Army

(Gaetano Giardino)

4th Italian Army

(Enrico Caviglia)

8th Italian Army

(Duke of Aosta)

3rd Italian Army

(Paolo Morrone) : in reserve.

9th Italian Army

Italy (Armando Diaz) (west to east)

Austria-Hungary (Arthur Arz von Straußenburg) (west to east)

Today, to the Italian public two mottos recall the battle: those written as graffiti upon broken walls of destroyed rural houses: "E' meglio vivere un giorno da leone che cent'anni da pecora" ("[It] is better to live one single day as a lion than a hundred years as a sheep") and "Tutti eroi! O il Piave o tutti accoppati" ("Everyone a hero! Either (we hold) the Piave, or let all of us get killed"). The two pieces of wall are preserved in the military shrine of , a frazione of San Biagio di Callalta.

Fagarè della Battaglia

The Battle is also known as the "Battle of the Solstice" so-called by the poet , shortly thereafter. On 9 August 1918, D'Annunzio conducted his Flight over Vienna with 11 Ansaldo airplanes throwing thousands of leaflets from the sky, praising the Italian victory.

Gabriele D'Annunzio

In the shelling and firefights that occurred in July and August after the battle, an 18-year-old American ambulance driver named was wounded there on July 8. Hemingway was knocked unconscious during an Austrian mortar attack. Fragments of the shell entered his lower extremities. Two Italian soldiers standing with Hemingway were killed. In the 1932 film adaptation of Hemingway’s novel A Farewell to Arms, Frederic Henry (Gary Cooper) is wounded in the leg at this Battle.

Ernest Hemingway

The battle is described in 's novel, "The Sojourn".

Andrew Krivak

The battle is mentioned in the 's novel and film Call Me by Your Name. The scene in the film takes place overlooking a memorial to the victims of the battle. The memorial is located in the city of Pandino. In the film however, it is said that 170,000 people died in that battle of Piave.

André Aciman

mentioned in June 2022, in an interview with Jesuit European cultural journal editors, that one of his two grandfathers participated in "an experience on the Piave River", during World War I, presumably referring to either the first or second Piave River Battle.^[15]

Pope Francis

The map "Piave" will be featured on FPS-tactical shooter , coming February 28th.

Isonzo (video game)

First Battle of the Piave River

"", a patriotic song written by E. A. Mario after the battle.

La Leggenda del Piave

Italian military commander fighting in the battle

Pietro Micheletti

Italian journalist and soldier who died in the battle

Attilio Deffenu

Clodfelter, M. (2017). Warfare and Armed Conflicts: A Statistical Encyclopedia of Casualty and Other Figures, 1492-2015 (4th ed.). Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland. 978-0786474707.