on October 24, a massive artillery barrage featuring high explosives, smoke, and huge quantities of chemical weapons caught the Italian 2nd Army completely by surprise. They simply did not have the manpower the Italians had, and and their lines near Gorizia were on the brink of collapse.Īt last, appeals to Germany for reinforcements were answered, and a combined offensive was launched against the Italians at Caporetto, who were all forward deployed with no reserves for a defense in depth.Īt 2 a.m. He was also a savage disciplinarian, routinely ordering the execution of soldiers for cowardice and straggling.
Cadorna showed himself particularly incapable of learning from the carnage, and was himself usually as far as 50 kilometers behind the front lines. This was a pattern that was to repeat itself throughout 1915 in three more failed Italian assaults, resulting in a quarter of a million casualties with no significant success. The Italian Army had suffered nearly 15,000 casualties, nearly double the enemies, while achieving practically no real gains. The fighting raged until Austro-Hungarian reinforcements arrived and stopped the offensive in its tracks. Italian soldiers found themselves charging head-long uphill into barbed-wire and fortifications that their artillery had been unable to break up, and attempting to cross the Isonzo while under ferocious Austro-Hungarian counter-barrages. The Italian offensive began on June 23, sparking the First Battle of Isonzo. Italian artillery perched over the Isonzo River.
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