Cold Open

It’s the night of October 22nd, 1917, at the mountainous border between Italy and Austria-Hungary; three years into World War I.

Under the cover of darkness, German army officer Erwin Rommel leads a column of soldiers up the slopes of the Alps. A few of the troops slow as the terrain grows increasingly rugged and steep, but Rommel gestures for them to push on. The climb may be arduous, but there’s no time to take a break.

Though the Germans can’t quite see them through the darkness, the unsuspecting Italian Army is stationed in the valley below. Rommel's troops need to make it to the top of the mountain before the sun reveals their presence and foils the major assault they’ve planned with their ally, Austria-Hungary, against their common enemy Italy.

So the men trudge on… until a sudden beam of light sweeps across the mountainside. Rommel recognizes it as an Italian searchlight. He throws himself to the ground and rushes for cover. As he dives under a bush, he resists the urge to check if his men were also able to hide. The risk of moving is too high. Silently counting the seconds go by, Rommel’s muscles twitch as he tries to stay perfectly still.

Though he dares not look, Rommel can hear the faint metallic echoes of the Italians adjusting their searchlight. As the beam of light roams the mountainside, Rommel also thinks he can hear the rustle of one of his soldiers. He squeezes his eyes shut, praying none of his men will get spotted.

The roving light flickers weakly a few times, and then disappears, plunging the slope back into darkness.

Rommel cautiously raises his head, before standing to his feet and gesturing for his men to do the same. The German soldiers regroup and carry on their journey, but they stay on edge the entire time, worried the searchlight will return.

But still, they continue to scale the mountain, until finally coming to a stop at a small clearing. Once Rommel has caught his breath, he exhales deeply, a wave of calm finally washing over him.

He turns and signals his men to set down their equipment and prepare for battle. This is where the Germans will launch their attack against the Italians, and Rommel is confident it will be a fight to remember.

The German soldiers will work feverishly through the night, digging trenches. Before dawn, they’ll cover the holes with shrubs, branches, and rocks, so that when day breaks, the slope will appear undisturbed. But hidden within the foxholes will be the German Army. And during the day, they’ll rest, making up for lost sleep. By nightfall, they’ll be ready to begin their campaign against Italy.

Along with the Austrian-Hungarians, they’ll launch a brutal assault against unsuspecting Italian forces that will come to be known as the Battle of Caporetto. By the end of this offensive, Italy’s army will be in shambles, having lost hundreds of thousands of men within weeks of the battle’s onset on October 24th, 1917.

Introduction

From Noiser and Airship, I’m Lindsay Graham and this is History Daily.

History is made every day. On this podcast—every day—we tell the true stories of the people and events that shaped our world.

Today is October 24th, 1917: The Battle of Caporetto - Italy’s Greatest Military Defeat.

Act One

It’s March 4th, 1915 in London, two years before the Battle of Caporetto.

Italian diplomat Guglielmo Imperiali sits across a table from British foreign secretary Edward Grey. The two men are silent as Grey carefully studies a stack of papers. Imperiali tries to guess what the British minister is thinking, but Grey's inscrutable expression gives nothing away.

Just the sight of these two men together would send ripples through the international diplomatic community. Right now, the world is tied up in a fierce war between two enemy camps. The Triple Entente, including Britain, France, and Russia are on one side. The Central Powers, including Germany and Austria-Hungary, are on the other.

The war is not only being waged on the battlefield though; it's also being fought in diplomatic whispers behind closed doors. And today, there may be a breakthrough in these back-door discussions.

For a while, the Triple Entente has been trying to persuade more countries to join their alliance. Britain, France, and Russia want Italy in particular to join them. Because if Italy is on their side, the Entente believes that other states like Bulgaria and Romania would follow suit.

The Italian government has publicly declared that it will stay neutral in the war. But that could all change in a matter of minutes.

Italy has determined that entering the war could be just what it needs to satisfy its aspirations of territorial expansion. Most notably, it desires to control the Italian-speaking regions of Trento and Trieste around its border with Austria-Hungary. So, at today’s meeting, Imperiali presented Grey with a document listing the sixteen conditions required for Italy to join the Triple Entente.

Imperiali shifts in his chair, his eyes flickering toward the clock and then back to the British foreign secretary. After a few more minutes of silence, Grey finally looks up, squarely meeting Imperiali’s gaze. He remarks in a dry tone that Italy’s demands are excessive.

Imperiali’s heart sinks. He opens his mouth to counter the foreign secretary. But there’s no need. Before he can even get one word out, Grey interjects. And with a conspiratorial glint in his eye, he declares that these demands, though excessive, do not conflict with Britain’s interests.

But the Triple Entente is made up of more than just Britain. Grey states that he must discuss the matter further with France and Russia. Imperiali nods, hopeful that they’ll accept Italy’s conditions as well. But this won't be the case.

When Britain sends Italy’s memorandum to Russia and France, the Russian foreign minister adamantly objects. Some of the Italians’ requests infringed on territories promised to Russia after the war, and Russia refuses to let these go.

On hearing this, Italy doesn’t give in either. And instead, the Italian government doubles down, threatening to walk away from the alliance all together, until their demands are met. Negotiations reach a standstill. No country budges on the issue — until a flagging Russian military operation forces Russia to concede that it needs the Italian Army’s support.

The tense deadlock is broken and the countries are able to agree to a slightly different postwar division of territory. Though it doesn’t get the land it originally wanted in the Balkans, Italy is promised the territories of Trento and Trieste, securing its national dream to control its border with Austria-Hungary. In exchange, Italy will have to enter the war against the Central Powers within the next month.

With the fate of Europe in the balance, the countries rush to finalize and sign the agreement. And in the last week of April, less than two months after he presented Italy’s demands, Imperiali sits across from Edward Grey once again. This time, they are joined by French and Russian diplomats, all eager to finally sign the hard-fought agreement being referred to as the Treaty of London.

Leaning forward in anticipation, Imperiali accepts his copy of the agreement. The diplomat examines each of the terms, double-checking that they align with Italy’s interests, before nodding his approval.

In the last week of May 1915, Italy will hold up its end of the deal, declaring war on Austria-Hungary. Its eyes will be set on the coveted territories along the two countries’ border. But over the next two years, fighting will settle into a stalemate, broken only after the German Army decides to intervene.

Act Two 

It’s just before 6 AM, on October 24th, 1917, along the Italian-Austrian border, where the Battle of Caporetto is underway.

A column of Italian assault troopers clamber out of a narrow trench in single file. Virgilio Benedetti grips the rocky ground firmly as he hoists himself out of the trench, still reeling from a morning barrage of enemy fire.

For the past two years, fighting has raged near the Italian Alps. The combat has reached a stalemate and both sides have grown weary and exhausted. But recently, the Italians wrangled a small victory, pushing back the Austro-Hungarians, albeit at the cost of heavy casualties.

Though minor, the defeat unsettled Austria-Hungary. Running low on men and morale, the country sought assistance from their ally, Germany. Worried Austria-Hungary could be pushed to the brink of collapse, the German Army agreed to deploy its troops to Italy.

The Austrian-Hungarians pray the support of their ally will turn the tide of battle in their favor and so far, they’re off to a triumphant start. This morning’s assault was different and stronger than what the Italians have grown used to.

As Virgilio climbs out of his dugout, he surveys the dense fog that has settled on the mountainside. The valley is curiously silent – a stark contrast to the noise that engulfed the fields just four hours earlier.

At 2 AM, this morning, German and Austrian forces mounted a fiery attack against the unprepared Italians. Virgilio and the other soldiers were forced to shelter in their mountain dugout as enemy artillery exploded all around them. But not long ago, the bombardment unexpectedly came to a stop. Eager to take advantage of the break, Virgilio and a group of soldiers were ordered to take up a defensive position under the crest of a nearby ridge.

So now, Virgilio squints as he leads his group forward. He takes a cautious step into the thick mist, the ominous silence broken by the faint crunching of gravel under his boots. The men begin to make their way to the ridge, but a distant rumbling stops them in their tracks. All at once, the thunderous roar of artillery shatters the precarious calm. Virgilio orders his men to take cover and scrambles to do the same.

As the barrage eases, Virgilio and his men continue, slowly creeping the rest of the way to the ridge. Once there, they stake out a position, vigilantly keeping watch for any sign of enemy soldiers. And they don't have to wait long. Men in German uniforms, soon appear through the fog, and the Italians open fire. The squadron holds down their position until they have no ammunition left, but the German and Austrian infantry are still no match for the unprepared Italians.

As the enemy charges forward with grenades and flamethrowers, Virgilio and his fellow soldiers are forced to retreat and await further instructions. But new orders never come through. After a few hours of radio silence, the soldiers decide to make their way back to the Italian army’s headquarters.

As the group retraces their steps to camp, the full carnage of the morning’s fighting is revealed to them. Virgilio grimaces as he encounters body after body of his fallen comrades. More have died than even he anticipated, and it doesn’t seem like they were just killed by enemy fire. Through the mist, Virgilio notices that there are gas masks scattered among the bodies.

It occurs to Virgilio that while he and his men were at the ridge, enemy forces must have launched poisonous gas at the Italian trenches, wiping out hundreds if not thousands. It's a harrowing sight. But Virgilio has no time to mourn his lost peers.

As he grows closer to camp, he sees German guards escorting hundreds of Italian soldiers across the valley as prisoners of war. And even more distressing, some of the captives are hopelessly crying out that the war is over, that Italy is defeated.

Virgilio and his squadron wonder if that’s true. If it is, do they fight or do they surrender? As the men grapple with their predicament, it dawns on them that the decision has already been made for them. They have no ammunition left and they’re entering a valley surrounded by the enemy. Virgilio grimly puts his weapons down, and then steps forward with raised arms, joining his comrades as prisoners.

For Italy, this battle at Caporetto will not just be a defeat, it will be a disaster. By the end of the day, around 20,000 Italians will be captured. Out of ammunition, missing officers, and losing men, the Italian Army will have no choice but to retreat. But their enemy will not let them go without a fight, and chaos will reign as German and Austrian troops press on, unyielding in their mission to crush the Italians.

Act Three

It’s October 30th, 1917, almost one week after the Battle of Caporetto began.

An exhausted young soldier crosses a bridge, retreating from the Tagliamento River with thousands of other Italian troops.

This young man is part of the 2nd Army, one of the worst-hit regiments in the Italian forces. It's been the most exposed to enemy fire and has suffered the greatest losses. Already, this soldier is in a state of deep shock at the many deaths of his comrades. And, as he retreats, he continues to worry for the lives of those who may have survived.

Italian generals have already written off the 2nd Army as a total loss. When it came time to allocate resources for the retreat, Italian commanders gave the regiment last priority, throwing its troops into a chaotic fight for survival. As a result, this young soldier has not eaten for days. All his energy has been expended searching for viable routes of escape while combating the advancing enemy forces.

As he crosses the Tagliamento River, his spirits plummet even further. There’s a roar overhead as German aircraft approach, dropping leaflets. The young soldier bends down and scoops one up. It informs him that the Italian general who directed the Battle of Caporetto has publicly accused the 2nd Army for cowardly retreating, despite the troops having been authorized to do so.

The news these leaflets bring will be the final straw for many of the regiment’s soldiers who join thousands of Italian deserters. By the time the Italian Army finishes its retreat inland, 300,000 of its men will have been ‘scattered’ during the battle, having either deserted or become lost in the chaos of the retreat. 13,000 more will be killed, and almost 300,000 more will be captured — constituting half of the total Italians taken captive in World War I. By the time the battle draws to a close, the Italians will have also retreated almost a hundred miles, ceding an enormous territory to the enemy.

The Battle of Caporetto will go down in the books as Italy’s worst-ever military disaster. The details of exactly why the Italians lost so badly will remain contested. But most historians will believe that the Italian resistance fell in part because it failed to operate as a cohesive unit, allowing the well-prepared German and Austrian troops to overpower the isolated and uncoordinated Italians with ease.

This crushing defeat will prompt dramatic changes at the highest level of the Italian government. Both Italy’s Prime Minister and Commander-in-Chief will resign. On the global stage, British and French armies will rush to Italy’s aid to stop the advance of enemy troops. And the Entente Powers will also convene a conference in Geneva, which will culminate in a war council to unify and coordinate military actions among allies.

These measures will prove successful. Exactly one year after the Battle of Caporetto, Italy will secure a decisive victory against Austria-Hungary in northern Italy, marking the end of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. But this triumph won’t erase the deep scars left by the Battle of Caporetto on October 24th, 1917.

Outro

Next on History Daily. October 25th, 1415. English king Henry V defeats a larger French army with the help of longbow archers at the Battle of Agincourt.

From Noiser and Airship, this is History Daily, hosted, edited, and executive produced by me, Lindsay Graham.

Audio editing by Muhammad Shahzaib.

Sound design by Mischa Stanton.

Music by Lindsay Graham.

This episode is written and researched by Rhea Purohit.

Executive Producers are Alexandra Currie-Buckner for Airship, and Pascal Hughes for Noiser.