Photographs from the Battle of the Piave River.

A collection of 132 photographs, and two reproductions of paintings. Held in a cheap contemporary folder and a handsome leather case misleadingly entitled "Kriegsjahr 1914 - 1915", but nearly all from

The photographs appear to have been collected by one Carl Csabai, originally from Baden bei Wien in Austria, and apparently serving in the 21st Infantry Battalion, 1st Ersatzkompagnie. The Italian front was opened up after the Russian Revolution effectively ended the Eastern Front, and Austro-Hungarian forces, with German support, attacked in North Eastern Italy. After initial successes they were driven back by the Italian army in the Battle of the Piave River, known in Italian as the Battaglia del Solstizio: parts of the Austro-Hungarian army were isolated on the wrong side of the Piave and as many as 20,000 drowned trying to recross the river. As well as characteristic studies of the devastation of the battlefield, we also have a fine photograph of displaced peasantry moving all their possessions in an ox-cart, resting soldiers, and one remarkable image of a woman covered in flour or whitewash, passing by a crowd of jeering Austro-Hungarian soldiers. Locations include Wippachthal (unlocatable by us, and possibly now known by an Italian name), Sesto, Camino, Cordovado and Codroipo. Most of the photographs have printed postcard versos, and some seem to be commercially produced (though by different outfits), with numbers in the negative, but others appear too personal or too inept to have been professional work, and may be his own handiwork.

Stock Code: 130888