John Wilks - Rommel & Caporetto

First published in Great Britain in 2001 by LEO COOPER
and reprinted in 2012 by Pen & Sword Militaryan imprint of
Pen & Sword Books Ltd
47 Church Street
Barnsley
South Yorkshire
S70 2AS

Wilks & Wilks, 2001, 2012

ISBN 978 1 84884 883 2
eISBN 978 1 78303 684 4

A catalogue record for this book is
available from the British Library

Typeset in 10/11 Amasis by Phoenix Typesetting, Ilkley, West Yorkshire

Printed in England by CPI UK

Contents

Maps

Acknowledgements

We gratefully acknowledge the assistance of the Ufficio Storico of the Stato Maggiore dell Escercito which much facilitated our studies. We are also most grateful for the assistance we received during visits to the Biblioteca Centrale Militare in Rome, and especially for the expert help and advice of Ajutante Luigi Diana.

We also received invaluable assistance from Herr Wolf-Albrecht Kainz, a student of German military uniforms and of the part played by the military forces of the Kingdom of Wurttemberg in the First World War. We thank him for discussions during two visits to Ludwigsberg, for access to his archives, for permission to reproduce photographs from his collection, and for his kind hospitality.

We are indebted for discussions with Dr Marco Rech of Seren del Grappa who has made a study of the German archives concerning Rommel and Caporetto, as set out in his book Da Caporetto al Grappa. We are also grateful for his kindness in taking us to Val Stizzon to photograph Monte Fontasecca.

We acknowledge the facilities provided by the British Library, and the Library of the Imperial War Museum, and in Oxford the Bodleian Library and the Libraries of Magdalen College, Oriel College and Pembroke College. We also have much appreciated discussions with Professor Mack Smith concerning the political climate in Italy at that time.

We thank the Ufficio Storico for permission to reproduce the photographs in Plates 7, 8, 14, 22; and Herr Kainz for permission to reproduce those in Plates 1, 2, 12, 16, 17, 18, 20, 21, 25, 27, 31. The sketch on is reproduced by permission of the Hauptstaatarchiv Stuttgart.

Introduction

Erwin Rommel remains the best remembered enemy general from the Second World War. Yet few are aware that Rommel had fought in Italy in 1917 at the Battle of Caporetto, and by his exploits at that time established himself as one of the most notable young officers in the German Army. Indeed his performance then has been described as extraordinary an example of skill and daring as can be found in the annals of modern warfare.

Throughout the spring and summer of 1917 the armies of Italy, then an ally of France and Britain, had launched a series of offensives against the Austro-Hungarian forces. The Italians had made only modest advances, but by September the Austrian High Command concluded that it could not withstand a further offensive, and appealed to Germany for assistance. Seven German divisions were sent as the spearhead of an Austro-German Army to strike against the Italians on the upper Isonzo river in the Julian Alps, and on 24 October this army launched the offensive known as the Battle of Caporetto.

For the Italians, Caporetto was an unexpected and unparalleled reverse, and they were forced to withdraw from the Isonzo to the River Piave, 50 or 70 miles further back, and only 20 miles from Venice. Rommel was then a young lieutenant in a battle which in three days broke through the main Italian defences in the mountains, and then developed into a war of movement across the Venetian plain and through the mountains beyond. During the first three days, in command of only two or three infantry companies and the associated machine-gun companies, he captured some 9,000 Italian troops. Then, two weeks later, he achieved the surrender of a further 10,000.

Such successes would hardly have been possible on the Western Front, but the Battle of Caporetto arose from a combination of somewhat unusual circumstances, including inter alia the very mountainous nature of the ground, and the failure of the Italians to recognize the weaknesses of their front in the mountains until too late. This book describes how the German offensive made the most of various Italian weaknesses, and presented Rommel with opportunities, which he seized with a skill, determination and courage that few could match.

There are two official accounts of the larger aspects of the Battle of Caporetto, one from either side, which give excellent factual and critical accounts of the whole campaign, although neither is available in English. The first, published during 1926 and 1927, is the book by General Konrad Krafft von Dellmensingen, Der Durchbruch am Isonzo. General Krafft was the Chief of Staff of the Austro-German Army, and had access to the official German archives, and his book forms part of the Official German History. Shortly after its publication, General Cadorna, the former Chief of Staff of the Italian Army and virtually the Commander-in-Chief at the time of Caporetto, described it as an account told with clarity and precision, and it is now available in an excellent translation into Italian by Pieropan.

On the Italian side, generals and others, soon after the war produced various accounts, often self-justifying, but the official Italian account of the battle was not forthcoming until the publication of the relevant volume of LEsercito Italiano nelle Grande Guerra, the Official Italian History (IOH) published only in 1967. This impressive work, prepared under the direction of Lieutenant General Ferdinand di Lauro, provides a comprehensive and critical account of events with some 730 pages of text, 500 pages of documents, a series of excellent maps and photographs. Since its publication various studies have been made incorporating information from the IOH, particularly the books by Silvestri, Melograni and Pieropan, but the IOH remains the one essential Italian account of the Battle of Caporetto.

The above histories describe the whole battle on a very large canvas, on which Rommels achievements receive no more than a passing remark or footnote. However, we have first-hand and first-rate accounts of Rommels actions, because he eventually turned out to be a born writer as well as a born fighter.

Like many other lecturers, Rommel worked his lecture notes into a book, Infanterie greift an, which was published in 1937. Military textbooks on battlefield tactics for junior officers seldom excite much public interest, but Infanterie greift an became an immediate best-seller, providing an extremely good read for the general public, an inspiration for young men thinking of a military career, and in addition probably one of the best infantry manuals ever written. A copy of the twelfth (1942) edition, in the present authors possession is inscribed found in German defences Calais summer 1945. This was an impressive book which still presents one not only with some appreciation of Rommels extraordinary stamina, moral and physical courage, and determination, but with respect for his ability to size up and analyse a situation, and to respond immediately with an imaginative solution.

In addition, there are two other first-hand accounts from the German side. The until recently unpublished diary of the German commander, General Otto von Below, is now available (in Italian) in Fadinis book Caporetto dalla parte del vincetore. Also, Major Sproesser, the Commanding Officer of the Wurttemberg Mountain Battalion in which Rommel served, has edited and partly written a history of the battalion, Die Geschichte der Wrttembergischen Gebirgsschtzen (The History of the Wurttemberg Mountain Troops) published in 1933, in which he deals at length with the campaign in Italy.