The Great War - WW1
The Italian Front
Italy declared war on Austria-Hungary on the 23rd of May 1915. The main area of fighting was in the sector of the Isonzo River, west of the Trieste, where strong Austrian forces were deployed in excellent mountain defences. The Italians battered away at them in a long series of offensives collectively known as the Battles of the Isonzo, but it was not until the eleventh offensive in August-September 1917, that they broke through the Austrian line.
German aid arrived in the form of Fourteenth Austrian Army, comprising mainly of German troops, whose infiltration tactics secured victory in the twelfth Battle of the Isonzo, also known as Caporetto, in October-November 1917. By the 12th of November the Italians had been driven back to the River Piave, where the Austrian-German advance was halted by a shortage of supplies and the arrival of 11 British and French divisions under the able General Plumer. Nevertheless, Italian losses were some 400'000 men, 350'000 taken prisoner.
German troops in Italy were transferred to the Western Front for Ludendorff's last throw in 1918, leaving the Austrians to punch themselves out in a renewed offensive launched in June. The Austrian-Hungarian empire was tottering into oblivion, and its high command desperately seeking an armistice in Italy, when at the beginning of November it suffered its final military defeat at Vittorio Veneto.