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From a series on the Great War, a 1916 map on the the Sixth Battle of the Isonzo, Italian commander Luigi Cadorna's offensive in August of the same year. The Italians crossed much of the Isonzo, and took Gorizia. The Austro-Hungarians continued to hold high ground to the east. Map labels include: River Isonzo, Gorizia, Doberdo Plateau, Carso Plateau, Gradisca, Monfalcone, Gulf of Panzano. Text: Area of General Cadorna's successful operations against Gorizia, August 1916. The Isonzo Valley forms the eastern line for the defense of Italy, and its possession was essential to the realization of Italian ideals. Gorizia, its main strategic position, was captured on August 9th, 1916, by the Italians, who thus secured possession of the key to Trieste.

From a series on the Great War, a 1916 map on the the Sixth Battle of the Isonzo, Italian commander Luigi Cadorna's offensive in August of the same year. The Italians crossed much of the Isonzo, and took Gorizia. The Austro-Hungarians continued to hold high ground to the east. © The Great War

Image text

Map labels include:

River Isonzo, Gorizia, Doberdo Plateau, Carso Plateau, Gradisca, Monfalcone, Gulf of Panzano

Text:

Area of General Cadorna's successful operations against Gorizia, August 1916. The Isonzo Valley forms the eastern line for the defense of Italy, and its possession was essential to the realization of Italian ideals. Gorizia, its main strategic position, was captured on August 9th, 1916, by the Italians, who thus secured possession of the key to Trieste.

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Saturday, October 27, 1917

"The momentum of the Austro-German offensive rapidly increased. Before morning of the 25th [October 1917], the Italians had been driven back to their boundary line and were preparing to evacuate the Bainsizza Plateau. More than 30,000 prisoners had been taken by the Germans.

By the 26th, the Austro-Germans, with stunning rapidity, had expelled the Italians from the Carso Plateau and were within sight of the Plain of Venice; the number of prisoners had now increased to 60,000 and the captured guns to 450. On the 27th, the German troops had forced their way into the burning town of Cividale on the Venetian Plain.

The whole Italian front, from the Alps to the Adriatic, was now wavering."

Quotation Context

In eleven Battles of the Isonzo from June 23, 1915 to September 12, 1917 the Italian army under the command of Luigi Cadorna had crossed the border into Austria-Hungary, crossed the Isonzo River, and taken plateaus and mountain peaks, only to look on more peaks beyond. Though they had nearly broken the defending forces, they had done so at great cost to themselves. When German and Austro-Hungarian forces attacked on October 24, 1917 in their first offensive of the Isonzo, the Italian Second Army, and then the entire front, collapsed.

Source

King's Complete History of the World War by W.C. King, pp. 344–345, copyright © 1922, by W.C. King, publisher: The History Associates, publication date: 1922

Tags

1917-10-27, 1917, October, Carso Plateau, Bainsizza Plateau, Carso, Bainsizza, Battle of Caporetto, Caporetto, Twelfth Battle of the Isonzo, Twelfth Isonzo, Isonzo,