Diary of a Liaison Officer in Italy 1918 [British Army]

15–23 June 1918

Second Battle of the Piave River

THE FIRST SIX MONTHS

28th November.—I made my first acquaint- ance with an Italian headquarters. It had been practically decided that the British should hold the Bosco di Montello, the link between the Mountain and Piave fronts, and we set out, a party of three, to visit the Italian 1st Corps, with a view to discussing Engineer services for the prospective occupa- tion of this sector. The party consisted of General Glubb, who was our chief engineer, Colonel Pitt-Taylor, chief liaison officer, and myself. We left Padova, our first: head- quarters, at 8.30 a.m. in General Glubb’s Rolls-Royce, a car somewhat unsuited for the road conditions. ‘The surface of the road was excellent, but narrow and winding, and we had great trouble threading our way

THE FIRST SIX MONTHS 16

The next day I set off in the morning to meet the 8th Italian Corps, from whom the British were to take over the line on the right of the rst Corps. They held the sector immediately to the right of the Montello along the Piave bank, running practically south-east. The General I found to be a rather sombre though capable- looking man of the name of Caviglia. He had been with the Japanese in the Russo- Japanese War, he told me, and was very interested in the Far East. He turned out

THE TWO OFFENSIVES 121

The battle of the Piave constituted practically a double victory, won decisively in nine days. In all the German offensives in France, the Allies had been forced to yield at the least several miles before stemming the German onslaught. In Italy, however, the Austrian nowhere progressed more than six miles. It is true, and must be admitted, that he had the river to cross and the crossings to maintain. But he had made what he thought adequate provision and calculation to meet this case. In spite of repeated attacks with fresh troops against the tired Italian divisions, he was unable to break their line, or progress at any point more than three miles in one day. This in itself constituted a great victory. Further- more, although the Italian staff showed

THE TWO OFFENSIVES 126

The Italian higher command, however, appeared to lack confidence. They realised, I think, that their offensive-defensive opera- tions in the battles of the Piave and Montello had been a failure, and that their losses had been unnecessarily heavy. They may have realised the reason for this, and the way to remedy it; but they lacked confidence in their capacity to organise and direct an