After the successful summer offensive on the Bainsizza (17–31 August 1917), the Italian Supreme Command halted all large-scale operations but left individual Army Corps the task of carrying out local operations with limited objectives to capture prisoners, obtain intelligence, disrupt the opposing front, improve and rectify their own, and generally keep the enemy under pressure. The Italian Army’s newest shock troops, the Arditi, had already had their baptism of fire in the previous Battle of the Bainsizza, and the subsequent operations of September–October 1917 were expected to be another excellent testing ground for the shock detachments. The XXIV Corps, commanded by Enrico Caviglia, of the 2nd Army (already the most successful corps of that Army in the August Offensive) was particularly active and carried out several victorious local actions. The assault on Height 814 of the Bainsizza by battalions of the _Sesia_ Infantry Brigade, spearheaded for the occasion by elements of the 2nd Shock Company of the II Shock Battalion (one of the senior Arditi battalions), was particularly successful. The attack was particularly shocking for the Austro-Hungarians, who had only just begun to experience the Arditi’s innovative shock tactics firsthand, and whose captured survivors gave a rather emblematic account.
From the official reports of the General Staff and of the 2nd Army Staff:
_At down of October 8 (1917) troops from the XXIV Corps of the 2nd Army assaulted and occupied the enemy positions of Height 814, Vrh Scur, Okrogio and Height 728._
_Our attack on Height 814 (Vrh Souz), spearheaded by elements of the II Shock Battalion, was so rapid and sudden that platoons of the 1st Schützen Regiment mistook for reinforcements our Arditi who, after breaking the line in another point, outflanked the height and assaulted it from behind._
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How many people did Rommel capture again? Italien arditi were never used fir any deceisive purpose.
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Context:
After the successful summer offensive on the Bainsizza (17–31 August 1917), the Italian Supreme Command halted all large-scale operations but left individual Army Corps the task of carrying out local operations with limited objectives to capture prisoners, obtain intelligence, disrupt the opposing front, improve and rectify their own, and generally keep the enemy under pressure. The Italian Army’s newest shock troops, the Arditi, had already had their baptism of fire in the previous Battle of the Bainsizza, and the subsequent operations of September–October 1917 were expected to be another excellent testing ground for the shock detachments. The XXIV Corps, commanded by Enrico Caviglia, of the 2nd Army (already the most successful corps of that Army in the August Offensive) was particularly active and carried out several victorious local actions. The assault on Height 814 of the Bainsizza by battalions of the _Sesia_ Infantry Brigade, spearheaded for the occasion by elements of the 2nd Shock Company of the II Shock Battalion (one of the senior Arditi battalions), was particularly successful. The attack was particularly shocking for the Austro-Hungarians, who had only just begun to experience the Arditi’s innovative shock tactics firsthand, and whose captured survivors gave a rather emblematic account.
From the official reports of the General Staff and of the 2nd Army Staff:
_At down of October 8 (1917) troops from the XXIV Corps of the 2nd Army assaulted and occupied the enemy positions of Height 814, Vrh Scur, Okrogio and Height 728._
_Our attack on Height 814 (Vrh Souz), spearheaded by elements of the II Shock Battalion, was so rapid and sudden that platoons of the 1st Schützen Regiment mistook for reinforcements our Arditi who, after breaking the line in another point, outflanked the height and assaulted it from behind._
How many people did Rommel capture again? Italien arditi were never used fir any deceisive purpose.