| Language: | English | Abstract: | This monograph aims to present the importance of the Twelfth Isonzo
Offensive, which was a complex and challenging military operation from
all the aspects of planning, organization, and implementation. The initial
chapters offer a description of the military analysis of the Zgornje Posočje
geographical region, and an analysis of the military and political situation in
Europe in 1917. Later, the monograph provides a detailed description of the
preparations for the Twelfth Isonzo Offensive, the structure and transfer of
the 14th Army units to the Isonzo front, the situation in the 2nd Italian Army,
the German Army’s combat power and its command and control methods, i.e.
auftragstaktik, mountain warfare, and the development of the attack tactics.
The book additionally includes detailed descriptions of the belligerent parties’
combat activities, focusing specifically on the first days of combat, which took
place on Slovenian ground. It explains in detail the reasons for the German-
Austrian-Hungarian victory and the Italian defeat, and presents new findings
on the role of Erwin Rommel in the Twelfth Isonzo Offensive, as well as that
of other German officers. Furthermore, the monograph highlights the issue of
certain set myths, the great German commander-in-chief, and the importance
of the Twelfth Isonzo Offensive for the development of the military profession.
The offensive was a clash between two concepts, two doctrinal approaches,
two different cultures of command and unit leadership, and between the
offensive and defensive operation doctrines. Two important pillars contributed
significantly to the victory of the 14th Army. The first stands for the already
known German command and control concept, auftragstaktik, categorized
by contemporary military doctrines as the mission- or intent-oriented
command, while the second represents a relatively unknown field, called the
“manoeuvrist approach”. This expression was not in use at the time; however,
it can easily be assessed that the commanders’ way of thinking at all levels
was indeed very close to this concept, which is now incorporated into the
doctrines of contemporary armies.
Nowadays, the Twelfth Isonzo Offensive, as a whole, is categorized as
manoeuvre warfare, for it was during this offensive that the tactics of assault
teams were used, which later developed into infiltration or attack tactics. “The
Miracle of Caporetto (Kobarid)” is a textbook example of joined warfare of
the infantry and artillery branches, which incorporated surprisingly similar or
even exactly the same elements as contemporary infantry warfare. |
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