The Italian advance in Istria.
The Italian advance in Istria.
On the Carso only an artillery duel and patrol action occurred.
In the Stelvio region, on the Trentino front, the Austrians attacked one of the Italian advanced posts on the glaciers in the upper Zebru Valley and succeeded in penetrating it. The Italian forces, however, were able to occupy a higher summit, from which they kept their old position under fire.
The next day, August 29, 1917, the Austrians attempted on the Bainsizza Plateau and east of Goritz, by counterattacking in force, to retake positions recently captured. They were driven back everywhere. The Italian lines held firmly, and advanced at some points.
Italian aircraft successfully renewed bombardment of Austrian batteries in Panovizza Wood, on the Carso. An Austrian attack between Vippacco and Dosso Faiti broke down.
On the Trentino front, from Stelvio to Carnia, concentrated fire and numerous reconnoitering actions kept the Austrians busy. In the Tofane region the Austrians, after intense artillery preparation, attacked the Italian positions at the mouth of the Travenanzes Valley three times and with great violence, but were repulsed.
All this time the most determined struggle was going on for the possession of Monte San Gabriele, which changed hands a number of times. Both on August 30 and 31, 1917, very brisk fighting occurred on the northern slopes of Monte San Gabriele and east of Goritz, where the Austrians with repeated violent counterattacks attempted to drive back the Italians. They were repulsed with heavy losses. On the Carso, in the Brestovizza Valley, the Italians carried other elements of trenches.
The total number of prisoners taken from the beginning of the Italian offensive to the end of August, 1917, had risen to 720 officers and 26,582 men.
Trieste, too, was continuously a point of attraction to the Italians. Hardly a day passed without an attack being made on it by Italian airmen.
Throughout the next few days the fighting continued without abatement. Again Monte San Gabriele was the center of it. Following the Italian success of August 30, 1917, the Austrianshad attempted a number of times to regain their positions there. But the Italians held on and continued their preparations for further attacks. The final storming of this important and desperately contested position was described by the London "Times" correspondent, attached to Italian headquarters, in part as follows:
"The attack came on the morning of September 3, 1917, when the Italians went forward in three columns. One column attacked straight along the crest, one worked along the northeastern slope, while the third advanced on the right, where the first precipitous fall of the ridge meets the steep slope that comes up from Salcano past the jutting spurs of Hill 343 and Santa Caterina. The left-hand column was held up southeast of Hill 552 by a rocky bastion that juts out eastward from the main massif, but it kept the Austrians in this sector very busy and diverted their attention from the flank and center columns. The right-hand column got well forward and performed the same service for the other flank of the main attack, which was brilliantly successful.
"Nothing could stop the center column, which was made up of volunteer storming troops. These broke down all resistance. They stormed the machine-gun positions, careless of loss, and reached the caverns, where the Austrian reserves were caught like rats. In less than an hour the Italians were in possession of the main peak.
"They had thrust a wedge into the enemy position on the mountain, but their own position was precarious. The enemy still lay round them east, south, southwest, on the lower grounds, indeed, but for that very reason they were half protected from the terrific hail of shells that had pounded the crest to fragments.
"Altogether the center column took nearly 1,500 prisoners—more than the whole number of the 'forlorn hope' that had stormed the peak. Think of what they had done. They had rushed a steep glacis that rises about 300 feet in 600 yards, a glacis not more than 200 or 300 yards wide. At the end of the last abrupt rise they had stormed trenches cut in the rock and full of machine guns."
The day following the capture of Monte San Gabriele, September 4, 1917, the battle on the Julian front was violently renewed. On the Bainsizza Plateau the Italians obtained new advantages, capturing an important position southwest of Corogio.
On the Carso Plateau the Austrians, after most violent bombardment, launched infantry forces against the Italian positions from Castagnevizza to the sea. On the northern section of the line, between Castagnevizza and Korite, the attack, after varying fortunes, was repulsed. In the center, between Korite and Celle, the Italian troops resisted seven furious assaults and maintained their positions.
To the south, between the Brestovizza Valley and the sea, the Austrians were able to gain an initial success between Hill 146, to the northeast of Flondar and the railway tunnel northeast of Lokavac, where the Italians were compelled to withdraw temporarily from a few advanced positions. In the afternoon, by energetic counterattacks, the Italian line was reestablished, with the capture of 402 prisoners, including fourteen officers.
Two hundred and sixty-one Italian airplanes participated in the battle, bombing the Austrian troops and their communication lines.
THE STRUGGLE ON THE ISONZO FRONT
Immense quantities of booty had been captured by this time by the Italians as a result of their successful offensive movement. On the Bainsizza Plateau, near Santo Spirito and Laska, whole convoys of arms and munitions were abandoned by the Austrians in such haste that there was no time to destroy them. At one point thousands of boxes of projectiles, hand grenades, rockets, shoes, rifles, and helmets were strewn everywhere.
Mule paths and the adjacent side hills were littered with unexploded projectiles which the Austrians had thrown away,together with daggers, swords, and iron-studded maces used for dispatching the wounded. On Hill 652 the Italians captured three 105-millimeter cannon. Two of them were perfectly serviceable, and the Italians turned them on their former owners.
In an armored dugout near Ravena the Italians discovered the entire equipment of an Austrian staff of brigade. The extraordinary variety of objects found testified to the haste of the retreat. It included electric lights, official documents, toilet articles, kitchen utensils, ventilators, and even love letters. Ravena was the Austrian center of supplies for engineer troops, and near by were found stores of picks, shovels, hoes and wire cutters, entire outfits of electric equipments, miles of steel rails, and innumerable rolls of barbed wire.
During the next few days the fighting was chiefly done by the artillery on both the Bainsizza and the Carso Plateaus. The Austrians attempted a number of counterattacks, all of which, however, fell short of the desired results. During the period, devoted by the Italians to the consolidation of the newly conquered territory, they found time to count their prisoners and to list their booty. The result was the announcement that during the actual offensive there had been captured 30,671 Austrians, including 858 officers, and that the Austrians also had lost: 145 guns, including about eighty of medium caliber, ninety-four trench mortars and bomb throwers, 322 machine guns, 11,196 rifles.
Besides their attempts at counterattacking the Austrians also tried to relieve the Italian pressure on the Isonzo front, by launching a number of local attacks on some of the other fronts. In no case, however, were they successful. Thus on September 7, 1917, in the Concei Valley, west of Lake Garda, local attacks against two Italian advanced posts were repulsed.
Again on September 9, 1917, on the Trentino front Austrian reconnoitering parties were put to flight by Italian advanced posts in Cima di Cady, Tonale, in the Zurez region, east of Lake Garda and on Col di Lana. In the Carnia an attack against Italian positions of Monte Granuda and Cuel Tarond completelyfailed, though carried out in force after careful artillery preparation.
West of Lake Garda the Austrians, after intense artillery preparation, attacked Italian advanced posts on September 10, 1917, between the Concei Valley and the Lake of Ledro, succeeding in gaining a foothold in one of them, but were immediately driven out.
At the mouth of the Timavo, upper end of Gulf of Trieste, Austrian storming parties, which, with the support of infantry waves, moved against the Italian positions on the extreme right wing, were stopped and put to flight with severe losses caused especially by barrage fire.
The Austrians now began a series of most desperate counterattacks in the attempt to drive the Italians from Monte San Gabriele which they had gained after terrific fighting some days ago. Various attacks were launched on September 11, 1917, against the Italian lines on the Bainsizza Plateau, afterward concentrating their greatest efforts in the region northeast of Goritz.
After having kept under most violent fire for several hours the Italian positions occupied along the crest of Monte San Gabriele, and on the western slopes of the mountain descending toward Salcano, they attacked from the east and south. The bitter struggle, which began at dawn, became more pronounced around the western edge of the table-land of Santa Caterina. Finally toward midday the Austrians, beaten and repulsed, gave up their fruitless attempts.
The crest of Monte San Gabriele is distant about one and a half miles east by north from Salcano, and the western edge of the Santa Caterina table-land is about half a mile from Salcano, Santa Caterina being somewhat to the south of a line drawn between Monte San Gabriele and Salcano. It appears, therefore, that the Italian front must make a sharp salient at San Gabriele.
On the following day, September 12, 1917, northeast of Goritz, the Austrians employing units recently sent to the front, renewed with greater intensity and with a larger number of forces their attempts to dislodge the Italians from Monte San Gabriele.Their furious attacks were successful in a few advanced posts, but were stopped by the Italian main line of occupation, which could not be shaken or penetrated.
On September 13 and 14, 1917, the Italians succeeded in extending their previous gains on the Bainsizza Plateau. On the former date this was accomplished near Log, in the northern zone of the plateau, and on the latter date in the southeastern corner. During the night of September 15 to 16, 1917, the Austrians attempted, without success, by four successive counterattacks to regain this ground. Other counterattacks, made September 16, 1917, were equally unavailing. During this period there was also considerable artillery and aerial activity on the other sectors of the Isonzo front.
Local actions of limited extent also occurred on the Trentino front.
On September 15, 1917, greater activity of Austrian artillery provoked a brisk reaction on the part of the Italian artillery in the Upper But and Fella Valley in Carnia. On the Carso Plateau, too, there was considerable artillery action during all these days.
A comparative lull set in during the next week, September 16 to 23, 1917. Though the Austrians had gained some ground on the summit of Monte San Gabriele, this was of little import, because the position was so located that neither side could possibly hold it for any length of time. On the other hand the Italians had captured two more heights on the Bainsizza Plateau near Volnik, which they succeeded in holding against repeated Austrian attacks and heavy artillery fire.
In the Marmolada region, on the night of September 21-22, 1917, by exploding a mine which had been prepared with long tunneling work, Italian parties were enabled to penetrate two advanced Austrian positions and to establish themselves there.
In the neighborhood of Raccogliano and Selo in the Carso, on the same day, the Italians succeeded in making a slight advance.
During September 23, 1917, the railway line in the Bazza Valley, east of Tolmino, was the objective of Italian air forces. In the morning one of the Italian bombarding squadrons arrivedover the railway station of Grahovo, about five or six miles eastsoutheast of Tolmino, at a moment when intense railway movements were going on, and four tons of bombs were dropped there. In the night an Italian airship, by dropping numerous high-explosive bombs, greatly damaged the establishments in the neighborhood of Podmelec, midway between Tolmino and Grahovo. At the same time another Italian airship once again bombarded the numerous Austrian troops in the Chiapovano Valley.
In the Monte Nero region, upper Isonzo, the Austrians exploded on September 24, 1917, a powerful mine under Italian positions, upon which they then concentrated violent artillery fire. Prompt and effective barrage fire, hindering the advance of the infantry, prevented the Austrians from gaining any advantage. The damage done was slight.
Another let-up set in for the next few days. However, on September 28, 1917, Italian storming troops made a surprise attack toward the southeastern edge of the Bainsizza Plateau, capturing some of the high ground south of Podlaka and southeast of Madoni, and forty-nine officers and 1,360 men. Subsequent violent enemy counterattacks accompanied by heavy bombardment were repulsed and the positions maintained.
On the night of September 28-29, 1917, and on the following day, fresh attempts on the part of the Austrians to dislodge the Italians from the positions occupied between Sella di Dol and the northern slopes of Monte San Gabriele failed. On the remainder of the front considerable artillery activity and numerous good patrol actions were reported.
Air fighting was very brisk along the whole Julian front. Italian air squadrons bombarded the enemy depots at Berje, northeast of Nabresina, Gulf of Trieste, and during the night the known military works of the fortress of Pola with excellent results. The response of the enemy was vigorous everywhere.
The following day, September 29, 1917, Italian troops, by means of another successful surprise attack, rectified their line between the Sella di Dol and the northern slopes of Monte San Gabriele. Eight officers, 216 men, and a few machine guns werecaptured. The position was maintained and strengthened, not withstanding that the Austrians repeatedly counterattacked.
Italian air attacks were concentrated on the military zone of Voiscizza, Carso, which was effectively bombarded, and on the fortified maritime center of Pola, where the submarine base and the arsenal were again bombed with numerous projectiles by a strong Italian bombardment squadron. During the night Austrian aircraft dropped incendiary bombs on the town of Palmanova, causing slight damage, but no casualties. Austrian aircraft also dropped bombs on Aquileja, Monfalcone, and other localities of the lower Isonzo, without doing much damage. During September 30, 1917, the Austrians renewed their attacks against the Italian positions, recently occupied by them on the Bainsizza Plateau, but were repulsed. On the other hand the Italians reported that they had taken prisoners, in their offensive actions during September 28-30, 1917, a total of 2,019 Austrians, including sixty-three officers.
In Val di Fumo, Adamello, Austrian parties attempting to reach Italian positions between the Passo della Porta and the Forcel Rosso Pass were repulsed and pursued by Italian patrols, who captured a quantity of ammunition and explosives.
The first three weeks in October, 1917, passed without any happenings of much significance. Weather conditions began to become unfavorable and it looked at this time as if affairs were about to settle down to the accustomed trench warfare of past winters. Only a few engagements are worthy of special mentioning.
At dawn of October 2, 1917, the Austrians once more attacked the Italian positions on the western slopes of Monte San Gabriele. The attack failed. An assault company was destroyed and the battalion following it, caught in its turn under the fire of Italian batteries and attacked by Italian troops, was dispersed. On the remainder of the Bainsizza Plateau front there were only patrol actions.
Air activity was very lively. During the day one of the Italian squadrons carried out a bombardment on the railway station of Grahovo, Bazza Valley, northeast of Goritz. Duringthe previous night in two successive raids the military objectives of Pola were bombarded and damaged.
During the night of October 3-4, 1917, one of the Italian bombarding squadrons, composed of a large number of machines, flew over the naval base of Cattaro. The Austrians replied by a violent fire. The Italian airmen on several occasions, and with visibly good results, hit torpedo boats and submarines lying in the harbor.
On October 4, 1917, from the Giudicaria, as far as the Brenta, Italian patrols were operating, and captured some prisoners. Artillery bombardments were more frequent and more lively on the Asiago Plateau.
In the region of San Gabriele repeated attacks launched by the Austrians were repulsed. To the east of Goritz the Italians improved a point in our line by a coup de main, and held it, in spite of violent Austrian counterattacks. On the Carso intermittent artillery actions took place as well as attempts to attack on the part of Austrian patrols, which were repulsed.
Snowstorms and gales now began to prevail in the Trentino, while the Isonzo and Carso lines were inundated by rain, and the valleys transformed into lakes of mud. The torrents were so swollen and impetuous as often to be impassable.
During the night of October 11-12, 1917, in the Costabella region, San Pellegrino Valley, an attempted Austrian attack was crushed. On the Julian front Italian patrols effectively harassed Austrian working parties and brought in some prisoners. Artillery activity was considerable from the Rombon, upper Isonzo, to the sea.
During the next day, October 13, 1917, there was considerable artillery activity from the Stelvio to the Rombon, as well as on the Bainsizza Plateau and on the southern front of the Carso. At Vrhovec, west of Chiapovano, Austrian parties attempting to approach the Italian positions were repulsed.
Along the whole Julian front there were lively local actions of the infantry on October 14, 1916. On the southern slope of Monte Rombon, north of Piesso, by a successful coup de main the Italians captured some prisoners. Between Castagnavizzaand Selo, Carso, an Italian raid brought other prisoners. In the Brestovizza Valley large Austrian parties, protected by violent artillery and machine-gun fire, approached the Italian lines, but were driven back. Near Lokavac, southeast of Monfalcone, after a lavish artillery preparation extending from the west of Flondar to the sea, an Austrian attack was broken up.
Throughout October 15, 1917, on the Trentino front there was moderate activity. North of Lenzumo, Lake Ledro, in an encounter of advanced posts, Austrian patrols were driven back. On the Carso and Julian fronts, from the Paralba, Carnia, to the Rombon, upper Isonzo, there was desultory artillery fighting, on the Bainsizza Plateau intense artillery duels, on the front lines and on the lines of communication of the Carso the usual destructive and harassing fire.
THE AUSTRO-GERMAN OFFENSIVE IN ITALY
In the preceding chapters we have been told of the Italian successes gained in the summer of 1917 and the spasmodic fighting following them. The latter was frequently interrupted by periods of comparative quiet, and sometimes during the early fall of 1917 very vague rumors would be heard to the effect that they ought to be interpreted as the proverbial calm before the storm. However, as time passed and nothing of any import occurred, it began to look as if the Central Powers had decided to maintain the positions they occupied during the winter.
It will be recalled that the last fighting of any extent took place about October 15, 1917. This was followed by about a week of comparative quiet. Suddenly on October 21, 1917, reports came from Rome that Italian observers had noticed the removal of troops from the Trentino and Carso fronts to theBainsizza Plateau, as well as the arrival of fresh contingents from the Russian front, where evidently the Germans apparently expected no further serious developments. Usually activity was also reported in the Austrian trenches.
On the preceding day, October 20, 1917, notwithstanding adverse atmospheric conditions on the Trentino front, brisk engagements with rifle fire took place here and there. Northeast of Laghi Pesinar Austrian parties were driven back and counterattacked by Italian patrols. In the Booche region in the Pellegrino Valley Austrian parties came in contact with the garrisons of the Italian advanced posts, but after a fierce struggle they were forced to withdraw to their positions. On the Julian front the Austrian artillery showed spasmodic activity. Italian batteries replied with well-directed bursts of fire and effective concentration.
The air continued to be full of rumors. On October 23, 1917, it was semiofficially reported that "General Cadorna is making preparations on an extensive scale for an important military movement, but that there could not be any disclosure, for military reasons, of the objective, extent, or character of the movement or when the Italian offensive will be resumed."
Another report had it "that British and French soldiers, guns, munitions were being sent by train to the Italian front."
Still another bit of gossip was that reports of an impending Austrian offensive had proved to be unfounded and that "General Cadorna desired to start a new offensive against Austria and as a consequence there had been an extreme enlivenment of trench, mortar, and artillery firing from the Tolmino to the southern Carso and over the entire area of the Bainsizza Plateau, which was still in progress. Although the firing was uninterrupted on the part of the Italians, it was declared not to be the prelude of a fresh attack."
The reports covering events at the front during the preceding day, October 22, 1917, showed that the Italian positions on Monte Piana, in the Cadore, were strongly attacked by Austro-German forces. After heavy fighting the enemy was driven back with severe loss. On the following morning, October 23,1917, Italian storming parties recaptured a portion of their intrenchments which the Austrians had temporarily occupied.
On the remainder of the front there were lively local engagements. In the Cordevole Valley and at the head of the Padola Valley the Italians repulsed enemy detachments.
On the Julian front the artillery action continued intense the whole day. The weather conditions were favorable also to aerial activity.
From then on events as reported from the front made it clearer and clearer day by day that the Austrians, supported by strong German reenforcements, were about to launch an important offensive movement, the extent of which, of course, at that time could not be predicted. By October 23, 1917, the fighting activity had been perceptibly revived in the Tyrolean, Carnia, and Isonzo regions. German artillery took part in the artillery battle, and German and Austro-Hungarian infantrymen captured the foremost Italian positions near Flitsch and Tolmino and in the northern portion of the Bainsizza Plateau, taking some thousands of prisoners.
On October 24, 1917, after an interval of a few hours, the Austrians resumed the violent bombardment all along the front, with a specially destructive fire on that portion between the southern slopes of Monte Rombon and the northern edge of the Bainsizza Plateau, where afterward a strong infantry attack was launched. The Narrows of Saga resisted the hostile blow; but farther south, favored by a thick mist which rendered useless the Italian barrage fire, the Austrians succeeded in breaking through the Italian lines on the left bank of the Isonzo.
Taking advantage of the bridgehead of Santa Maria and Santa Lucia, they then brought the battle on to the slopes of the right bank of the river.
At the same time, powerful attacks were made to the west of Volnik, on the Bainsizza Plateau, and on the western slopes of Monte San Gabriele, but they were kept in check by the Italian troops, which in the course of successful counterattacks captured a few hundred prisoners.
On the Carso, a violent Austrian bombardment was effectively countered by Italian batteries. The Germans claimed that up to the end of the day more than 10,000 prisoners, including divisional and brigade staffs, and rich booty in guns and war material had been taken.
The offensive against the Italian left wing on the Julian front continued during the night and on October 25, 1917, conducted by powerful forces. From Montemaggiore to the west of Auzza the Italians were forced to withdraw to their boundary line, in consequence of which they had to provide for the evacuation of the Bainsizza Plateau. East of Goritz and on the Carso the situation remained unchanged.
This meant that the Germans, profiting by their success in breaking through the line near Flitsch and Tolmino, were advancing beyond Caporetto and Ronzina. They were already fighting at many places on Italian territory. The number of prisoners had increased to more than 30,000, of whom 700 were officers. The booty amounted to more than 300 guns, including many heavy ones.
The Austro-German offensive now began to gain more and more momentum almost every hour. It became known that Von Mackensen was in supreme command of the forces of the Central Powers. Favored by good weather, the German and Austro-Hungarian divisions pressed forward irresistibly over heights and through the valleys. The steep mountain ridge of Stol was captured and soon afterward the strongly fortified summit of Monte Matajur, 1,641 meters high, fell.
The Germans claimed that by now the number of prisoners had increased to 60,000 and the captured guns to 450 and that inestimable quantities of war materials were yet to be salved from the captured Italian positions.
After having crossed the boundary line between Monte Canin and the head of the Judrio Valley, the Austrians, by October 26, 1917, were attempting to reach an opening on the plains. On the Carso their effort was increasing. Strong offensive thrusts, however, were repulsed by the Italian troops.
The worst fears now began to be realized and with stunning swiftness the Austro-German forces forced back the Italians from territory which the latter had gained only by fighting most valiantly for months. In spite of determined resistance, which only in some instances was not all that might have reasonably been expected, the Italian forces were thrown back by powerful thrusts. In the evening of October 27, 1917, German troops forced their way into the burning town of Cividale, the first town in point of position in the plain. The Italian front as far as the Adriatic Sea was now wavering. The Austro-German troops were pressing forward on the whole line. Goritz, the much-disputed town in the Isonzo battles, was taken early on October 28, 1917, by Austro-Hungarian Divisions.
Cividale is a town of about 5,000 inhabitants, nine miles northeast of the important railroad center of Udine. It is near the entrance to the valley of the Natisone River, along which the Austro-German forces which broke the Italian line in the Tolmino region battered their way. Cividale is in the foothills of the Julian Alps, beyond which lie the plains of northern Italy.
Goritz was captured by the Italians on August 9, 1916. It is a town of 31,000 inhabitants on the Isonzo, halfway down the river from Tolmino to the sea. It is strongly situated among hills of great defensive value, in which there was heavy fighting before the Italians reached the city itself. Goritz is twenty-two miles northwest of Trieste, Austria's big seaport at the head of the Adriatic, the capture of which is one of the principal Italian aspirations in the war.
By October 28, 1917, the defeated second Italian army was retreating toward the Tagliamento. The third Italian army, it was claimed, offered only brief resistance to the attack against their positions from Wippach to the sea and hastily retreated along the Adriatic coast. North of the broad sector which had been pierced, the Italian front also was now yielding as far as the Ploecken Pass.
Different stages of the Italian retreat.
Different stages of the Italian retreat.
Italian rear guards vainly endeavored to stem the advance of the armies of the Central Powers. Austro-Hungarian troops were then standing before Udine, hitherto the grandItalian headquarters. Other Austro-Hungarian divisions captured Cormons, and were approaching the frontier in the coastal region.
All roads were covered with retreating columns and cars belonging to the Italian army and to the Italian population, who, overcome by the sudden disaster to their armies, were fleeing in a pathetic disorder, matched only by the flight of the Belgian civilians in the early part of the war.
The number of prisoners and the quantity of booty was reported as continually increasing. Violent tempests and heavy rains prevailed on the vast fighting area of the twelfth Isonzo battle, but seemed to have no influence on the furious onslaughts of the invading hordes.
On October 29, 1917, the fall of Udine was announced. It is sixty miles northeast of Venice, ten miles east of the frontier, sixteen miles west of the new Tagliamento line, and only 300 feet above sea level. It is situated on the Roia Canal, a branch of the Torre River. It is a quaint and prosperous town, chiefly interested in the manufacture of hemp, flax, and cotton goods, is the capital of the province, the seat of an archbishop, and has a population of 25,000. In the present war Udine had been the general headquarters of the second and third Italian armies. Five railways radiate from Udine west to link up with the Venetian-Quadrilateral system, by which the second and third armies have been supplied; north, across the frontier, to link up with the Vienna-Trentino line; northeast only as far as Cividale, whence the town was invested; southeast, via Goritz to Trieste; and due south, over the lower plains to a small steam tramway which skirts the marshes.
The officer responding to salutes is the Italian commander in chief, General Diaz, who succeeded General Cadorna in November, 1917. Next beside him is the French General Fayolle.
The officer responding to salutes is the Italian commander in chief, General Diaz, who succeeded General Cadorna in November, 1917. Next beside him is the French General Fayolle.
By then, too, the Italian Carnia front seemed to have collapsed on the most important sectors. During a snowstorm Austrian troops wrested from the Italians frontier positions which they had built up during two and a half years southwest of Tarvis, near Pontafel, in the Ploecken region, and on St. Pal. Advancing out of the Carnic Alps the invaders set foot on Venetian soil along the entire front, and were pressing forward against the upper course of the Tagliamento, even though the Italiansdestroyed, wherever possible, bridges and other means of communication in order to delay the hostile advance.
In spite of valiant efforts on the part of the Italians to stem the tide of invaders, the latter gained new successes on the last day of October, 1917. Portions of the Italian army made a stand at the Tagliamento. Austro-Hungarian forces, however, stormed the last Tagliamento bridgehead, near Latisana, on the lower reaches of the river, south of Codroipo. The bridgehead positions at the latter place and at Dignano were taken by storm by German troops. The Germans claimed that as a result of these operations more than 60,000 Italians, cut off and outflanked on both sides, laid down their arms, and that the number of prisoners taken by them had increased to more than 180,000 and that the number of guns captured had increased to more than 1,500. Late that day such Italian forces as were still maintaining themselves on the eastern bank of the Tagliamento near Pinzano and Latisana were either driven back or taken prisoners. In less than a week's fighting the troops of the Central Powers had pushed forward a thirty-mile front an average distance of thirty miles, making the total of the territory wrested from the Italians some 1,000 square miles.
On November 1, 1917, it was reported that Anglo-French reenforcements had reached the Italian front. Of course, these were comparatively small in number and were sent more for the moral effect their arrival would have than for any actual military value. The battle continued without let-up. Along the middle and lower Tagliamento the opposing armies were in continuous fighting contact. By evening the left bank of the river had been cleared of Italians from the Fella Valley to the Adriatic Sea. That the Italian armies were not totally annihilated was due solely to the efficient rear-guard actions which parts of them had fought against terrific odds.
During November 2 and 3, 1917, the fighting along the Tagliamento was chiefly done by the artillery of both armies. The Germans again claimed large increases in the number of prisoners and guns captured. On the other hand the Italians claimed that a great many of the 200,000 so-called prisonerswere mainly workmen or other units of a noncombatant nature and that of the "more than 1,800 guns" the majority were machine guns.
THE ITALIANS AT BAY ON THE PIAVE
Ever since Udine had fallen into the hands of the Central Powers, there had, of course, been much speculation as to what the real German objective was and how and where the Italians were finally going to make a stand against the Austro-German onslaught. For some time it seemed as if the Central Powers were going to try to capture Venice and as if the Italians were going to attempt to prevent it by making a stand at the Tagliamento River. When, however, the fighting along that river, as described in the latter part of the last chapter, gradually but definitely went against the Italians, it soon became clear that the Tagliamento line could not be held for any length of time.
This assumption was proved to be correct very soon. On November 4, 1917, German and Austro-Hungarian divisions succeeded in crossing the middle course of the river and immediately began to press the advantage gained. General Cadorna's line now was broken again and a continued resistance in its present position had become too dangerous to be feasible. It was, therefore, not much of a surprise when news came that the Italians had begun a new retreat on November 5, 1917, especially in view of the fact that Austro-German pressure in the northern, mountainous section of the line had also become so strong that it resulted in evacuation of territory on the part of the Italians.
However, the few days' resistance offered on the Tagliamento had served its purpose. It enabled the Italians to rearrange their shattered armies to a certain extent, so that their withdrawal had been changed from a rout to an orderly retreat. It was made in the direction of the Livenza River, some fifteenmiles west of the Tagliamento. The Livenza, however, did not offer the necessary natural defenses to make a determined and extended defense possible, and its only purpose was to delay the enemy sufficiently long to make it possible for the Italians to withdraw in good order behind the next line of defense, the Piave. The Livenza line was reached on November 6, 1917. But so close were the Austro-Germans that the Italians immediately proceeded to cross the Livenza. Indeed, by November 7, 1917, some Austro-German forces, too, had forced their way across the river at some points.
In spite of this, however, the Italians succeeded in extricating themselves from their dangerous position and in withdrawing the great bulk of their forces behind the next line of defense, the Piave River. There it had been determined to face the foe. The Italians, it is true, continued to lose a considerable number of men as prisoners. But compared with their losses of the two preceding weeks, the present losses were slight and showed a decided revival of the Italian resistance and a slowing up of the Austro-German advance.
It also became known now that General Cadorna, who had been in command of the Italian armies since the beginning of the war, had been relieved of this command and had been appointed as the chief military representative of Italy on the permanent interallied military committee. His successor in chief command of the Italian armies was General Diaz, and under him were to be Generals Badoglio and Giardino. The new commander in chief was fifty-six years old, eleven years the junior of General Cadorna. At the outbreak of the war, in 1914, he was a colonel. The second in command was only forty-six years old and had risen since the beginning of the war to his present rank from that of a major of artillery.
By November 9, 1917, the Italians had reached their more or less prepared positions on the lower Piave and frantically began digging themselves in. In the north, however, matters did not go well with the Italians. Austro-Hungarian troops succeeded in pressing forward in the Sugana Valley and in the upper Piave valley. After desperate fighting in the streetsAsiago was captured by them. This town is some twenty miles west of the Piave and only a few miles across the Austro-Italian border. On the lower Piave the Italians crossed to the west bank, blowing up behind them all bridges and established themselves fairly firm behind the river from Susegana, in the foothills of the Alps, to the Adriatic, a line of some forty miles.
The Austrians extended their gains in the north on November 10, 1917. Belluno, on the upper Piave, was taken by them, and so was Vidor and its bridgehead, some twenty-five miles downstream, not, however, until the bridge itself had been blown up by the Italians. Fighting on the lower Piave was restricted to artillery and machine-gun firing.
As a result of their gains in the Belluno sector, the Austro-Germans claimed on November 12, 1917, to have captured about 14,000 prisoners and numerous guns and to have reached Feltre, a small town at a bend of the middle Piave.
Heavy fighting occurred on November 12, 1917, on the Asiago plateau. But the Italian line, established there from Monte Gallio-Longara-Meletta di Gallio, held. Between the Brenta and the Piave the Austro-Germans occupied territory previously evacuated by the Italians and reached contact with the Italian lines. On the lower Piave the Italian line held, except at one point, about twelve miles northwest of the mouth of the Piave. There, near Monte San Dona di Piave, about twenty-three miles northeast of Venice, enemy groups succeeded, with the aid of large boats, in crossing to the west bank of the Piave. Italian counterattacks, however, promptly drove them back and the Italian lines were reestablished without a break.
On November 13, 1917, the Central Powers again registered successes. They took Primolano on the upper Brenta and Feltre on the middle Piave. Near the Adriatic they crossed the lower Piave and gained a slight foothold on its western bank, which, however, they were unable to extend in width in spite of determined efforts. A surprise attack against the Italian rear from the north in the region of Lake Garda failed.
New attempts on the part of the Austro-German forces to cross the lower Piave, made repeatedly during November 14,1917, were promptly repulsed by the Italians, whose power of resistance gradually seemed to stiffen. The same fate met renewed Teuton attacks along the entire front from Asiago to the Piave River, attempted on November 15, 1917. In this the Italians were assisted by opening the floodgates of the Piave River.
The following day, November 16, 1917, the forces of the Central Powers succeeded at two points in crossing the Piave, but were unable to maintain their gains against the fierce counterattacks of the Italians, though they captured Prassolan.
Again on November 17, 1917, the enemy attempted to get across the Piave. Everywhere however, the Italian line held like a wall of steel. Between the Brenta and the Piave the Austro-Germans were even forced to withdraw slightly.
The heaviest kind of fighting raged for the next four weeks in the Alps between Asiago and the Piave. From day to day the fortune of battle wavered. With admirable tenacity the Italians held every position to the very limit of their power and gave up only against overpowering strength, giving way occasionally almost foot by foot, only to come back with strong counterattacks as soon as they regained their breath. The difficulties under which this fighting was done beggars description. For not only were there the natural difficulties of the mountainous terrain, comparatively bare of means of communication, except the wonderful Italian mountain roads, but it must also be remembered that winter had set in long ago and that snow and gales added their share of hardships.
To recite in detail this tremendous struggle would cover page after page and, in a way, would involve much repetition. The complete story would read more like an ancient epic poem than the description of a modern battle. We must be satisfied with an outline of events as they happened day by day.
On November 18, 1917, the Austro-Germans captured Quero, a little town on the Piave, south of Feltre, Monte Cornelle and Monte Tomba. Four times they tried to storm Mt. Monfenera on the 19th, and four times the Italians drove them back. The following day, November 20, 1917, they were no more successful in their attacks against Monte Pertica, and again on November21, 1917, they failed in their attempts, both against Monte Pertica and Monte Monfenera. However, on that day they succeeded in wresting from the Italians Monte Fontana Secca and Monte Spinoucia, farther to the north and east.
An encircling movement against Monte Meletta, northeast of Asiago, attempted by the Austrians on November 22, 1917, was thwarted by the Italians and numerous attacks against various points between the Brenta and Piave Rivers also failed.
The Italians did not restrict themselves to defending their positions. Whenever the chance offered they undertook offensive movements and as a result of one of these they recaptured, on November 23, 1917, both Monte Tomba and Monte Pertica. They also made some slight gains in the region of Monte Meletta during November 24, 1917. Between that date and December 3, 1917, the Austro-Germans made many attacks along the entire Asiago-Quero front. None of them succeeded in gaining their objectives.
On December 4 and 5, 1917, the Italians were driven from strong positions which they held between Monte Tondarecar and Monte Badenecche, some miles east of Monte Meletta. But when the enemy attempted to extend his operations still farther west he was checked. However, as a result of his success, he was able, on December 6, 1917, to take Monte Sisemol, farther south. Still farther south the Italian line held in spite of repeated attempts to break it.
For the next few days the fighting in the hills slowed down considerably. But on December 11, 1917, the Austro-Germans again began to pound away against the Italian positions. Attacks were launched that day against Col di Beretta and Col dell'Orso, and once more Monte Spinoucia was stormed. Three days later, December 14, 1917, Col Caprille, just southwest of Col di Beretta, was reached by the Austrians.
In the latter part or December, 1917, we hear from time to time of separate actions of the English and French forces which had been rushed to the assistance of the Italian armies. Thus an English attack was launched on December 16, 1917, against Monte Fontana Secca, but failed to accomplish the desired result.The French, supported by British and Italian artillery and airplanes, were more successful on December 30, 1917, when they took by storm some important positions on Monte Tomba.
In the meantime the Italians had continued their struggle to keep the Austro-Hungarians from breaking into the plains from the north, with varying success. On December 18, 1917, they lost their positions on Monte Asolone, south of Col Caprille. Strong counterattacks during December 20 and 21, 1917, promptly regained them. On December 23, 1917, the Teutons made some gains near Monte Valbella, and on the following day they took the hills as well as Col de Rosso. On December 25, 1917, the Italians recaptured both, but eventually had to give them up again and permit the enemy to pass even slightly farther toward the south.
During the first two weeks of January, 1918, the Italians at all times held their lines in the Asiago sector. On January 14 and 15, 1918, they registered some gains in the region of Monte Asolone. On January 23, 1918, the Austro-Germans were forced to evacuate positions in the Monte Tomba region and to move back to Monte Spinoucia. During the last week of January, 1918, the Italians succeeded in pushing back the enemy at many points between the Piave and Asiago and thus establish beyond all doubt that, for the time being at least, the way into the Italian plains was closed to the invaders from the north.
Things had been going even better for the Italians on the lower Piave, between November 15, 1917, and January 31, 1918. Some isolated attempts of the Austro-Germans to gain the west bank, it is true, were successful. But at no time did these successes last. Almost as soon as a position had been taken by them, the Italians threw themselves against it and drove the invaders back to the east bank. From all sides thus Venice and the Italian plains were held safely against all Austro-German attacks at the end of January, 1918, and confidence regained by the Italians through their success in stopping the Teutonic onslaught promised that the future, too, would keep the balance of Italy free from the enemy, if not, indeed, he should be thrown back once more beyond his own frontier.
THE PALESTINE CAMPAIGN
In midsummer, 1917, it will be remembered, a change had been made in the command of the British forces in Palestine, officially known as the Egyptian Expeditionary Force, and General Allenby was made commander in chief.
At that time the Turkish army in southern Palestine held a strong position extending from the sea at Gaza, roughly along the main Gaza-Beersheba road to Beersheba. Gaza had been made into a strong modern fortress, heavily intrenched and wired, offering every facility for protracted defense. The remainder of the enemy's line consisted of a series of strong localities, viz.: the Sihan group of works, the Atawinek group, the Baha group, the Abu Hareira-Arab el Teeaha trench system, and, finally, the works covering Beersheba. These groups of works were generally from 1,500 to 2,000 yards apart, except that the distance from the Hareira group to Beersheba was about four and one-half miles.
The enemy's force was on a wide front, the distance from Gaza to Beersheba being about thirty miles; but his lateral communications were good, and any threatened point of the line could be very quickly reenforced.
The British forces were extended on a front of twenty-two miles, from the sea, opposite Gaza, to Gamli.
Owing to lack of water the British were unable, without preparations which would require some considerable time, toapproach within striking distance of the enemy, except in the small sector near the seacoast opposite Gaza.
According to official reports the British general had decided to strike the main blow against the left flank of the main Turkish position, Hareira and Sheria. The capture of Beersheba was a necessary preliminary to this operation, in order to secure the water supplies at that place and to give room for the deployment of the attacking force on the high ground to the north and northwest of Beersheba, from which direction the British intended to attack the Hareira-Sheria line.
The difficulties to be overcome in the operations against Beersheba and the Sheria-Hareira line were considerable, and careful preparations and training were necessary. The chief difficulties were those of water and transport, and arrangements had to be made to insure that the troops could be kept supplied with water while operating at considerable distances from their original water base for a period which might amount to a week or more; for, though it was known that an ample supply of water existed at Beersheba, it was uncertain how quickly it could be developed or to what extent the enemy would have damaged the wells before the British succeeded in occupying the town. Except at Beersheba, no large supply of water could be found till Sheria and Hareira had been captured.
The transport problem was no less difficult; there were no good roads south of the line Gaza-Beersheba, and no reliance could therefore be placed on the use of motor transport. Owing to the steep banks of many of the wadis which intersected the area of operations, the routes passable by wheeled transport were limited, and the going was heavy and difficult in many places. Practically the whole of the transport available in the British force, including 30,000 pack camels, had to be allotted to one portion of the eastern force to enable it to be kept supplied with food, water, and ammunition at a distance of fifteen to twenty miles in advance of the railhead. Arrangements were also made for the railhead to be pushed forward as rapidly as possible toward Karm, and for a line to be laid from Gamli toward Beersheba for the transport of ammunition.
A railway line was also laid from Deir el Belha to the Wadi Ghuzze, close behind the sector held by another portion of the eastern force.
Considerable strain was thrown on the military railway from Kantara to the front during the period of preparation. In addition to the normal requirements of the force, a number of siege and heavy batteries, besides other artillery and units, had to be moved to the front, and large depots of supplies, ammunition, and other stores accumulated at the various railheads.
During the period from July to October the Turkish force on the Palestine front had been increased. It was evident, from the arrival of these reenforcements and the construction of railway extensions from El Tine, on the Ramleh-Beersheba railway, to Deir Sincid and Belt Hanun, north of Gaza, and from Deir Sincid to Huj, and from reports of the transport of large supplies of ammunition and other stores to the Palestine front, that the Turks were determined to make every effort to maintain their position on the Gaza-Beersheba line.
The date of the attack on Beersheba, which was to commence the operations, was fixed as October 31, 1917.
On the morning of October 27, 1917, the Turks made a strong reconnoissance toward Karm from the direction of Kauwukah, two regiments of cavalry and two or three thousand infantry, with guns, being employed. They attacked a line of British outposts near El Girheir, covering railway construction. One small post was rushed and cut up, but not before inflicting heavy loss on the enemy; another post, though surrounded, held out all day, and also caused the enemy heavy loss. British reenforcements succeeded in coming up in time, and on their advance the Turks withdrew.
The bombardment of the Gaza defenses commenced on October 27, 1917, and on October 30, 1917, warships of the Royal Navy, assisted by a French battleship, began cooperating in this bombardment.
On the evening of October 30, 1917, the portion of the British eastern force, which was to make the attack on Beersheba, was concentrated in positions of readiness for the night march toits position of deployment. The night march to the positions of deployment was successfully carried out, all units reaching their appointed positions up to time.
The plan was to attack the Turkish works between the Khalasa road and the Wadi Saba with two divisions, masking the works north of the Wadi Saba with the Imperial Camel Corps and some infantry, while a portion of the 53d (Welsh) Division farther north covered the left of the corps. The right of the attack was covered by a cavalry regiment. Farther east, mounted troops took up a line opposite the southern defenses of Beersheba.
As a preliminary to the main attack, in order to enable field guns to be brought within effective range for wire cutting, the enemy's advanced works at 1,070 were to be taken. This was successfully accomplished in the early morning of October 31, 1917, after a short preliminary bombardment. By about 1 p. m. the whole of the works between the Khalasa road and the Wadi Saba were in British hands.
Meanwhile the British mounted troops, after a night march, had arrived early in the morning of October 31, 1917, about Khasim Zanna, in the hills some five miles east of Beersheba. From the hills the advance into Beersheba from the east and northeast had to be made over an open and almost flat plain, commanded by the rising ground north of the town and flanked by an underfeature in the Wadi Saba called Tel el Saba.
A British force was sent north to secure Bir es Sakaty, on the Hebron road, and protect the right flank; this force met with some opposition, and was engaged with hostile cavalry at Bir es Sakaty and to the north during the day. Tel el Saba was found strongly held by the enemy, and was not captured till late in the afternoon.
Meanwhile attempts to advance in small parties across the plain toward the town had made slow progress. In the evening, however, a mounted attack by Australian Light Horse, who rode straight at the town from the east, proved completely successful. They galloped over two deep trenches held by theenemy just outside the town, and entered the town at about 7 p. m., October 31, 1917.
About 2,000 prisoners and 13 guns were taken, and some 500 Turkish corpses were buried on the battle field. This success laid open the left flank of the main Turkish position for a decisive blow.
After the complete success of the Beersheba operations, the attack on Gaza was ordered to take place on the morning of November 2, 1917.
The objectives of this attack were the works from Umbrella Hill (2,000 yards southwest of the town) to Sheikh Hasan, on the sea (about 2,500 yards northwest of the town). The front of the attack was about 6,000 yards, and Sheikh Hasan, the farthest objective, was over 3,000 yards from the British front line. The ground over which the attack took place consisted of sand dunes, rising in places up to 150 feet in height. This sand is very deep and heavy-going. The Turkish defenses consisted of several lines of strongly built trenches and redoubts.
Umbrella Hill was attacked and captured during the night of November 1, 1917.
The main attack was successful in reaching all objectives, except for a section of trench on the left and some of the final objectives in the center. Four hundred and fifty prisoners were taken and many Turks killed. The enemy also suffered heavily from the preliminary bombardment.
Meanwhile on the British right flank the water and transport difficulties were found to be greater than anticipated, and the preparations for the second phase of the attack were somewhat delayed in consequence.
However, in the early morning of November 1, 1917, the 63d Division, with the Imperial Camel Corps on its right, had moved out into the hills north of Beersheba, with the object of securing the flank of the attack on Sheria. Mounted troops were also sent north along the Hebron road to secure Dhaheriyeh.
The 53d Division took up a position from Towall Abu Jerwal (six miles north of Beersheba) to Muweileh (four miles northeast of Abu Irgeig). Irish troops occupied Abu Irgeig the same day.