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Austro-Hungarian graves in the Dolomite Mountains.
Metal grave marker of Deputy Paymaster Paul Wolke and Infantryman Paul Lindemann, died June 20 and 22, respectively, 1918. From the Laventie German Military Cemetery, Laventie, France. © 2013 by John M. Shea
1933 chewing gum card of Italian ace Francesco Baracca, card number 8 from the National Chicle Company Sky Birds Series of 48 pilots and airplanes of World War I. Baracca had 34 victories when he was killed in action on June 21, 1918. The spelling of Baracca's name is correct on the front, and incorrect on the back. © Copr. 1933
Austro-Hungarian trench art pencil drawing on pink paper of a soldier in a ragged, many-times-patched uniform, labeled 'Bilder ohne Worte' (No Comment, or Picture without Words). Kaiser Karl who succeeded Emperor Franz Joseph is on reverse. The printed text on the reverse is in Hungarian and German.
Zweibund — the Dual Alliance — Germany and Austria-Hungary united, were the core of the Central Powers, and here join hands. The bars of Germany's flag border the top left, and those of the Habsburg Austrian Empire and ruling house the bottom right.
"Conrad's divisions were too hard pressed to transfer men to the Piave. In fact, the opposite happened: the Italians transferred forces from the mountains to the river. When these reinforcements arrived, on 19 June [1918], the Italians counter-attacked along the Piave. They failed to crack the bridgeheads, but the Austrian position was untenable. Pontoons that had survived the bombing were damaged by high water and debris. Blašković's regiment (the 3rd Bosnia & Herzegovina Infantry) ran out of shells and bullets; the men fought on with bayonets and hand-grenades until a Hungarian regiment managed to bring up a few crates of ammunition from the river." ((1), more)
"Laying tapes over ground sounds delightfully simple; but throw in innumerable shell-holes and small ponds, wire and iron stakes, the possibility of 'stopping one,' or of meeting prowling Germans; mix all these on a dark night, and the operation of distributing 'millinery'—as Jones called it—by the compass was, to our minds, a good sample of hell. The tapes must not be too short, or they would not guide sufficiently. If they were too long they might be discovered, and the whole show given away. We laid over thirty tapes, some of them twice as we found they had been shifted—patrols were not too careful when they crossed them. Wire had to be cut away, or cleared to one side to make a path, as the tape had to be run out straight; someone had his work cut out to stop sentries loosing off when the tins, cans and old iron rattle on the wire when we cut it away." ((2), more)
"While the Allies absorbed successive blows on the Western Front, on June 15, Austro-Hungarian forces crossed the Piave in a bid to defeat Italy. The Italians were dug in and determined, however, and both their aircraft and the RAF's severely punished the Austro-Hungarian bridgeheads until the 19th, when the offensive stalled, and throughout the Austrian's subsequent withdrawal back across the river. Amid those strafing operations, Italy lost its leading ace and leader of its most elite unit, the 91a Squadriglia, when Maggiore Francesco Baracca's Spad XIII crashed near Montello, apparently a victim of ground fire. Baracca, dead with a bullet through the head, had 34 victories to his credit. The Battle of the Piave ended on June 22 with about 190,000 Austro-Hungarian casualties." ((3), more)
"The next day the Austro-Hungarians brought up reserves to expand their bridgehead over the Piave and to take Papadopli island in the centre of the river. Day after day the battle raged, and the fierce Italian defence steadily destroyed the Habsburg army. Throughout the battle the Italian air force had command of the sky and strafed the desperate soldiers below. On 22 June Boroević decided his troops were incapable of any further offensive and started to withdraw them to defensive positions on the east bank of the river. The island of Papadopli was held to cover the retreat." ((4), more)
"Now we undertake a strategic withdrawal — a strategic withdrawal always succeeds! (A few cries of 'Hurrah!' and scattered cheering.) And I have been certain from the start that the enemy will not prevent the manoeuvres we have envisaged for years and now been implementing for days. Our operations are being carried out according to plan. We have simply disengaged from the enemy and now we are drawing him after us! Then we'll give 'em a kicking! The men's morale is sky-high! Gentlemen, we shall be as firm as a rock and we shall never yield! The more opportunity we give the enemy to push forward, the more chance we have to wear him out! That is the tactic we put to the test on the Somme. That is the tactic which shall also succeed on the Piave. So, let's have no defeatist talk! God is on our side! We'd pull it off — against a world full of devils! The enemy — be assured, gentlemen — the enemy will shatter against us as against a bronze wall of flame —" ((5), more)
(1) The Second Battle of the Piave was launched by the Austro-Hungarians on June 15, 1918 along a front from the Asiago Plateau to the Adriatic Sea. General Franz Conrad von Hötzendorf commanded the northern mountainous sector. With support from French and British troops, particularly artillery, the Italians stopped Conrad's offensive in after two days, allowing them to transfer reinforcements the the southern Piave River sector where the battle still raged.
The White War: Life and Death on the Italian Front, 1915-1919 by Mark Thompson, page 346, copyright © 2008 Mark Thompson, publisher: Basic Books, publication date: 2009
(2) Excerpt from the entry for June 20, 1918 from the writings — diaries, letters, and memoirs — of Captain J. C. Dunn, Medical Officer of the Second Battalion His Majesty's Twenty-Third Foot, the Royal Welch Fusiliers, and fellow soldiers who served with him. Dunn's Battalion had been tasked with a raid on the German line, one for which they practiced six days before preparing as described. The raid was carried out on the 22nd. 'It was a thoroughly bad Show from start to finish.'
The War the Infantry Knew 1914-1919 by Captain J.C. Dunn, page 488, copyright © The Royal Welch Fusiliers 1987, publisher: Abacus (Little, Brown and Company, UK), publication date: 1994
(3) From March 21, 1918 until early June, German commander Erich Ludendorff launched four offensives: Operations Michael and Georgette against the British line, and the Aisne and Noyon-Montdidier Offensives against the French. The Germans urged Austro-Hungarian Kaiser Karl to attack the Italians. When he in turn pressured his commanders, who reported they were not ready, they delivered the Battle of the Piave. After being briefly thrown back, the Italians, supported by British and French forces, stopped and then drove the Austro-Hungarians back to their start line. Major Francesco Baracca flew a French Spad XIII. In The White War, an account of the war on the Italian Front, Mark Thompson puts the number of Austro-Hungarian casualties at 118,000.
The Origin of the Fighter Aircraft by Jon Gutman, pp. 252–253, copyright © 2009 Jon Gutman, publisher: Westholme Publishing, publication date: 2009
(4) The Second Battle of the Piave was launched by the Austro-Hungarians on June 15, 1918 along a front from the Asiago Plateau to the Adriatic Sea. General Franz Conrad von Hötzendorf commanded the northern mountainous sector. With support from French and British troops, particularly artillery, the Italians stopped Conrad's offensive after two days, allowing them to transfer reinforcements to the southern Piave River sector where the battle still raged, the Austro-Hungarians there under the command of Field Marshal Svetozar Boroević.
Caporetto and the Isonzo Campaign: The Italian Front 1915–1918 by John MacDonald with Željko Cimprić, page 181, copyright © John MacDonald, 2011, 2015, publisher: Pen and Sword Books, publication date: 2011
(5) Excerpt from one of the Prussian Colonel's speeches in Act V, Scene 55 from Karl Kraus's play The Last Days of Mankind. Much of the scene takes place over a ceremonial banquet of Austro-Hungarian (including Czech, Polish, Romanian, and Croatian) and German officers. In 1917's Operation Alberich the Germans had conducted a strategic retreat to a stronger, more easily defensible line. In the Battle of the Piave, launched on June 15, 1918, the Italians, with aid from their French and British allies, stopped the Austro-Hungarian offensive, and drove the attacker back to his starting line, inflicting roughly 120,000 casualties in the course of the battle.
The Last Days of Mankind by Karl Kraus, page 538, copyright © 2015 Translation and Afterword Yale University, publisher: Yale University Press, publication date: 2015
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