THE AUSTRO-GERMAN OFFENSIVE IN ITALY

In the preceding chapters we have been told of the Italian successes gained in the summer of 1917 and the spasmodic fighting following them. The latter was frequently interrupted by periods of comparative quiet, and sometimes during the early fall of 1917 very vague rumors would be heard to the effect that they ought to be interpreted as the proverbial calm before the storm. However, as time passed and nothing of any import occurred, it began to look as if the Central Powers had decided to maintain the positions they occupied during the winter.

It will be recalled that the last fighting of any extent took place about October 15, 1917. This was followed by about a week of comparative quiet. Suddenly on October 21, 1917, reports came from Rome that Italian observers had noticed the removal of troops from the Trentino and Carso fronts to the Bainsizza Plateau, as well as the arrival of fresh contingents from the Russian front, where evidently the Germans apparently expected no further serious developments. Usually activity was also reported in the Austrian trenches.

On the preceding day, October 20, 1917, notwithstanding adverse atmospheric conditions on the Trentino front, brisk engagements with rifle fire took place here and there. Northeast of Laghi Pesinar Austrian parties were driven back and counterattacked by Italian patrols. In the Booche region in the Pellegrino Valley Austrian parties came in contact with the garrisons of the Italian advanced posts, but after a fierce struggle they were forced to withdraw to their positions. On the Julian front the Austrian artillery showed spasmodic activity. Italian batteries replied with well-directed bursts of fire and effective concentration.

The air continued to be full of rumors. On October 23, 1917, it was semiofficially reported that "General Cadorna is making preparations on an extensive scale for an important military movement, but that there could not be any disclosure, for military reasons, of the objective, extent, or character of the movement or when the Italian offensive will be resumed."

Another report had it "that British and French soldiers, guns, munitions were being sent by train to the Italian front."

Still another bit of gossip was that reports of an impending Austrian offensive had proved to be unfounded and that "General Cadorna desired to start a new offensive against Austria and as a consequence there had been an extreme enlivenment of trench, mortar, and artillery firing from the Tolmino to the southern Carso and over the entire area of the Bainsizza Plateau, which was still in progress. Although the firing was uninterrupted on the part of the Italians, it was declared not to be the prelude of a fresh attack."

The reports covering events at the front during the preceding day, October 22, 1917, showed that the Italian positions on Monte Piana, in the Cadore, were strongly attacked by Austro-German forces. After heavy fighting the enemy was driven back with severe loss. On the following morning, October 23, 1917, Italian storming parties recaptured a portion of their intrenchments which the Austrians had temporarily occupied.

On the remainder of the front there were lively local engagements. In the Cordevole Valley and at the head of the Padola Valley the Italians repulsed enemy detachments.

On the Julian front the artillery action continued intense the whole day. The weather conditions were favorable also to aerial activity.

From then on events as reported from the front made it clearer and clearer day by day that the Austrians, supported by strong German reenforcements, were about to launch an important offensive movement, the extent of which, of course, at that time could not be predicted. By October 23, 1917, the fighting activity had been perceptibly revived in the Tyrolean, Carnia, and Isonzo regions. German artillery took part in the artillery battle, and German and Austro-Hungarian infantrymen captured the foremost Italian positions near Flitsch and Tolmino and in the northern portion of the Bainsizza Plateau, taking some thousands of prisoners.

On October 24, 1917, after an interval of a few hours, the Austrians resumed the violent bombardment all along the front, with a specially destructive fire on that portion between the southern slopes of Monte Rombon and the northern edge of the Bainsizza Plateau, where afterward a strong infantry attack was launched. The Narrows of Saga resisted the hostile blow; but farther south, favored by a thick mist which rendered useless the Italian barrage fire, the Austrians succeeded in breaking through the Italian lines on the left bank of the Isonzo.

Taking advantage of the bridgehead of Santa Maria and Santa Lucia, they then brought the battle on to the slopes of the right bank of the river.

At the same time, powerful attacks were made to the west of Volnik, on the Bainsizza Plateau, and on the western slopes of Monte San Gabriele, but they were kept in check by the Italian troops, which in the course of successful counterattacks captured a few hundred prisoners. On the Carso, a violent Austrian bombardment was effectively countered by Italian batteries. The Germans claimed that up to the end of the day more than 10,000 prisoners, including divisional and brigade staffs, and rich booty in guns and war material had been taken.

The offensive against the Italian left wing on the Julian front continued during the night and on October 25, 1917, conducted by powerful forces. From Montemaggiore to the west of Auzza the Italians were forced to withdraw to their boundary line, in consequence of which they had to provide for the evacuation of the Bainsizza Plateau. East of Goritz and on the Carso the situation remained unchanged.

This meant that the Germans, profiting by their success in breaking through the line near Flitsch and Tolmino, were advancing beyond Caporetto and Ronzina. They were already fighting at many places on Italian territory. The number of prisoners had increased to more than 30,000, of whom 700 were officers. The booty amounted to more than 300 guns, including many heavy ones.

The Austro-German offensive now began to gain more and more momentum almost every hour. It became known that Von Mackensen was in supreme command of the forces of the Central Powers. Favored by good weather, the German and Austro-Hungarian divisions pressed forward irresistibly over heights and through the valleys. The steep mountain ridge of Stol was captured and soon afterward the strongly fortified summit of Monte Matajur, 1,641 meters high, fell.

The Germans claimed that by now the number of prisoners had increased to 60,000 and the captured guns to 450 and that inestimable quantities of war materials were yet to be salved from the captured Italian positions.

After having crossed the boundary line between Monte Canin and the head of the Judrio Valley, the Austrians, by October 26, 1917, were attempting to reach an opening on the plains. On the Carso their effort was increasing. Strong offensive thrusts, however, were repulsed by the Italian troops. The worst fears now began to be realized and with stunning swiftness the Austro-German forces forced back the Italians from territory which the latter had gained only by fighting most valiantly for months. In spite of determined resistance, which only in some instances was not all that might have reasonably been expected, the Italian forces were thrown back by powerful thrusts. In the evening of October 27, 1917, German troops forced their way into the burning town of Cividale, the first town in point of position in the plain. The Italian front as far as the Adriatic Sea was now wavering. The Austro-German troops were pressing forward on the whole line. Goritz, the much-disputed town in the Isonzo battles, was taken early on October 28, 1917, by Austro-Hungarian Divisions.

Cividale is a town of about 5,000 inhabitants, nine miles northeast of the important railroad center of Udine. It is near the entrance to the valley of the Natisone River, along which the Austro-German forces which broke the Italian line in the Tolmino region battered their way. Cividale is in the foothills of the Julian Alps, beyond which lie the plains of northern Italy.

Goritz was captured by the Italians on August 9, 1916. It is a town of 31,000 inhabitants on the Isonzo, halfway down the river from Tolmino to the sea. It is strongly situated among hills of great defensive value, in which there was heavy fighting before the Italians reached the city itself. Goritz is twenty-two miles northwest of Trieste, Austria's big seaport at the head of the Adriatic, the capture of which is one of the principal Italian aspirations in the war.

By October 28, 1917, the defeated second Italian army was retreating toward the Tagliamento. The third Italian army, it was claimed, offered only brief resistance to the attack against their positions from Wippach to the sea and hastily retreated along the Adriatic coast. North of the broad sector which had been pierced, the Italian front also was now yielding as far as the Ploecken Pass.

Italian rear guards vainly endeavored to stem the advance of the armies of the Central Powers. Austro-Hungarian troops were then standing before Udine, hitherto the grand Italian headquarters. Other Austro-Hungarian divisions captured Cormons, and were approaching the frontier in the coastal region.

All roads were covered with retreating columns and cars belonging to the Italian army and to the Italian population, who, overcome by the sudden disaster to their armies, were fleeing in a pathetic disorder, matched only by the flight of the Belgian civilians in the early part of the war.

The number of prisoners and the quantity of booty was reported as continually increasing. Violent tempests and heavy rains prevailed on the vast fighting area of the twelfth Isonzo battle, but seemed to have no influence on the furious onslaughts of the invading hordes.

On October 29, 1917, the fall of Udine was announced. It is sixty miles northeast of Venice, ten miles east of the frontier, sixteen miles west of the new Tagliamento line, and only 300 feet above sea level. It is situated on the Roia Canal, a branch of the Torre River. It is a quaint and prosperous town, chiefly interested in the manufacture of hemp, flax, and cotton goods, is the capital of the province, the seat of an archbishop, and has a population of 25,000. In the present war Udine had been the general headquarters of the second and third Italian armies. Five railways radiate from Udine west to link up with the Venetian-Quadrilateral system, by which the second and third armies have been supplied; north, across the frontier, to link up with the Vienna-Trentino line; northeast only as far as Cividale, whence the town was invested; southeast, via Goritz to Trieste; and due south, over the lower plains to a small steam tramway which skirts the marshes.

By then, too, the Italian Carnia front seemed to have collapsed on the most important sectors. During a snowstorm Austrian troops wrested from the Italians frontier positions which they had built up during two and a half years southwest of Tarvis, near Pontafel, in the Ploecken region, and on St. Pal. Advancing out of the Carnic Alps the invaders set foot on Venetian soil along the entire front, and were pressing forward against the upper course of the Tagliamento, even though the Italians destroyed, wherever possible, bridges and other means of communication in order to delay the hostile advance.

In spite of valiant efforts on the part of the Italians to stem the tide of invaders, the latter gained new successes on the last day of October, 1917. Portions of the Italian army made a stand at the Tagliamento. Austro-Hungarian forces, however, stormed the last Tagliamento bridgehead, near Latisana, on the lower reaches of the river, south of Codroipo. The bridgehead positions at the latter place and at Dignano were taken by storm by German troops. The Germans claimed that as a result of these operations more than 60,000 Italians, cut off and outflanked on both sides, laid down their arms, and that the number of prisoners taken by them had increased to more than 180,000 and that the number of guns captured had increased to more than 1,500. Late that day such Italian forces as were still maintaining themselves on the eastern bank of the Tagliamento near Pinzano and Latisana were either driven back or taken prisoners. In less than a week's fighting the troops of the Central Powers had pushed forward a thirty-mile front an average distance of thirty miles, making the total of the territory wrested from the Italians some 1,000 square miles.

On November 1, 1917, it was reported that Anglo-French reenforcements had reached the Italian front. Of course, these were comparatively small in number and were sent more for the moral effect their arrival would have than for any actual military value. The battle continued without let-up. Along the middle and lower Tagliamento the opposing armies were in continuous fighting contact. By evening the left bank of the river had been cleared of Italians from the Fella Valley to the Adriatic Sea. That the Italian armies were not totally annihilated was due solely to the efficient rear-guard actions which parts of them had fought against terrific odds.

During November 2 and 3, 1917, the fighting along the Tagliamento was chiefly done by the artillery of both armies. The Germans again claimed large increases in the number of prisoners and guns captured. On the other hand the Italians claimed that a great many of the 200,000 so-called prisoners were mainly workmen or other units of a noncombatant nature and that of the "more than 1,800 guns" the majority were machine guns.