Tenth Battle of the Isonzo The Tenth Battle of the Isonzo was an Italian offensive against Austria - Hungary in the course of World War I . Background . With nine largely unsuccessful Isonzo battles conducted within an eighteen month period to date , Italian Chief of Staff Luigi Cadorna - responsible for launching all nine - became increasingly uncomfortable at the prospect of German intervention to aid their weakening Austro - Hungarian ally on the Italian Front . For while it was clear that the Austro - Hungarian Army was suffering in what had become a war of attrition , the same could be said of Cadorna ' s army . Casualties suffered to date were tremendous and with each renewed battle tended to be higher on the Italian attackers side . The UK ' s new Prime Minister , David Lloyd George , had long believed that the war could not be won on the Western Front alone . Dubbed an " easterner " at home Lloyd George was nevertheless in favour of diverting British and French resources from the Western Front to the Italians along the Soča ( Isonzo ) , to " knock the props out " from under the Central Powers . However Lloyd George ' s own field commanders , including Commander in Chief Douglas Haig - along with the French - disagreed , arguing that resources could not be spared from the Western Front , particularly with French Commander - in - Chief Robert Nivelle ' s upcoming Aisne Offensive , aimed at ending the war in the west within 48 hours . Consequently Nivelle dispatched Ferdinand Foch to meet with Cadorna and discuss their possible options . In the event the British and French agreed to rush aid to the Italians only in the event of an emergency - for example , large - scale German military assistance to the Austro - Hungarians ; a contingency plan was thus developed to meet with such an eventuality . The agreed plan was duly invoked - too late - in late October 1917 in the wake of the Italians ' disastrous performance at Caporetto in the Twelfth Battle of the Isonzo . With the contingency plan arranged the French pressed Cadorna to launch a major offensive of his own along the Soča ( Isonzo ) to generally co - ordinate with their own large - scale Aisne Offensive ( deployed in April 1917 ) . Cadorna agreed and the tenth Isonzo offensive was launched with a preliminary artillery bombardment on on 10 May 1917 . The offensive . The Italians , deploying 38 divisions - against only 14 of the Austro - Hungarians - switched tactics once again . The previous three Isonzo battles had seen Cadorna concentrate short , sharp initiatives against closely defined targets , generally aimed at extending their sole bridgehead east of Gorizia . This time the Italians returned to the Kras plateau south - east of Gorizia , setting in train an infantry advance along a 40 km front in order to achieve a breakthrough towards Trieste . The second aim of the offensive was to conquer Mount Škabrijel , thus opening the way to the Vipava Valley . Initially success appeared likely . By the close of May the Italian army had advanced to within 15 km of Trieste almost reaching the coastal town of Duino , although subsidiary attacks elsewhere failed . Nevertheless , a major Austro - Hungarian counter - offensive launched on 3 June reclaimed virtually all lost ground and by the time the battle was called off by Cadorna on 8 June little territory had been gained . Some fighting also took place in the northern sections of the front in the Julian Alps , where the Austro - Hungarians streanghtened their positions along the Vršič mountain ridge . Casualties continued to be high : 157 , 000 Italian losses were sustained , with a further 75 , 000 Austro - Hungarian casualties . With morale in the Italian army plunging Cadorna planned one further breakthrough attempt as he massed the greatest number of divisions and artillery yet along the Soča ( Isonzo ) river . Accordingly the Eleventh Battle of the Isonzo was initiated some two months later on 19 August 1917 .