The less successful 10th Battle of the Isonzo River
The Italian army made a breakthrough in the first nine battles of the Isonzo River, inflicting heavy losses on the Austro-Hungarian Isonzo Front, so the Italian General Staff decided to launch the 10th Battle of the Isonzo after surviving the winter of 1916. This time, the Italian army gathered 430 battalions and dispatched as many as 3,800 artillery pieces, while the Italian First Army and the Third Army each had an aviation group responsible for air strikes. With this kind of troop and firepower configuration, it is difficult to lose!
The Italian army divided the 10th Battle of the Isonzo River into three phases, the first of which was to weaken and confuse the Austro-Hungarian army with a massive artillery bombardment along the Tolmino to the coastline. In the second stage, the Italian army was to launch a full-scale offensive in Gorizia, taking control of the last Austro-Hungarian mountain fortress in the area, and controlling the heights of Kuc di Prava, Vodis Mountain, Santo Mountain, and St. Gabriel Mountain, and condescendingly attacked the last line of defense of the Austro-Hungarian army. Finally, in the third stage, the Italian army will launch a general offensive with artillery support, completely occupy the Austro-Hungarian line east of Gorizia and open the passage to control Slovenia.
It is worth mentioning that General Luigi Cardona, of the General Staff of the Italian Army, was an artilleryist, and although the Italian army did not perform well in the previous battles of the Isonzo River, he was also well aware of the individual qualities of the Italian army, but his insistence on the tactics of concentrating heavy artillery as an assault force was fully tested in the previous battles. Under the condition that the quality of the mobilized soldiers was weaker than that of the Austro-Hungarian mountain soldiers, the Italian army tore open the Austro-Hungarian defense line of the Isonzo River with superior firepower, forcing the Austro-Hungarian defense master Baron Svetozar von Boine, known as the "Lion of the Isonzo River", to abandon the defense line and retreat in great strides.
By this time, the situation of the Austro-Hungarian army had become very desperate, and the only line of defense set up by the Austro-Hungarian army before the First Battle of the Isonzo River was the defense line of Mount Elmada, which was the last line of defense to prevent the Italian army from occupying Karst and Trieste, and at the same time, the Austro-Hungarian army had suffered heavy losses in the first nine battles of the Isonzo River, and the morale of the troops had collapsed.
Therefore, the Austro-Hungarian Issonzo Front could only ask for help from the General Staff, and the Austro-Hungarian General Staff, which had no reinforcements at all, could only ask Germany for help. Although Germany agreed to support Austria-Hungary, the German army was also in a dilemma at this time, so the German General Staff made this compromise, provided equipment assistance to Austria-Hungary, and sent some advisers to guide the Austro-Hungarian commander in formulating tactics.
The battle began on May 12, 1917, the Italian artillery carried out a two-day artillery bombardment of the entire Austro-Hungarian line by virtue of its numerical superiority, and the Italian infantry began to attack at noon on May 14, and successfully occupied the Austro-Hungarian 383 and 535 heights positions. The main reason was that the Austro-Hungarian army was really in a state of firepower, 1400 guns could not compete with the 3800 guns of the Italian army, and the Austro-Hungarian army lacked shells and morale was low, and the defenders were forced to abandon their positions and retreat after a short period of resistance.
Later in the day, the Italian forces took control of the Vodice road and occupied the Mont Saint-Gabriel position. Although the Austro-Hungarians attempted to launch a counterattack during the night, the Austro-Hungarians were unable to achieve their goal of retaking their positions due to their lack of troops, and they were forced to withdraw from the battle before dawn to avoid being covered by Italian fire.
The Italians sent more troops across the Isonzo River on 15 May, and the fighting was at a fever pitch when the Austro-Hungarians suddenly launched a counterattack, concentrating their artillery fire on Vodice under the guidance of German advisers. The Italians reacted and immediately dispatched aviation and artillery to support the 53rd Army in Vodice, and after four days of contention, the Austro-Hungarian army was forced to retreat.
With the retreat of the Austro-Hungarian army, Bodres and Grobina, Pahlevo and other places fell one after another. On the afternoon of May 23, the Italian infantry launched an attack with the support of artillery and aviation, conquered the Austro-Hungarian defense line in one fell swoop, and began to divide the Austro-Hungarian troops in a roundabout way. The battle continued until May 28, the Italian army was gaining more and more advantage, the Austro-Hungarian army was losing and retreating, and since the campaign objectives had been basically achieved, the Italian army suspended the offensive on the 29th and turned to rest.
The Austro-Hungarian army launched a sudden counterattack in June, which took the Italians by surprise, and the Italians did not expect that the already defeated Austro-Hungarian army still had the strength to launch a counterattack. The Austro-Hungarian army recaptured the Faiti Line, which had been held by the Italians, on 3 June. The Austro-Hungarian army then continued to launch a counterattack at dawn on the 4th, and the Austro-Hungarian army concentrated its forces and firepower to attack the narrow front of the Italian army, and the Italian 20th Infantry Division was quickly repulsed, and the Austro-Hungarian army not only recaptured Elmada and Duino, but also recaptured control of the Trieste-Monfalcone railway.
Since the total number of Italian casualties in the 10th Battle of the Isonzo River was as high as 160,000, of which 36,000 were killed, the Italian General Staff decided to go to a state of rest and replenish its forces in preparation for the next offensive. At the same time, the Italian air force was ordered to carry out continuous air raids on the positions of the Austro-Hungarian army, and the Austro-Hungarian army did not have enough aviation to fight for air supremacy, nor did it have enough firepower to counter the air attack, and the Austro-Hungarian army suffered 90,000 casualties in the 10th campaign, which made the situation of the Austro-Hungarian army very embarrassing.
The 11th Battle of the Isonzo River, Italy's final victory
In August 1917, the Italian General Staff ordered the launch of the 11th Battle of the Isonzo River, this time the Italian army gathered 500,000 people, 5,200 artillery pieces, and the Italian General Staff planned to launch an offensive in the upper reaches of the Isonzo River and the San Gabriele Mountain, dividing and annihilating the Austro-Hungarian army. The Austro-Hungarian army gathered 200,000 men, 2,200 artillery pieces, and its main task was to hold the defense line of Monte Saint-Gabriele and Elmada.
On August 18, 1917, the Italian army launched a heavy artillery bombardment of the Austro-Hungarian position, and then the Italian 3rd Army began a full-scale attack on the Austro-Hungarian line in the upper reaches of the Isonzo River, due to the relatively turbulent water in the upper reaches of the river, the river bank was steep. Here, the Austro-Hungarian army adopted a rigid defense strategy, trying to rely on the terrain advantage to attack half-way as much as possible and weaken the Italian army's strength across the river. As a result, the Italian crossings were very slow, and the sappers had to move to the central Isonzo River basin in search of a suitable place to build bridges.
In all fairness, the Italian army had completely broken through the southern defense line of the Isonzo River in the ninth battle before, in fact, there was no need to be obsessed with forcibly crossing on the northern front, as long as the northern line was contained, crossing the river from the southern line and then going north, but the Italian army decided to ride the northern defense line of the north of Isonzo River head-on, probably because of the Italian army's artillery superiority, which gave the Italian army confidence, right?
To get back to the point, the Italians also launched a surprise operation on the southern front on 19 August, but instead of attacking from south to north, the Italians continued to attack the Austro-Hungarian line to the east, trying to seize the last line of Austro-Hungarian defense in that direction. On August 80, the Italian army began to attack the Austro-Hungarian fortress of Kalena, which was a permanent Austro-Hungarian fortification, dissatisfied with the trenches, pillboxes, bunkers. The Italian artillery concentrated their fire on the fortress of Calena, while the infantry tried to surround the fortress and allow the follow-up troops to bypass the fortress and continue to attack the Austro-Hungarian positions.
Then, on 22 August, the Italian army captured the commanding heights of the Kalova Mountains in the Urchi Mountains. The next day, the Israeli army continued to attack along the Caldicarena Line, and the collapsed Austro-Hungarian army was forced to retreat, and the Italian army captured a large amount of necessary supplies on the road, and also captured 19,000 prisoners, including 540 Austro-Hungarian officers, which greatly exceeded the expectations of the Italian General Staff, and doubted whether the Austro-Hungarian army was brewing any conspiracy, so it ordered the troops to suspend the pursuit, and turn to the defense on the spot to wait for rotation.
The fears of the Italian General Staff were not unreasonable, the collapse of the Austro-Hungarian army was too unexpected, and the Italian army had already lost a lot of ammunition in the assault, and the infantry's physical strength was at its limit, so it was wise to turn to a defensive state at this time. In fact, the Italian General Staff was too cautious, they did not take into account that it was their artillery superiority that broke the will of the Austro-Hungarian army, and when the Italian army suspended the offensive on August 29, it had already controlled the entire eastern area of Gorizia, and controlled the east bank of the Faiti River and a number of positions in the core commanding heights of the Austro-Hungarian army, although the 464 and 378 heights were still in the hands of the Austro-Hungarian army, but the collapse of the Austro-Hungarian situation was irreversible.
The Italians resumed their offensive on 4 September, and the Italians engaged in a fierce battle with the Austro-Hungarian army on Mont Saint-Gabriel, and although the two sides continued to fight here until mid-September, the Italians made progress on other fronts. It was in mid-September that the fighting between the two sides reached a fever pitch, the two sides fought fiercely around the Madonie area, the positions changed hands repeatedly, and even the commander of the 44th Italian Division, General Achille, was killed here, and finally the Italian army seized the position with the support of aviation, captured 2,460 prisoners, and won the Battle of the Isonzo River. The Italian army also suffered 160,000 casualties in the 11th Battle of the Isonzo River, and the Austro-Hungarian army suffered 120,000 casualties. The total casualties of both sides in the last two battles of the Isonzo River were 320,000 for the Italian army and 210,000 for the Austro-Hungarian army, and both sides suffered heavy casualties. After the victory, the Italian army began to advance towards Caporetto, and Austria-Hungary could only continue to ask Germany for help.