Gorizia was indeed regarded as impregnable. The artillery preparation opened on 1 August along the whole Isonzo front. On a quiet Sun day morning, 6 Aug. 1916, the region was aroused by a still more tremendous bombard ment, heavier than any yet heard on the Italian front. Immediately afterward the Italians surged up through secretly-driven saps in the rock against the•Monte Sabotino heights and in one exultin.g, irresistible rush carried the hill. After defying Italy for 15 months, Sabotino and its defenders were captured almost without loss within a few hours after the bombardment began. The heights of San Michele, just belaw the town, were stormed at the same time. With these key positions in hand, the Italisms had won the necessary bridgehead. This brilliant movement was carried out by the 6th Army corps under General Capelio, with whom served, as chief of staff, Col. Pietro Badoglio, who later became the right-hand man of the future commander-in-chief, General Diaz. On Sunday evening and for several days aftenvard thousands of Austrian prisoners poured down the roads, pas.sing the up-coming Italian regi ments, At (Walt the Abruzzi brigade stormed the strong Oslavia line; a brigade of the llth division advanced against the key-position of Podgora, whkh was taken with desperate fight ing. For two days small garrisons resisted on the summit, parucularly an Austrian major, who with 40 men made such a gallant stand that when they were eventually overborne, the Italian commander ordered his men to present arms to the prisoners. By 8 August all the heights on the western bank of the river Isonzo were in Italian hands, and the time was ripe for the final drive on Gorizia itself. Its speedy fall was now inevitable; the Austrians evacuated the town in haste and the victorious Italians entered it on the 9th. The enemy had suffered 80,000 casualties and lost 12,000 in prisoners. The retreating Austrians were pur sued across the highlands of the Carso, across the tributary river Vallone; Doberdo, Oppac chiasella and smaller places in the hinterland were occupied by the Italians.
The Italian offensive now entered on its sec ond phase, with Trieste as the direct objective. As a preliminary, the enemy would have to be driven beyond the Vallone depression, since from that position he menaced Gorizia and barred progress on the Carso. The Doberdo Plateau was cleared by the Italians on the 10th and the Austrians were thrown eastward across the valley. They held their ground near Won falcone for two days longer, when their resist ance was broken and the whole of the western butt-end of the Carso was in Italian hands. By 15 August the whole Isonzo defense system had disappeared., between Trieste and the Ital ians there still lay a difficult country, though without any elaborate fortifications such as die Isonzo line had boasted. Yet the Carso was in truth the most terrible battleground in Europe; waterless and dusty, scorching hot by day and icy by night, it was a natural defensive barrier for the Austrians. To make any impression on the rocky floor of the Carso pneumatic drills and dynamite were essential. The Austrian first line had been blasted and drilled out of the limestone rock with machinery similar to that used in making the Saint Gothard and Simplon tunnels. The snipers' covers were armored with iron plates an inch thick cemented into the rock.
Italy had now been at war 15 months with Austria, but not with Germany. The situation was anomalous, even unique, for Germany was supplying Austria with her most important munitions of war; German officers, soldiers and sailors had been the c.hief managers of Austria's campaign against Italy so far. The state of
(peace' with Germany ended on 27 Aug. 1916, when Italy declared war against that country. On the same day Rumania declared war on Austria. Austria had been indebted to German assistance for such successes as she had won in the field. In the early stages of the war, when she had to tlepend upon herself, Austria suffered an unbroken series of reverses; after the first fatal step had been taken in 1914, she had the least zest for war among all the Teu tonic League, for at the worst she stood to lose much, and at the best to gain little. Her loose internal structure and the variety of races in her empire did not permit any solid national in tegration.. Her alien peoples rose against her and had to be suppressed. Up to January 1916 as many as 3,460 civilians had been executed for treason-330 in the Trentino, 287 in Trieste, 60 in Fiume, 208 in Istria and Dahnatia, 800 in Bosnia, 720 in Bohemia, 245 in Moravia, 480 in Galicia and 330 in Bukovina. While the Hun garians were entirely on the-side of Gerrnany, the German element in Austria was not of one mind, and the army soon lost its admiration for its highly efficient ally. The Emperor Francis Joseph died on 21 Nov. 1916 in his 86th year — the oldest sovereign in the world. He had been defeated in every war he had engaged in, and he died in the shadow of defeat. He was suc ceeded by his great-nephew, the archduke Charles, a nephew of the murdered archduke Francis Ferdinand.
By 15 Aug. 1916 the Italian advance had reached its limit for the year. With briif pauses between the efforts General Cadorna pressed his advance in great successive blows. Success was more substantial and more rapid in the northern half of the Carso front; in the more difficult southern end, the Austripns held a specially strong position at Hermada from which their artillery dominated the country far to the west. In a big rush on 14 September the Italians took the important town of San Grad() on the river Vippacco, an affluent of the Isonzo, On 10 October came a twofold thrust, break, ing the Anstrian line just southeast of Gorizia between Sober and Vertoiba; while south of the Vippacco further bend was forced in the enemy front; A fresh double blow fell on 1 November, when thp Italians cleared the heights east .of Gorizia, whence the enemies had been shelling their .lost city, while in the middle qf the front, front the Vippacco to the main road east and west through Oppacchiasella a two mile advance was made. Over 8,000 prisoners were taken in two days. The Austrians every where were now back on their third line; the section just mentioned consisted of re cently improvised defenses;- their greatest strength lay around the heavily fortified posi tion .at Hermada, where formidable batteries 'were concealed. To capture this sector meant a great concentration of guns and other prepara tions. Winter set in meanwhik; rain felt in torrents during November and December, and by Christmas the weather was so unfavorable that Cadoma was obliged to postpone his next effort till the following spring. Frost and snow soon made the Isonzo front as arctic a region as the glacier posts in Trentino or the icy peaks of the Dolomites. Throughout the bitter winter a perpetual toil proceeded behind both fronts to improve positions, cre,ste gun emplacements and communication trenches and g.enerally adopt all the safeguards that fore sight could devise to ensure success. Italy now had Germany ope.nly against her as well as Aus tria, and die spnng was certain to bring some important developments from the other side.