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Following shortly on the declaration of war by Italy, General Cadorna deployed the whole of the Italian Third Army on the right bank of the Isonzo between Tolmino and Monfalcone, and carried out a vigorous offensive in order to gain a secure footing on the left bank an antecedent condition to further operations eastward.
The position was now that Cadorna's left wing was in a strong position, but could not do much against Tolmino. His center was facing the great camp of Gorizia, while his right was on the edge of the Carso, and had advanced as far as Dueno, on the Monfalcone-Trieste Railroad. The army was in position to make an attack upon Gorizia.
An Austrian attack at Gabria, northwest of Tolmino, had a like result, the Austrians suffering appreciable losses. On April 29, 1917, an Austrian detachment entered one of the advanced Italian positions at Tonale Pass in the Camonica Valley. Notwithstanding a violent barrage fire from the Austrian batteries, Italian reenforcements at once reoccupied the position.
The Italians repulsed minor attacks in the vicinity of Della Tolmino, and against the position which they had captured on April 7, 1917, north of Boscomalo. On April 13, 1917, the railway station at Calliano and moving trains in the neighborhood were repeatedly hit, an ammunition depot was blown up, and a fortified position destroyed in the Zugna area.
Gorizia itself remained in Austrian hands for another year, the heights east of it were not mastered until 1917, and neither Tolmino nor the Carso fell to the Italians until the war had been lost and won. There was nothing here to disturb the Austrian concentration of effort against their Russian foes or to call for German assistance to their Austrian allies.
This offensive action, it now appeared, had really begun on May 12, 1917, when, in the morning, fire was opened along the whole line from Tolmino to the sea. It was maintained with a regularly quickened rhythm until the morning of May 14, 1917, when it was intensified to a powerful drum fire. During the first part of the bombardment the Austrians reacted but feebly.
There was considerable bombardment of the bridgeheads at Tolmino and Gorizia. In the Gorizia sector the Austrians attacked the Italian positions at Oslavia, capturing 900 men and inflicting severe losses in killed and wounded. Determined attacks by the Italian troops followed, and the positions were again transferred to Italian hands.
May 23 Italy declares war on Austria. June 3 Germans recapture Przemysl with Austrian help. June 18 British suffer defeat north of La Bassee canal. June 28 Italians enter Austrian territory south of Riva on western shore of Lake Garda. July 3 Tolmino falls into Italian hands. July 9 British make gains north of Ypres and French retake trenches in the Vosges. July 13 Germans defeated in the Argonne.
While regular siege operations were being carried on against Tolmino and Gorizia, the Italians were putting forth great efforts to secure possession of the Carso Plateau, which dominates the rail and carriage road between Monfalcone and Trieste, as well as the Isonzo Valley up to Gorizia.
On the southern slopes of Monte Rombon the Italians occupied by surprise advanced posts, and maintained the same in spite of the concentrated fire of the Austrians. On the Julian front the artillery fire was especially noticeable in the Tolmino sector, and on the heights northeast of Goritz. Columns of Austrian motor lorries were dispersed, and troops assembled east of Castagnievizza were shelled.
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