. Battlefields of the World War, western and southern fronts; a study in military geography . o trench with Cividale on the Piedmontplain. For convenience we will call these two strategic gatewaysthe Caporetto passes. When it is remembered that, while themain Italian armies were facing eastward along the lower Isonzofrom Tolmino to the sea, the chief protection of their flank andrear in this region was formed by the Matajur-Cucco ridge, thevital importance of the Caporetto passes can easily be old Austro-Italian frontier across the Battlefield of theIsonzo traversed the Pontebba P
. Battlefields of the World War, western and southern fronts; a study in military geography . o trench with Cividale on the Piedmontplain. For convenience we will call these two strategic gatewaysthe Caporetto passes. When it is remembered that, while themain Italian armies were facing eastward along the lower Isonzofrom Tolmino to the sea, the chief protection of their flank andrear in this region was formed by the Matajur-Cucco ridge, thevital importance of the Caporetto passes can easily be old Austro-Italian frontier across the Battlefield of theIsonzo traversed the Pontebba Pass and ran close to the PredilPass on the northernmost ridges, then followed southward THE ALPINE RIDGES 553 parallel to and west of the Isonzo trench to reach the Matajur-Cucco ridge, along the crest of which it pursued an easterlycourse to a point near Tolmino, whence it ran southwestward tothe open plain along a minor stream valley just west of the the Matajur-Cucco ridge the frontier for a distance of 15 milesor more overlooked the plain at close range (Fig. 144). As in the. Fig. 146—Sink hole in the limestone of the barren karst country,photograph.) (Italian official Trentino, Austria had kept for herself the great mass of the Alpinebarrier, and all along the frontier from the sea nearly to the PredilPass the Italian plain lay open to hostile invasion. It was a fron-tier imposing fatal strategic disadvantages on Italy, and onewhich Italian statesmen could not be expected to tolerate whenonce the World War opened the way to a possible revision. TheAmerican line which the Peace Conference offered to Italybut which Italy refused to accept, carried her frontier eastwardto the main crest of the Julian Alps far into Slavonic territory,blocked the gateways of possible invasion by giving her the 554 BATTLEFIELD OF THE ISONZO southern half of the tunnel south of Assling, the Birnbaum pla-teau and other highlands dominating the Adelsberg region andthe Pear Tree Pass, an
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Keywords: ., boo, bookcentury1900, bookdecade1920, booksubjectworldwar19141918
