Map of the Trentino, part of "Italia Irredenta," unredeemed Italy: Venezia Tridentina (Trentino and Alto Adige)

Venezia Tridentina (Trentino and Alto Adige)

Confine del Regno d'Italia

Conf.[ine] Geografico d'Italia

Confine fra Trentino e Alto Adige

Ferrovie

Tramvie

Ist. Geogr. De Agostini-Novara - Riproduzione Interdetta

Venezia Tridentina (Trentino and South Tyrol)

Border of the Kingdom of Italy

Geographic boundary of Italy

Border between Trentino and Alto Adige

Railways

Tramways

Geographic Institute of Agostini-Novara - Reproduction prohibited

Reverse:

Message dated December 14, 1917

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Monday, April 17, 1916

"[General Roberto Brusati] again failed to persuade Cadorna that the situation in Trentino was unusual. Then a Czech officer deserted with precise information about the impending attack. By mid-April [1916], accurate estimates of the Austrian build-up (though not of the artillery) were appearing in the Italian and French press. . . .

Around this time, reportedly, an officer in the alpini presented himself at the Supreme Command in Udine, with important information about the situation in Trentino. After a long wait, a captain on Cadorna's staff emerged: 'His Excellency the Supreme Commander of the Army has no need of advice from Lieutenant Battisti.' The officer thus dismissed was Cesare Battisti, the legendary patriot from Trento, who knew every tree and rock in the threatened sector."

Quotation Context

Having fought a primarily defensive war against Italy on the Isonzo River (five Battles of the Isonzo had already been waged), Austro-Hungarian Chief of Staff Conrad von Hötzendorf prepared an assault to the north and west in the Trentino, hoping to advance to the Adriatic Sea and trap the Italian army in Italy's northeast. Italian Chief of Staff Luigi Cadorna was both unimaginative and skeptical. On May 15, 1916, von Hötzendorf launched his Asiago Offensive. Cesare Battisti, was an Austrio-Hungarian citizen of Italian descent and had been elected a member of the Austrian Reichsrat, the Imperial Council, in 1911, representing Trentino. He joined the Italian army, was captured on the Asiago front on July 10, 1916, and executed two days later.

Source

The White War: Life and Death on the Italian Front, 1915-1919 by Mark Thompson, pp. 162, 163, copyright © 2008 Mark Thompson, publisher: Basic Books, publication date: 2009

Tags

1916-04-17, 1916, April, Asiago Offensive, Italian Front, Trentino, Cadorna, Luigi Cadorna, Battisti, Cesare Battisti