6/24/2023 0 Comments 12th battle of the isonzoThe artillery’s inefficacy, difficult terrain and the predictability of the Italian attacks represented the biggest liability for Cadorna’s plans.ĭeserters, Losses and Stabilizing the Front ↑ĭeserters represented an important factor during the first assaults the high losses led many soldiers to escape when a new offensive was about to start, thus giving the Austrians important information on the Italian plans. These attempts continued until December 1915. This decision was senseless from a strategic point of view, but represented the ideal symbolic aim to gain popular support for the war. Thus, Cadorna decided to focus all his efforts on the conquest of Gorizia and strengthening the southern part of the front towards Trieste. The Italian artillery proved inadequate on this occasion, with short artillery barrages due to the lack of ammunition. The first attack started on 23 June 1915 with the artillery hitting the Austrian defenses and the 2 nd Army moving towards Gorizia, while the 3 rd Army tried to move towards the Carso plateau. Cadorna mistakenly thought he could compensate these weaknesses with numerical superiority and soldiers’ motivation. Ammunition and machine guns were also in low supply early in the war this problem was only resolved in 1916. The artillery proved to be inefficient in the first phase of war, consisting of around 2,200 pieces, mostly light 75mm guns. In fact, the Italians suffered from poor logistics and a lack of modern weapons, like machine guns. ![]() However, the enemy’s resistance proved to be stronger than expected and prevented the Italians from implementing their initial plan of an easy advance to Ljubljana. The primary objective was to drive the Austrians away from their main defensive line. Instead of engaging in a frontal attack, a young officer Erwin Rommel ordered that this position be bypassed and that the successive advance should be towards west.The First Wave: 23 June – 15 December 1915 ↑ Underestimating the Enemy ↑Īfter the start of Italian military operations on, the commander in chief General Luigi Cadorna (1850-1928) decided to prepare a wide and massive offensive. Even in this case the bombardments were devastating and the soldiers easily reached Height 1114, the seat of a fortified Italian position. At 3.30 pm the bridge on the river Isonzo was blown up but despite this, before sunset the German troops entered the small city together with two thousand Italian prisoners.Īlso on the same day a contingent consisting of Alpenkorps and of a mountain battalion from Württemberg left Tolmino and attacked directly the western side, aiming at the peaks of the Kolovrat. At noon they reached Kamno and two hours later they were at the doors of Caporetto, preceded only by Italian soldiers who were hurriedly abandoning all their positions. ![]() The German battalions started to climb back from the bottom of the valley in a northerly direction, meeting on their way only a few Italian soldiers who, in the absence of any official orders, did not even fire a single shot. General Pietro Badoglio only started to organize this retreat on 22nd October and allowed the Austro-German forces a considerable advantage. The survivors were given the order to withdraw and so allowed free passage to the village of Saga to the Army Corps led by General Alfred Krauss.Īt Tolmino instead the Italian troops were taken completely by surprise: the order to retreat towards the nearby plateau of Kolovrat, received on 10th October, was ignored for several days. The first zone was well defended by the Italian army but besides bombs, even hand grenades and poison gas were used and in a short while more than 700 soldiers of the Friuli Battalion were killed. The Austro-German troops moved simultaneously both in the north, around Mount Rombon, as well as in the south, at Tolmino. The Twelfth Battle of the Isonzo was under way. The frontline was isolated and at seven in the morning the infantry came out of its trenches. The bombs fell relentlessly for five hours and destroyed a large part of the Italian structures. The cannons of the Austro-German troops were aimed at the rear, on their lines of communication, on observers and on the artillery positions. ![]() To the great surprise of all the soldiers of the Second Army, at 2.00 in the morning of 24th October 1917 the Italian lines between Plezzo and Tolmino started to be attacked by an unprecedented bombardment both as regards its intensity as well as its precision.
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