Battle of Monte Piana

46°37′01.69″N 12°14′39.79″E / 46.6171361°N 12.2443861°E / 46.6171361; 12.2443861

Battle of Monte Piana
Part of the Italian Front of White War
Austrian illustration of Austro-Hungarian attack in summer 1915 (R. A. Höger)
Date 24 May, 1915 – 2 October, 1917 Location Monte Piana, Italy Result Inconclusive
Belligerents
Kingdom of Italy	Austria-Hungary
Commanders and leaders
Luigi Nava Ottavio Ragni Mario Nicolis di Robilant	Ludwig Goiginger
Casualties and losses
14,000 killed

The Battle of Monte Piana was a long and bloody series of clashes that took place on the summit of Monte Piana which is part of the Sexten Dolomites massif. Between 1915 and 1917 some of the most violent clashes took place between Italian and Austro-Hungarian soldiers who fought for two years on the flat top of this mountain. It was one of the bloodiest and most static theaters of the entire war, and despite the clear superiority of men and armaments of the Royal Army, the Italian commands were never able to conquer the dominant positions on the mountain occupied by the Austrians, both for tactical errors and for incompetence of a new and unusual battle in the high mountains.