Battle of Versa

Battle of Versa
Part of the Third Italian War of Independence
The Regiment Lancieri di Firenze at Ponte di Versa
Date 26 July 1866 Location Versa, Venetia Result Italian victory
Belligerents
Kingdom of Italy	Austrian Empire
Commanders and leaders
Alberto La Forest de Divonne	Török
Strength
2,000	2,800
Casualties and losses
6 killed 29 wounded 30 missing [1]	30 killed 64 wounded 83 missing [1]

The Battle of Versa took place on the 26 July 1866 during the Third Italian War of Independence in the Italian unification process.

The Italian army, jointly commanded by Alberto La Forest de Divonne, defeated the Austrian army guarding the crossing of the Torre river at Ponte di Versa, present-day fraction of Romans d'Isonzo in the province of Gorizia. This marked the maximum Italian advance into Friuli.

Order of Battle

• Austrian Army:
  • Two squadrons of the Württemberg Hussar Regiment (300 men)
  • 18 companies of the Regiments "Archduke L. Vittore", "Nagy", "Grand Duke of Tuscany" (2,500 men)
  • 7th Artillery Regiment (2 pieces)[2]
• Italian Army:
  • Five cavalry squadrons of the 9th Regiment "Lancieri di Firenze" (400 men)
  • Fourteen companies of the X, XVI, XXII, and XXXV Bersaglieri battalions (1,600 men)
  • 5th Battery of the 8th Artillery Regiment (6 pieces)[2]

Battle

The battle took place after noon and continued until 14:00 on the wooden bridge over the Torre river, between the Italian army arriving from Palmanova, as the vanguard of Cialdini's expedition, and the Austrian troops encamped on the bank left of the Torre torrent.[3][4]

After the war, 38 Italian soldiers were awarded, and the Regiment Lancieri di Firenze received the bronze medal for military valor.[5]

In 2016, some graves of the soldiers who fell during the battle were found in the bed of the Torre.[6]

See also

• Italian unification
• Regiment "Lancieri di Firenze" (9th)
• Torre

References

1. Alberto Prelli (2009). Palma 1866: cronaca di un assedio incruento (PDF). Quaderni del Civico Museo Storico della Città di Palmanova. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2016-10-20. Retrieved 2020-12-31.
2. "Storia dell'8º Reggimento Artiglieria Terrestre "Pasubio"". Esercito Italiano.
3. Edo Caligaris (26 July 2015). Versa ricorda la battaglia del 1866. Il Piccolo.
4. F. Tassin (2004). Pieve di Trivignano: Popolo e Chiesa (XVI- XX sec ). Comune di Trivignano. p. 136.
5. "Reggimento Lancieri di Firenze (9°)". Museo Storico dell'Arma di Cavalleria di Pinerolo. Archived from the original on 2016-06-01. Retrieved 2020-12-31.
6. Edo Calligaris (25 July 2016). "Quella croce che ricorda la battaglia di Versa". Il Piccolo.

Bibliography

• Massimo Portelli (1966). La Campagna del 1866 nel Friuli Orientale: il combattimento di Verta e armistizio di Cormons. Gorizia.
• Alberto Prelli (2009). Palma 1866: cronaca di un assedio incruento (PDF). Quaderni del Civico Museo Storico Palmanova. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2016-10-20. Retrieved 2020-12-31.