Battle of Vittorio Veneto
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| Italian Front |
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| 1st Isonzo – 2nd Isonzo – 3rd Isonzo – 4th Isonzo – 5th Isonzo – Asiago – 6th Isonzo – 7th Isonzo – 8th Isonzo – 9th Isonzo – 10th Isonzo – Ortigara – 11th Isonzo – Caporetto – Piave River – Vittorio Veneto |
Background
During the Battle of Caporetto, the Italian Army lost over 300,000 men and was forced to withdraw, causing the replacement of the Italian Supreme General Luigi Cadorna with the General Armando Diaz. Diaz reorganized the troops, blocked the enemy advance and stabilized the front-line around the Piave River.The battle
On the 23rd October 1918, the Italian Army supported by their allied troops launched the offensive.After crossing the Piave River, the Italian Army took Vittorio Veneto (at that time still "Vittorio", "Veneto" was added to the name only in 1923) and advanced in the direction of Trento, blocking the way of retreat of the enemy's armies in the Trentino.
Conclusion
The 28th October the Austria-Hungary asked for peace, but the Italians continued advancing reaching Trento, Udine and landing in Trieste. The 3th November the armistice was signed in Villa Giusti (near Padova), taking effect the next day.Result
The battle determined the end of the first world war on the Italian front. The surrender of their primary ally made the continuation of the war for Germany impossible.Original Italian Victory Address
THE HIGH COMMAND, November 4th 1918, 12 noon.The War against Austria-Hungary which, under the high guidance of His Majesty the King, supreme Chief, the Italian Army, inferior in number and means, commenced on May 24, 1915, and with unshaken faith and tenacious valour conducted uninterruptedly and most strenuously for 41 months, is won.
The gigantic battle engaged on the 24th of last October, and in which there took part 51 Italian divisions, three British, two French, one Czecho-Slovak, and one American regiment, against 73 Austro-Hungarian divisions, is finished.
A fulminating and highly daring advance by the Twenty-ninth Army Corps on Trent, by blocking the way of retreat of the enemy's armies in the Trentino, overthrown on the West by troops of the Seventh Army and on the East by those of the First, Sixth and Fourth Armies, yesterday determined the complete collapse of the adversary's front.
From the Brenta to the Torre the irresistible dash of the Twelfth and Tenth Armies and of the Cavalry divisions, is driving back further and further the fleeing foe.
In the plain H.R.H. the Duke of Aosta is advancing rapidly at the head of his invincible Third Army eager to return to the positions they already victoriously conquered and had never lost.
The Austro-Hungarian Army is annihilated; it has suffered very heavy losses in the stubborn resistance on the first few days and during the pursuit; it has lost very considerable quantities of material of all sorts and almost entire its magazines and depots.
The remains of what was one of the most powerful armies in the world are going back, in disorder and hopeless, up the valleys they had descended with proud surety.
Diaz
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