First Battle of Don

The First Defensive Battle of the Don took place during World War II and involved the Italian Army in Russia fighting numerous difficult struggles along the banks of the Don River in Russia over the summer of 1942. The battles began after the Soviet Army mounted a powerful assault against Italian defensive positions on the bank of the river. Following the onset of the assault, several Italian units sustained significant setbacks including the loss of critical bridgeheads at both Serafimovič and Verčne Mamon, while the full 2nd Infantry Division "Sforzesca" suffered a breakdown in morale resulting in a collapse of multiple locations along their line of defence creating additional fears to their German Allies concerning the apparent weakness of the Italian forces. The arrival of reinforcements from various Italian units such as the 3rd Cavalry Division "Principe Amedeo Duca d'Aosta", the Regiment "Savoia Cavalleria", the Skiers Battalion "Monte Cervino", and 5th Infantry Division "Cosseria" allowed the Italian 9th Infantry Division "Pasubio" and 3rd Infantry Division "Ravenna" to mount a successful defence against further Soviet advances even though not all lost territories had been recovered.

First Battle of Don
Part of Italian Participation on the Eastern Front
The Eastern Front and the directions of the German summer offensive of 1942.
Date 20 August – 1 September 1942 Location Don region, Soviet Union Result Defensive Italian victory
Belligerents
Italy Supported by:  Germany	Soviet Union Supported by:  United Kingdom
Commanders and leaders
Giovanni Messe	Andrey Yeryomenko
Casualties and losses
900 killed 4200 injured 1700 missing

Background

Mussolini had been focused on making Italy more prominent on the eastern front since summer 1941 to enhance its prestige as well as allow Italy to be able to access the necessary raw materials. Following the German setback at Moscow, in early 1942, Mussolini was pressured by Hitler to increase the Italian commitment which resulted in the creation of the Italian Army in Russia (ARMIR, also known as Italian Eighth Army) on 1 May 1942, with General Italo Gariboldi in command. The ARMIR consisted of the Italian Expeditionary Corps in Russia (CSIR), which had been renamed the XXXV Army Corps, under General Giovanni Messe, and the II Army Corps and the Alpine Army Corps. The ARMIR was deployed to the Don River as part of Operation Blue commencing in July 1942. The earlier plans to deploy the Alpine Army Corps in the Caucasus region had been abandoned by that time. The Italian 3rd Cavalry Division "Principe Amedeo Duca d'Aosta" fought alongside German forces to eliminate the Soviet bridgehead at Serafimovich between July and mid-August. The attacks made by the 3rd Cavalry Division did reduce the size of the Soviet Bridgehead; however, they were unable to destroy it and suffered over 1,700 casualties, after which the division was able to rest and reorganise and was relieved by the 2nd Infantry Division "Sforzesca".^[1][2][3]

Battle

In the month of August in 1942, while the German 6th Army was moving toward Stalingrad and crossed the Volga River on August 23rd, the Red Army undertook a series of counter-attacks against Axis forces along the Don River in order to disrupt Axis lines of communication and to hinder the progression of the German Army. Between August 13th and the 18th, both the Voronezh Front and the Stalingrad Front launched attacks against the Hungarian and Italian sectors and established key bridgeheads at both Korotojak and Kremenskaya. On August 20th, the Italian XXXV Army Corps' "Sforzesca" division were attacked by Soviet forces (the 63rd and 21st Armies). Eventually, the XXXV Army Corps' front line collapsed as a result of the surprisingly powerful and coordinated Soviet offensive and they retreated in a disorganized fashion toward Jagodnij and Čebotarevskij.^[4]

Following the Italian Army's defeat at Isbuscenskij the ARMIR sent in additional troops to shore up their failing position along the Don with the deployment of the 3rd Cavalry Division "Principe Amedeo Duca d'Aosta", the Skiers Battalion "Monte Cervino", the Croatian Legion, and units from the German Army to stabilize the line. They launched a counterattack against the Soviet position on August 23rd that was not successful, but the Italian cavalry squadron groups of the Regiment "Savoia Cavalleria" managed to delay the Soviet forces' progress for a brief period at the Isbuscenskij area. The Soviet 14th Guards and 203rd Rifle Divisions managed to launch further attacks, but they made little headway into Italian positions before the Axis command succeeded in re-establishing their line by the 26th of August.^[2]

Aftermath

On September 1st a new German-Italian counteroffensive began, but it again failed, leaving Soviet forces in the newly captured Serafimovič bridgehead with firm ground. Meanwhile Soviet Forces began the offensive against German units.^[1]