Conan Doyle's Analysis of the Italian Campaign Against Austria
By Arthur Conan Doyle, May 1916
• Extract from A Visit To Three Fronts, by Arthur Conan Doyle. In May 1916, the Italian authorities requested that an independent observer visit their lines and report his impressions. Conan Doyle also visited the British and French lines "for comparison".
I leave Italy with a deep feeling of gratitude for the kindness shown to me, and of admiration for the way in which they are playing their part in the world's fight for freedom. They have every possible disadvantage, economic and political. But in spite of it they have done splendidly. Three thousand square kilometres of the enemy's country are already in their possession. They relieve to a very great extent the pressure upon the Russians, who, in spite of all their bravery, might have been overwhelmed last summer during the "durchbruch" had it not been for the diversion of so many Austrian troops.
The time has come now when Russia by her advance on the Pripet is repaying her debt. But the debt is common to all the Allies. Let them bear it in mind. There has been mischief done by slighting criticism and by inconsiderate words. A warm sympathetic hand-grasp of congratulation is what Italy has deserved, and it is both justice and policy to give it.
From first to last the Alpini have had the ascendency in the hill fighting. The spirit in the ranks is something marvellous. There have been occasions when every officer has fallen and yet the men have pushed on, have taken a position and then waited for official directions.
But if that is so, you will ask, why is it that they have not made more impression upon the enemy's position? The answer lies in the strategical position of Italy . The Alps form such a bar across the north that there are only two points where serious operations are possible. One is the Trentino Salient, where Austria can always threaten and invade Italy. She lies in the mountains with the plains beneath her. Austria can always invade the plain, but the Italians cannot seriously invade the mountains, since the passes would only lead to other mountains beyond.
Therefore, the only possible policy is to hold the Austrians back. This they have successfully done, and though the Austrians with the aid of shattering heavy artillery have recently made some advance, they can never really carry out any serious invasion. The Italians, then, have done all that could be done in this quarter.
There remains the other front, the opening by the sea. Here the Italians had a chance to advance over a front of plain ... They cleared the plain, they crossed the river, they fought a battle upon the slopes of the hills (taking 20,000 Austrian prisoners), and now they are faced by barbed wire, machine guns, cemented trenches and every other device which has held them as it has held everyone else.
But remember what they have done for the common cause and be grateful for it. They have in a year occupied 40 Austrian divisions, and relieved our Russian allies to that very appreciable extent. They have killed or wounded a quarter of a million, taken 40,000, and drawn to themselves a large portion of the artillery.
As to the future, it is very easy to prophesy. The Italians will continue to absorb large enemy armies. Neither side can advance far as matters stand, but if the Russians advance and Austria has to draw men east, there will be a tiger spring for Trieste. If manhood can break the line, then I believe the Durandos will do it. "Trieste o morte!" I saw chalked on the walls all over north Italy. That is the Italian objective.
1 comments:
Gentlemen,
“We (the French) have no friends only interests” is the time-honoured exhortation of French diplomats since the days of the Louis XIV (and even before). France teetered on the abyss in 1914 prior to the arrival of the British and her colonial forces. Furthermore, both the French and British Armies were in danger of collapse until the Americans arrived in 1917-18 and changed the outcome of the war on the Western Front. (For the naysayer, German military archives are quite clear on this point).
In contrast, the Italian front was a contest between Italian forces and those of the Austro-Hungarian Empire AND Germany. Thomas Nelson Page, the American ambassador to Italy describes the situation in minute detail as the Italians had to improvise against impossible odds in every sense…alone. Early on, the Russians could draw forces away from the front but by late 1917, the Revolution had made the their contribution moot. The disaster at Caporetto (10/1917) forced the Allies to provide some help but compared to the paramilitary and military Italian forces on the Western Front (some 70,000 men besides the Italian troops in Bulgaria with General Franchet-d'Espérey,), it has to be considered “symbolic”. Anyway, with Operation Michael launched by the Germans in 1918, Allied forces were, for the most part, withdrawn back to the Western Front, largely as reserves. Nevertheless, the Italophobes among Italy’s “Allies” saw an opportunity for propaganda in its most insidious form. It would serve them well when the victors divided up the spoils.
The reneging of commitments, (in the form of 16 articles) established by the signing of the London Pact of 1915, at Versailles and the Paris Peace conference were the result of French perfidy, English idiocy, American naiveté, and Italian intransigence (Baron Sonnino). Caporetto, one of the most misunderstood battles of the entire war, forever stained the reputation of the Italian Army in Anglo-American historiography. French humiliation on the battlefield was redeemed, however temporarily (see WWII history of 1940, Indochina, etc.). Though President Wilson was thoroughly impressed by Italy’s war contributions, his inexperience vis-à-vis European diplomacy sealed the fate of Italian irredentism. The French couldn’t have been happier.
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