Dominic Sandbrook

Yeah.

When he went to see it, they were getting on.

Anyway, so the year ends with the war in total deadlock at an absolutely horrendous cost.

So the Italians have now lost, killed and wounded.

400 000 men and this is a war that they chose right they could have stayed out but they've thrown away the lives of all these people and mark thompson gives a example of a single brigade who were called unimprovably the palenta brigade because they wore yellow colors

And the Palenza Brigade began the war with 130 officers and 6,000 soldiers.

And by the end of 1915, having been reinforced several times, they have lost 154 officers and 4,276 men killed, wounded, and missing.

So almost the entire pre-war contingent.

Yes, they have.

And just to look ahead, in the next two years, they fight another eight battles on the Asonzo.

And basically the 12th of them, the Italians just crack completely and the Austrians end up winning it.

And this is that place called Cobberid.

Very pretty town, actually.

Caporetto.

Hemingway was there towards the end of the war.

This is when he writes about the Italian front.

He's writing about Caporetto.

And the Italian Second Army was completely destroyed.

And the Austrians and the Germans, who have now piled in to help the Austrians, they pushed them back and they struck 100 miles into Italy.

And then the Austrians themselves then fell apart.