Page - 794 - in THE FIRST WORLD WAR - and the End of the Habsburg Monarchy, 1914 – 1918

794 The Pyrrhic Victory : The Breakthrough Battle of Flitsch-Tolmein It became evident on the Piave River that the Italians were not demoralised to the same degree everywhere. The 2nd Army had almost been extinguished, but the 3rd Army under the Duke of Aosta, which had been caught up in the retreat, had only had to fight smaller battles against Boroević’s Isonzo armies. However, Boroević failed to destroy the Italian 3rd Army, since he had managed to prevent the German formations from advancing in his area of command, and the newly-formed Archduke Eugen army front command could not intervene quickly enough.1854 It had remained in Maribor (Marburg an der Drau), where, as had previously been the case in Cieszyn (Teschen), the high-ranking officers on the staff had arranged for their families to follow them.1855 Clearly, it had been more than difficult to leave the idyllic surroundings. Eugen had also remained in Maribor during the South Tyrol offensive of 1916. Italian divisions, which had been quickly brought in, prevented the Imperial and Royal troops from establishing their positions to the west of the Piave River. At first, however, General Cadorna had misjudged the situation to the extent that he believed that the Austrians would for the main part attack from the Asiago-Arsiero region, as they had done in 1916, and that from there, a far greater danger threatened. The British and French were urgently requested to send troops, and although the Allies showed no particular enthusiasm for bringing not only artillery, but also a significant number of troops to Italy, they finally consented. The first two of four French divisions were entrained on 28 October, and arrived in Italy three days later. They were followed by 24 batteries of heavy artillery. And the British also deployed two divisions, but were only prepared to place them under the command of a British general, and not an Italian one. The Chief of the French General Staff, Ferdinand Foch, met with Cadorna in Treviso on 30 October. On assessing the situation in which their alliance partner found itself, he and the Chief of the British Imperial General Staff, General William Robertson, made a comparison with the Russians and the Battle of Gorlice–Tarnów.1856 Cadorna’s feelings during this meeting were similar to those of Conrad when he had met Falken- hayn. The criticism voiced by the French made him incandescent with rage. Yet he had to remain civil, since the French and British were needed in order to prevent another collapse of the front. Four French and four British divisions were finally brought to the area to the west of the Piave River. 200,000 soldiers provided the Italians with support. This offset the German troops deployed in Italy with the 14th Army. However, the French and British doubted whether the Italians would again recover, and calculated that two further French and one British infantry division would be needed, as well as vast quantities of artillery and aeroplanes, in order to stabilise the Italian front again. ‘With the Italians we have an additional burden to bear’, it was noted in the British General Staff, which came to the curious conclusion that ‘and besides, Italy is simi- lar to France in terms of its unreliability. A report by the commander of the British forces in Italy, General Frederick Lambart, according to which countless numbers of