Page - 405 - in THE FIRST WORLD WAR - and the End of the Habsburg Monarchy, 1914 – 1918

The War of Attrition 405 The War of Attrition However, as yet, this was no more than a very vague idea. The initiative continued to lie with the Italians, who unabatedly continued their efforts to achieve the goals they had set themselves on the Isonzo. Four weeks after war had been declared, on 23 June, Ca- dorna led the first major attack on the Isonzo. The aims were known. At the beginning of July, the First Battle of the Isonzo culminated in fighting around the Karst Plateau near Redipuglia, at the Monte San Michele, on the Podgora and on the Monte Sabotino. The Italian 2nd Army stormed against the bridgehead at Gorizia and put to use the fact that its infantry was numerically up to six times stronger. However, the territorial gains made from the First Battle of the Isonzo were extremely meagre and frequently only amounted to several hundred metres. The total losses among the Italians ran to around 15,000 men, however, with the defenders losing 10,000 men. Clearly, defence was precisely the right approach to offsetting the weaknesses on the Austrian south-western front. This was also expressed in the congratulatory telegram from Archduke Friedrich to Archduke Eugen, in which he wrote : ‘The Army High Command places great importance on having the forces in the south-west kept ready for action and in high numbers for later decisions ; for this reason, that the proven defensive approach should be upheld everywhere, even if there is a sense of victory. An orientation regarding further aims is to follow shortly.’958 The fact that defensive action and simply repelling the enemy was not to everyone’s taste is reflected in a statement made by Conrad on 5 July : ‘If we only had four divisions for a counter-attack, then the dogs would run right back to the Tagliamento.’959 Hardly two weeks passed before the Second Battle of the Isonzo took place. It began on 17 July 1915. The aims of the Italian 2nd Army were again to take Gorizia and the bridgehead at Tolmin (Tolmein). The 3rd Army was to advance on to the Karst Plateau. Both armies had been given additional heavy army artillery. The artillery preparations on the Italian side were more focussed and effective than in the first Battle of the Isonzo. The Austro-Hungarian troops suffered terribly, since the splintering effect of the artillery missiles was multiplied even further by the bursting karst stone. Perhaps the experience of the Second Battle of the Isonzo is better described by just a few entries in a diary than simply the balance of operations. A subaltern of Infantry Regiment No. 46 wrote of the horror from his soul : ‘17 July. Terrible bombardment, which is more than any human can bear. A wonder that one is still alive. […] The num- ber of wounded is huge, we no longer have sufficient bearers for the injured. The people have lost their minds from terror. […] 18 July. The artillery fire becomes insanely heavy at night. I thought I was nearing my end, and made ready to die as a good Christian. It is over. Butchery without parallel. A terrible bloodbath. Blood is flowing everywhere and all around the dead and pieces of bodies lie in circles, so that…’ At this point in his entry, the diary breaks off  – the man had been killed.960