Charge of the Savoia Cavalleria at Izbushensky

The charge of the Savoia Cavalleria at Izbushensky was a clash between the Italian cavalry regiment Savoia Cavalleria and the Soviet 812th Siberian Infantry Regiment, part of the Soviet 304th Infantry Division, that took place on August 24, 1942, near the hamlet (khutor) of Izbushensky (Избушенский), close to the junction between the Don and Khopyor rivers.

Though a minor skirmish in the theatre of operation of the Eastern Front, the Izbushensky charge had a great propaganda resonance in Italy and it is still remembered as one of the last cavalry charges in history.

Background
On 20 August, the Soviets launched an offensive on the Don river. The Sforzesca division couldn't withstand the enemy attack and in two days it was routed. The Savoia Cavalleria regiment, under command of Colonel Alessandro, Count Bettoni Cazzago, was sent as a relief force in the area, with orders to occupy "spot height 213,5". During the evening of 23 August, it set camp 1,000 meters short of its objective ready to occupy it the next morning. During the night, two battalions of the 812th Siberian Infantry Regiment deployed on the objective. They entrenched themselves in an arc facing the Italian camp about 1,000 meters wide and waiting sunrise to attack.

Charge
On August 24 at 3:30AM an Italian mounted exploring patrol, sent to recon s.h.213,5, made contact with the enemy. The Soviets, having lost the element of surprise, opened fire on the entire line.

With the camp under fire, Col. Bettoni Cazzago had no choice but to order, as a last resort, a cavalry charge with drawn sabers and hand grenades against entrenched infantry.

While the horse drawn artillery (so called "flying batteries" or voloire in Piedmontese language) quickly deployed its four pieces and opened fire, the machine guns deployed at the front of the Italian camp and started firing back.

Col. Bettoni Cazzago ordered then the 2nd squadron (over 100 horsemen) to attack the enemy on the left flank. Under command of Cpt. De Leone, the squadron began a winding maneuver through a gorge, succeeding in engaging the enemy at the left end of the front, outflanking it and storming it longitudinally with drawn sabers and hand grenades.

Corporal Lolli, unable to draw, as his saber was frozen in its sheath, charged holding high a hand grenade; Trumpeter Carenzi, having to handle both trumpet and pistol, shot by mistake his own horse in the head.

Some horses, even though riddled by bullets, would keep galloping for hundreds of meters, squirting blood at every beat, suddenly collapsing only a while after their actual death.

After having crossed just about half of the enemy line the strength of the squadron was already reduced by half, and the commander himself was grounded.

Realizing that the 2nd squadron was taking heavy casualties, and perceiving through his binoculars that the enemy riflemen, after the horsemen had jumped over their holes, would get up and shoot at their back, Col. Bettoni ordered the 4th squadron to dismount and launch a frontal attack. This would allow the 2nd squadron to regroup behind enemy lines and perform the return-charge.

The 4th squadron was led by Cpt. Silvano Abbà, an Olympic bronze medalist with a passion for photography, who was killed while leading his men and was awarded the gold medal.

Once the 2nd squadron was back, its commander urged a new attack. This was performed by 3rd squadron, led by the impatient Cpt. Marchio, who rushed frontally to the enemy without taking the detour through the gorge at the side of the battlefield. Major Alberto Litta Modignani decided on his own accord to join the 3rd squadron charge, together with the remaining horsemen of the command personnel, a dozen of them.

All action had ceased by 9:30am.

Aftermath
32 cavalrymen had died, including the commanders of the 3rd and 4th squadrons, 52 were wounded. Well over 100 horses were also lost. The enemy had left behind 150 dead, 300 wounded, 600 prisoners (among which some Estonian platoons equipped with Italian uniforms taken from the Sforzesca division), 4 cannons, 10 mortars and 50 machine guns.

Shortly afterwards some German liaison cavalry officers arrived. They were deployed at the left of the Savoia and they had witnessed everything from the neighbouring heights. They expressed their wonder and admiration for the anachronistic episode to Bettoni Cazzago saying: "Colonel, these kinds of things, we cannot do them anymore".

After removing the wounded and the dead, the battlefield remained covered with dead horses.

Given that the relatively high casualties would prevent the launching of any more charges, should the need arise, commander Bettoni decided not to pursue the enemy, which thus retained a solid foothold on the west bank of the Don river. However the "Izbushensky Charge", as it was then named, temporarily relieved the whole area of enemy pressure, delayed the full Soviet attack on Tschebotarewskij by 24 hours, and likely bought time for the routed "Sforzesca" division to seek safety.

The bold action was repaid with a gold medal to the regiment standard and to Captain Abbà and Major Litta Modignani who died in action. Another 54 silver medals and 49 war crosses were also awarded.

A much loved and much honoured survivor Italian horse of the Izbushensky charge was Albino, who lived, though blinded in the battle, until 1960.

Media representations
In September 1942 the "Istituto Luce" dispatched a film crew in order to take staged footage of the Savoia in action. The only original pictures were shot by Cpt. Abbà right before starting the attack with the 4th squadron. His camera was found on his body and was returned to his mother by 2nd ltn. Compagnoni. They show, from far away, the dust of the 2nd squadron about to end the first swipe.

In 1952 the movie "Carica Eroica" was made, directed by Francesco De Robertis and based on the Izbushensky Charge.