Page 102 - Il 1917 l'anno della svolta - Atti 25-26 ottobre 2017

102 il 1917. l’anno della svolta

wounded. The k.u.k. 5th Army lost 10,000 soldiers, and 45,000 were wounded;
of these, 30,000 were missing or prisoners of war while 20,000 had fallen ill.
Apart from the casualties, which were easier for the Italians to replace than
they were for the k.u.k. Army, the territorial conditions for the Isonzo defence
had significantly worsened throughout the Eleventh Battle of the Isonzo. Even
though the loss of territory accounted for only between 10 and max. 12 km, the
th
k.u.k. 5 Army now stood quite literally on the outermost edge of their defence
opportunities. The loss of the Chiappovano Valley, east of Bainsizza, would have
given the Italians access to the Ljubljana Basin, while the subsequent conquest
of the Mt. San Gabriele in the south resulted in the retaking of the front behind
the Trnovo Forest Plateau, which could not be defended due to its poor road con-
16
ditions. However, subsequently, the “Flondarstellung” was still protecting the
Hermada region in the south, whose conquest would have left Trieste vulnerable.
Hence, for a next Italian offensive all three regions had yielded operative oppor-
tunities, even with minimal actual territorial gains. As a consequence, it had to
be concluded that the military “clearing” of the situation in these regions could
no longer be solved by merely strengthening the defence forces, but through an
offensive operation. In this respect, initial considerations already existed in the
Italy department of the k.u.k. Armeeoberkommando, done by Major Sigismund
von Schilhawsky in July 1917. For the Chief of Staff, General Arz von Straußen-
burg, however, it was clear that an operation without German support barely
had a chance of success. This meant that the German Oberste Heeresleitung
(Supreme Army Command) had to be convinced and the resistance of Emperor
Karl against this German involvement had to be overcome beforehand. The latter
ultimately brought to an end the dramatically deteriorating situation at the Bain-
sizza throughout the course of the Eleventh Battle of the Isonzo; the incoming
messages from the Armeeoberkommando in Baden were more than clear. The
17
Emperor now appeared to be ready to accept the involvement of their ally. With
this reversal in opinion, Schilhawasky created a first draft, which calculated the
basic troop requirements, including an attack group in the sector of the newly
created Army Group Boroević with about 38 infantry divisions; this meant an
increase of ten to eleven divisions. Of these, at first consideration, about eight
should have been sent by the German Obersten Heeresleitung and the remaining
were to be supplied by the Austro-Hungarians and moved from other theatres. In
addition, about 700 additional artillery pieces had to be provided apart from the
equipment of the respective infantry division artilleries. The area around Tolmin

16 Felberbauer, Isonzoschlacht, S. 14
17 Hermann Schöckl, Österreich-Ungarns Isonzofront im Jahre 1917. Ungedr. Diss phil, Wien
1997, S. 131