The breakthrough in the Soca Front (more commonly known to historians as the Isonzo Front) by the combined Austrian, Hungarian, German and Slovenian forces near Kobarid in October 1917 was one of the costliest battles in terms of human life the world has ever known. By the time the fighting had stopped 17 days after it had begun, hundreds of thousands of soldiers lay dead or wounded. They lay writhing and screaming in the blood-drenched earth, gassed and mutilated beyond recognition with limbs missing and faces torn away In May 1915, Italy declared war on the Central Powers and their allies and moved its army across the southwestern border of Austria to the strategically important Sofia Valley. From there they hoped to move eastward to the heart of Austria-Hungary. By (then, however, the Austrians had fortified the lines with trenches and bunkers for some 80 km, from the Adriatic Sea and the Karst to the mountain peaks overlooking the Upper Soca Valley as far north as Mt Rombon. The 1st offensive launched by the Italians was successful, and they occupied Kobarid and Mt Km to the northeast, where they would remain for some 29 months. The Italians, commanded by General Luigi Cadorna, launched another 10 offensives over the ensuing months but the difficult mountain terrain turned it into a war of attrition between two entrenched armies. Territorial gains were minimal but the fighting was horrific, involving a total assault of light artillery, anti-aircraft guns, trench mortars and gas-mine throwers. With the stalemate, much of the fighting shifted to Gorica (Gorizia) on the edge of the Karst region. http://home.hetnet.nl/~rjs25/hoofdmap/socafront.htm Cadorna launched four offensives in 1915, all along the Isonzo River. The goal of these offensives was the fortress of Gorizia, the capture of which would permit the Italian armies to pivot south and march on Trieste, or continue on to the Ljubliana Pass. All four offensives failed, resulting in some 250,000 Italian casaulties for little material gain. Cadorna would ultimately fight eleven battles on the Isonzo between 1915 and 1917. Additional forces were arrayed along the Trentino salient, attacking towards Rovereto, Trento, and Bolzano. These attacks also failed. The terrain along the Isonzo and in the Trentino province was completely unsuited for offensive warfare–mountainous and broken, with no room for maneuver. Historians describe Cadorna as a "martinet," ruthless with his troops and dismissive of his country's political authorities. During the course of war he fired 217 officers - during the Battle of Caporetto he would order the summary execution of officers whose units retreated. On October 24, 1917, a combined Austro-Hungarian/German army struck across the Isonzo River at Caporetto and by November 12 had advanced all the way to the Piave River. That Cadorna has disposed most his troops far forward and did not defend in depth contributed greatly to the disaster, but graver still were the responsibilities of other officers, markedly Pietro Badoglio, then corps commander in a sector overrun by the Austro-German attack. The Italian Army fled in disarray and seemed on the verge of total collapse; 275,000 soldiers surrendered. Cadorna was sacked and replaced by General Armando Diaz - he was appointed as the Italian representant to the Allied Supreme War Council set up in Versailles. Then the Italian forces rallied behind the Piave and Monte Grappa (a mountain Cadorna himself had previously began to fortify, in a moment of almost prophetical insight) and reversed, with the help of several Allied divisions, the course of the conflict. After the war, there was an enquiry held by the Italian government to investigate the defeat at Caporetto. It was published in 1919 and was highly critical of Cadorna, at that time a bitter man busy in writing his memories who claimed that he had no responsibility for the defeat. Nevertheless, he was made a Field Marshal (Maresciallo d'Italia) in 1924 when Benito Mussolini seized power
