A crazed Great Britain urges a broken Russia, a nose-picking, dozing Italy, and a sullen France to continued offensives in a German postcard imagining the November 6, 1917 Entente Ally Conference of Rapallo after the Twelfth Battle of the Isonzo. The Battle, also known as the Battle of Caporetto, was a disastrous defeat for Italy and the first Austro-Hungarian offensive on the Isonzo Front. The Austrians had significant German support.
Entente Konferenz der XII. IsonzoschlachtEntente Conference of the Twelfth Battle of the Isonzo
"Between 8 and 9am groups of heavily armed Sturmtruppen advanced, supported by a close rolling barrage. They quickly infiltrated the Italian lines in order to destroy or capture artillery and command centres. During the first day many Italian artillery batteries did not fire a shot because they were awaiting orders. The utter confusion among the Italian defenders caused by a combination of incompetent officers, lack of communication and the devastating impact of the poison gas clouds amazed even the Germans. Halfway through 24 October large units of the Italian Second Army at both ends of the pincer were throwing down their arms, surrendering or running away in headlong retreat. The initial assault had achieved complete success."
After suspending the Eleventh Battle of the Isonzo on September 12, 1917, Italian commander in chief Luigi Cadorna, concluded that his army was in no condition to resume the offensive until the spring, and that the Austro-Hungarian forces arrayed against him would not attack. Although his told his commanders to put their forces on the defensive, General Luigi Capello, commander of the Second Army, did not do so, hoping to launch a further attack. On October 24, German and Austro-Hungarian forces launched the Twelfth Battle of the Isonzo, the Battle of Caporetto, using 'Hutier tactics' first used in the German capture of Riga in Russia. German General Oskar von Hutier trained his troops for specialized actions: initial infiltration and advance by small groups bypassing enemy strong points, specialized groups to neutralize those defenses including machine gun nests and artillery positions, and 'mopping up' forces to consolidate the advance. Capello's Second Army found the enemy both before and behind it, and began to collapse.
Caporetto and the Isonzo Campaign: The Italian Front 1915–1918 by John MacDonald with Željko Cimprić, page 163, copyright © John MacDonald, 2011, 2015, publisher: Pen and Sword Books, publication date: 2011
1917-10-24, 1917, October, Battle of Caporetto, Caporetto, Twelfth Battle of the Isonzo, Twelfth Isonzo, Isonzo, Luigi Cadorna, Cadorna,
