General Luigi Cadorna, chief of staff of the Italian Army

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Postmarked October 10, 1916

Generale Luigi Cadorna

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Saturday, March 11, 1916

"By early March the hard-press Joffre was calling for his allies to launch supporting offensives. Cadorna wanted to wait for the spring thaw before renewing the attack on Gorizia. Reluctantly he promised a modest 'offensive demonstration'. Publicly, he gave it a grander name: it would be a 'vigorous offensive' along the length of the Isonzo.

Starting on 11 March [1916] with a 48-hour bombardment, the Fifth Battle of the Isonzo concentrated on the middle reach of the river between Tolmein and Mount San Michele. This involved the usual bloodbath on the hill a Podgora, where Zeidler's Dalmatian units resisted with their normal doggedness."

Quotation Context

The Battle of Verdun began on February 21, 1916, and had been unceasing since. French commander Joseph Joffre pleaded with his allies to launch attacks to draw of German forces. Joffre's Italian counterpart Luigi Cadorna added the first of 1916's Battles of the Isonzo to the four he had directed in 1915. Erwin Zeidler was the Austro-Hungarian general in command of the 58th Infantry Division through most of the Battles of the Isonzo River.

Source

The White War: Life and Death on the Italian Front, 1915-1919 by Mark Thompson, page 157, copyright © 2008 Mark Thompson, publisher: Basic Books, publication date: 2009

Tags

1916-03-11, 1916, March, Cadorna, Luigi Cadorna, Fifth Battle of the Isonzo, Isonzo, Fifth Isonzo