United States or British Indian Ocean Territory ? Vote for the TOP Country of the Week !
On the whole front from Tolmino to the sea there were continuous actions by artillery of all calibers. The Austrian artillery continued its work of devastation on the city of Goritz. On May 17, 1917, the Italian troops were engaged in fortifying the important position captured east of Goritz and organizing communication with the rear.
In the zone east of Goritz Austrian counterattacks, directed particularly against the summit of Height 174 and to the east of the Vertoibizza Torrent, broke down under Italian fire. Afterward Italian infantry, assuming a counteroffensive, occupied the important height to the south of Grazigna after a desperate conflict.
Two Italian patrols entered the enemy lines in the Goritz area and destroyed them. Comparative inactivity was the rule during the following week. But during the night of March 27, 1917, Austrian detachments in the Sugana Valley attempted to approach Italian positions on the left bank of the Maso Torrent west of Samone. They were driven off and dispersed by the Italian fire.
On the Isonzo front the Italian commander, General Cadorna, launched a great offensive while the British were active in Flanders and by August 23 had broken through the whole Austrian line, capturing the town of Selo, which was the pivot of the Austrian defense, and considered impregnable, and inflicting upon the enemy, in this eleventh battle of the Isonzo, the greatest losses he had sustained since the capture of Goritz.
On May 29 and 30, 1917, artillery was not very active on the Trentino front and in the Carnia, but was very heavy on the Julian front, particularly in the sector from Monte Cucco to Vodice and east of Goritz. On May 31, 1917, considerable artillery activity developed in the northern sector of the Carso and on the line from Goritz to Plava.
On practically every day through January, 1917, there was considerable artillery activity in the various sectors of the entire front. This increased in violence in accordance with weather conditions, but generally speaking had little result on general conditions, which at the end of January, 1917, were practically the same as had been established after the fall of Goritz.
Raids attempted by the Austrians against Italian positions on the northern slopes of Col Bricon, in the Travignola Valley, at Navagiust in the upper Degano, and on the slopes of Monte Nero were repulsed. In the area southeast of Goritz Austrian detachments, after a violent bombardment, attacked one of the advanced Italian positions south of Vertoiba. They were driven back and dispersed.
The artillery activity was continued in a desultory way. It was somewhat more lively, however, in the Travignola Valley, at the head of the Costeana stream, and in the Goritz area. Reconnaissance patrols were active along the entire front. The first definite signs of an impending Italian drive on the Julian front appeared on May 12, 1917.
The end of August, 1916, then, saw the Italians in possession of Goritz and their lines at some points as much as five miles nearer to Trieste. The latter, however, seemed at least for the time being safely in the hands of the Austrians, who by this time had received reenforcements and appeared to be determined to stop the Italian advance across the Carso Plateau at all odds.
In the meantime a heavy artillery bombardment had been started by the Italians on the Carso Plateau. From day to day the intensity of the artillery fire increased. At last on October 10, 1916, the Italians launched their attack against the Austrian lines south of Goritz and on the Carso. The battle lasted all day and night.
Word Of The Day