The Eleventh Battle of the Isonzo was a battle which was fought on the Italian front of World War I from 18 August to 12 September 1917.
History[]
Two months after the Tenth Battle of the Isonzo, Italian Chief of Staff Luigi Cadorna ordered an eleventh offensive against the Austro-Hungarian front line at the Isonzo River. The Italian preliminary barrage began on 18 August 1917, with 5,000 Italian guns blasting the Austrian positions; every Austrian position opposite Lieutenant-General Enrico Caviglia's lines were destroyed due to Caviglia's excellent spotting. After the barrage's culmination, the Italians attacked along the entire front, from the Tolmina Bridge to the Adriatic Sea. Caviglia's 24th Corps crossed the Isonzo, and, while its 60th Division was fiercely resisted, the 47th Division overwhelmed the Czech Rifles and secured the river by the dawn of 19 August. Italians began pouring across the bridges at that point. However, the Austrians held the line elsewhere, defending Monte Santo against several Italian attacks, as fighting along the rest of the line devolved into a war of attrition. On 20 August, Caviglia surrounded the Czech Rifles, and he tore a gap in the Austrian lines at the northern end of the plateau. However, Luigi Capello refused to lead the 2nd Army forward on a narrow front while the Austrians held positions on his flanks, and General Cadorna agreed with Capello. However, the Austrians on the flanks were in static formations, preventing them from intervening in a fluid battle. After two days of hesitation, the opportunity was lost, and Duke Emanuele Filiberto of Savoy-Aosta's Third Army attacks on the northern and southern flanks were unsuccessful. While he used an artillery barrage of navy guns at sea and British artillery batteries, he failed to break through the Austrians, who took 6,000 prisoners on his flanks. The Duke's center broke through the battered Austrian defenders as Svetozar Boroevic turned his attention to Caviglia's breakthrough, but the Austrians reinforced their ranks. By 22 August, new gaps were torn in the Austrian lines, but they were not exploited, and Boroevic removed his men to new defensive lines further back. The Austrians lost the Bainsizza Plateau and Monte Santo, but the Italians lost their greatest chance to break through the Austrian lines and win the war.