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924 The June Battle in Veneto
be able to feed the war. At the Army High Command, it was therefore already clear
on the second day of the Piave battle that only its abortion could prevent a catastrophe.
14 divisions had crossed the Piave. They fought in part in the lowlands, and in part
on the mountain ridges of the Montello, over which extended air battles also then took
place. The Commander of the 6th Army, Archduke Joseph, also failed in his request for
reservists to be supplied for his successful troops. He wrote on this subject that : ‘On
the afternoon [of 15 June], we had the highest point of the Montello under our control,
yet here already, there were huge losses in transportation, and we were unable to supply
the attack as planned and remained where we were ; our brave troops were forced to
dig themselves in as a result of physical weakness […]. Supplies were fully hindered,
since no means of transportation were available and, with great effort, I was able to
transport some ammunition, although some battalions were already fighting with bare
weapons […]. The Montello is littered with corpses !’2232 Indeed, there was no option
but to regard the June offensive as a failure, even after just two days. Wherever it was
still possible, troops began to be withdrawn. On the Montello, the retreat threatened to
turn into a catastrophe. Goiginger urged the Emperor, who had joined the 6th Army
on 20 June, to hold the Montello ridge, since it would be more dangerous and lead to
higher losses to give up the Montello and return across the Piave than to remain there.
Even so, on the same day, he was ordered to retreat – as was everyone else.
When the soldiers returned to their initial positions and prepared themselves for
defensive action, they were at the end of their strength, and were understandably deeply
depressed. All their efforts appeared to have been for nothing. Above all, however, it
was the change that had come about that was so obvious, and which could hardly be
explained : even in November 1917, they had still been able to drive the Italians out,
had been superior to them and had also had the better weaponry. Now, one only had
to look at the statement made by the Imperial and Royal 6th Army with regard to the
ratio of forces in the air to know how great the defeat had been. The statement read :
‘With regard to the ratio of forces on both sides, the Albrecht fighting has shown be-
yond doubt that superiority is on the side of our enemy […]. However, the battle for
supremacy in the air depends not only on numerical superiority, but also on the techni-
cal flying properties of the aeroplanes, on the quality of the personnel and the nature of
the deployment […]. Since January 1918, the Army High Command has provided the
6th Army with 155 R[econnaissance] and 227 F[ighter] planes. Of these, 14 R and 16
F aeroplanes have been lost as a result of enemy action, and 101 R and 168 F aeroplanes
have been lost for the main part due to inadequate training of the pilots’.2233 From a
total of 382 aeroplanes, 269 had been lost – more than two-thirds !
The accusations rained down. Almost every commander wanted it to be known that
he had anticipated the failure. They had been robbed of success by indolence. Conrad
was castigated, and Boroević was criticised for having no ‘grit’. The General Staff major
THE FIRST WORLD WAR
and the End of the Habsburg Monarchy, 1914 – 1918
- Title
- THE FIRST WORLD WAR
- Subtitle
- and the End of the Habsburg Monarchy, 1914 – 1918
- Author
- Manfried Rauchensteiner
- Publisher
- Böhlau Verlag
- Location
- Wien
- Date
- 2014
- Language
- English
- License
- CC BY-NC-ND 4.0
- ISBN
- 978-3-205-79588-9
- Size
- 17.0 x 24.0 cm
- Pages
- 1192
- Categories
- Geschichte Vor 1918
Table of contents
- 1 On the Eve 11
- 2 Two Million Men for the War 49
- 3 Bloody Sundays 81
- 4 Unleashing the War 117
- 5 ‘Thank God, this is the Great War!’ 157
- 6 Adjusting to a Longer War 197
- 7 The End of the Euphoria 239
- 8 The First Winter of the War 283
- 9 Under Surveillance 317
- 10 ‘The King of Italy has declared war on Me’ 355
- 11 The Third Front 383
- 12 Factory War and Domestic Front, 1915 413
- 13 Summer Battle and ‘Autumn Swine’ 441
- 14 War Aims and Central Europe 469
- 15 South Tyrol : The End of an Illusion (I) 497
- 16 Lutsk :The End of an Illusion (II) 521
- 17 How is a War Financed ? 555
- 18 The Nameless 583
- 19 The Death of the Old Emperor 607
- 20 Emperor Karl 641
- 21 The Writing on the Wall 657
- 22 The Consequences of the Russian February Revolution 691
- 23 Summer 1917 713
- 24 Kerensky Offensive and Peace Efforts 743
- 25 The Pyrrhic Victory : The Breakthrough Battle of Flitsch-Tolmein 769
- 26 Camps 803
- 27 Peace Feelers in the Shadow of Brest-Litovsk 845
- 28 The Inner Front 869
- 29 The June Battle in Veneto 895
- 30 An Empire Resigns 927
- 31 The Twilight Empire 955
- 32 The War becomes History 983
- Epilogue 1011
- Afterword 1013
- Acknowledgements and Dedication 1019
- Notes 1023
- Selected Printed Sources and Literature 1115
- Index of People and Places 1155