The Battle of Vittorio Veneto
October 23rd-November 4th, 1918
Along with the Germans on the Western Front and the Ottomans on the Middle Eastern Front, the Austro-Hungarians were also losing the war on the Italian Front. With almost being completely defeated at the 'Battle of Caporette', the Austro-Hungarian forces were losing moral quickly. Despite the victory at the 'Battle of the Piave River' in June, Italian Chief-in-Staff Armando Diaz stubbled in exploiting his advanges over the weakening Austrians After seeing that the Allies were advancing on the Western Front pushing the Germans back, it was the reveiled to the Italians that the Germans now couldn't assist the Austro-Hungarians on the Italian Front. It was here where the Italian government started pressured Diaz to take advange of this opprotunity. Diaz then planned to launch a combined force offensive from the Piave River advancing to Vittorio Veneto. He chose to launch his offensive here because he believed that this action would separate the Austro-Hungarian forces on the Adriatic plains from the Austrian forces in the mountians. Meanwhile the Italian 4th army to the west at Mount Grappa would break through the Austrian lines there.
The Italian force leading the attack was made up of 57 divisions and were accompanied by three British and two French divisions along with one U.S. division. Defending against the Allies were 52 Austro-Hungarian divisions aided by 6,030 guns. Not only did the Italians out-number them division and gun wise (Italians had 7,000 guns), the Italian army had more momentum the the already weakening Austrians.
The offensive was launched on Oct. 23rd with the advance into the mountians which, to Diaz's surprise, show strong Austrian resistance. This as a result slowed down the amount of progress of the advance in this sector. But British commander Lord Cavan and his third army had more success at the Paive River by builing a bridgehead across it on Oct. 27th with little resistance. Another brigdehead was made north on the river by the Italian 12th army and after words Cavan sent a few divisions to remove any resistance from the area thus allowing the two brigdehead to join together. On Oct. 27th, Cavan continued his advance forcing the Austro-Hungarian 5th army back. Three day prior on Oct. 30th, the Italian 3rd and 10th armies succeeded in making it the the River Livenza and then the Italian 8th army looked at Vittorio Veneto as a main target. This whole action managed to split the Austro-Hungarian army in two, as planned. The Allies were able to advance a total of 39 miles along a 90 mile front before a truce was agreeded on by November 2nd along with the capture of Tagliamento. An armistice was in effect prior to that day and signed at Padua ending the fight on November 4th.
During the battle, the Italians suffered 38,000 but the Italian forces were able to capture 300,000 Austro-Hungarians as prisoners. After this Allied success the Austro-Hungarian Empire dissolved and on November 11th, the war ended with the Allies as the victor leaving the Central Powers defeated.
The Italian force leading the attack was made up of 57 divisions and were accompanied by three British and two French divisions along with one U.S. division. Defending against the Allies were 52 Austro-Hungarian divisions aided by 6,030 guns. Not only did the Italians out-number them division and gun wise (Italians had 7,000 guns), the Italian army had more momentum the the already weakening Austrians.
The offensive was launched on Oct. 23rd with the advance into the mountians which, to Diaz's surprise, show strong Austrian resistance. This as a result slowed down the amount of progress of the advance in this sector. But British commander Lord Cavan and his third army had more success at the Paive River by builing a bridgehead across it on Oct. 27th with little resistance. Another brigdehead was made north on the river by the Italian 12th army and after words Cavan sent a few divisions to remove any resistance from the area thus allowing the two brigdehead to join together. On Oct. 27th, Cavan continued his advance forcing the Austro-Hungarian 5th army back. Three day prior on Oct. 30th, the Italian 3rd and 10th armies succeeded in making it the the River Livenza and then the Italian 8th army looked at Vittorio Veneto as a main target. This whole action managed to split the Austro-Hungarian army in two, as planned. The Allies were able to advance a total of 39 miles along a 90 mile front before a truce was agreeded on by November 2nd along with the capture of Tagliamento. An armistice was in effect prior to that day and signed at Padua ending the fight on November 4th.
During the battle, the Italians suffered 38,000 but the Italian forces were able to capture 300,000 Austro-Hungarians as prisoners. After this Allied success the Austro-Hungarian Empire dissolved and on November 11th, the war ended with the Allies as the victor leaving the Central Powers defeated.