Page - 998 - in THE FIRST WORLD WAR - and the End of the Habsburg Monarchy, 1914 – 1918

998 The War becomes History Since the signs pointed to a looming Italian offensive, the Emperor turned to the Pope on 23 October with a telegram : ‘Signs are multiplying that the Italian offensive against us is imminent. We await it with calm and confidence. Since the war will not be decided in Veneto, however, but will soon approach its end, I request Your Holiness to advise the Italian government to abandon this plan for purely humanitarian reasons. By means of this deed, Your Holiness could save thousands of human lives.’2473 The telegram was in vain. The Attack by the Allies In spite of the signs of disintegration among the Imperial and Royal troops, which had been observed for months, the Italian Army Command had seen the possibility neither in August nor in September 1918 of beginning a decisive offensive. Although Marshal Foch, the Chairman of the Allied Supreme War Council, had been urging an energetic Italian offensive for a long time, Prime Minister Orlando responded to him on 24 Sep- tember that such a campaign would be too risky and that the Italian troops would not be in a position to launch a decisive offensive until spring 1919. An early attack would depend on the sending of ten additional British and French divisions. An offensive in the autumn would only be conceivable if Foch were to expressly assume responsi- bility for it.2474 The collapse of Bulgaria, however, had also fundamentally altered the situation for Italy. Furthermore, Marshal Foch did indeed assume responsibility for an immediate Italian offensive. The Italian High Command was instructed to prepare the offensive and commence it on 16 October. The Italian statesmen understood that their position would improve significantly if the Italian troops had advanced as far as possi- ble at the conclusion of an armistice and had at all costs reached the territories claimed by Italy. This was no longer a question of the war, but instead one of the post-war period. However, the deadline set by Foch could not be met. It was to be a week later. Ultimately, however, an offensive was a relatively harmless undertaking, since the Imperial and Royal troops in Italy had again become weaker in September to the tune of around 100,000 men. Only 400,000 ‘black-yellows’ now remained to counter the last Italian onslaught.2475 Furthermore, only around a third of the Imperial and Royal troops were stationed at the front. In themselves, the thoughts of the Allies and the Austrians coincided with each other in one point, when the Entente troops planned an offensive whilst the Imperial and Royal armies consulted on 17 October on the modal- ities of a large-scale strategic withdrawal. The Isonzo army was to be withdrawn to the Ljubljana area, Army Group Belluno to Carinthia, the Imperial and Royal 6th Army to Styria, and the 10th and 11th Armies to northern and eastern Tyrol.2476 However, nothing happened in the days that followed, and then it was too late.