Page 220 - Il 1916 Evoluzione geopolitica, tattica e tecnica di un conflitto sempre più esteso - Atti 6-7 dicembre 2016

220 il 1916. EvoluzionE gEopolitica, tattica E tEcnica di un conflitto sEmprE più EstEso

combined in the V. Naval Division delivered a decisive blow to the Montenegrin
defenders. Yet the use of naval artillery had had a series of issues to tackle. In
some cases, the elevation ranges of the naval guns were not high enough to fire
on the enemy positions, so that the ships had to be brought into a tilted position
by letting in water ballast on the one side, so as to increase the elevation angle.
A special firing system had to be devised to take hidden, i.e. invisible enemy
positions under indirect fire. Through exact homing of the targets, which had
been previously transferred with precision onto a special map created from
aerial photos, and by using exact calculations of the azimuth and elevation
ranges, the navy had compiled so-called “firing points” on a previously calcu-
lated course. When covering such a firing point, the gunners would fire their
rounds according to the predefined data. This had to take into account the
exact position of the ship, the waves, and any possible wind. The impact was
9
observed by the assigned balloon division and by air forces. The impact of the
entire artillery bombardment was so immense, that the infantry brigades ad-
vancing on the South section were hardly met with any considerable resistance.
On January 9 , access to the Lovcen plateau was already in Austro-Hungarian
th
hands, and their brigades were on a continuous advance. Resistance on the
Montenegrin side varied significantly. While withdrawal movements could be
seen on the south section, the attackers in the middle and north section had
to fight hard for every col and summit. By January 10 , however, the Lovcen
th
summit had been taken. By that time, the Montenegrins had lost almost their
entire artillery. An attempt by the Montenegrin Army Command to recapture
the Lovcen summit in a counterattack on the night of January 11 failed due
th
to the complete exhaustion of the troops, which were already showing consid-
erable signs of disintegration. The collapse of the Lovcen defence prompted
Montenegro’s political leaders to request an armistice already on January 11 ,
th
which was nevertheless considerably delayed by the demand of the Imperial
and Royal Army Command for unconditional capitulation. On January 13 , the
th
first Austro-Hungarian spearheads reached Centinje, which was subsequently
occupied almost without a fight. The remaining troops surrendered on Janu-
10
ary 17 . The offensive continued and was now directed against Albania. The
th
Italians gave up Durazzo, but due to a lack of troops not all of Albania could

9 Enne Peter, Die österreichisch-ungarische Offensive gegen Montenegro 1916 unter besonde-
rer Berücksichtigung der Operation über den Lovcen und des Zusammenbruchs der montene-
grinischen Armee, p. 137
10 Ibid. p.112