In those days of spring the plans of the Italian army envisaged not only the advance on the Isonzo front but also a new offensive campaign in the Asiago plateau. In fact despite the counter offensive of the previous summer, this large mountain zone was still partly occupied by the Austro-Hungarians. Their positions in the southern peaks inTrentino gave them a big advantage because they could easily control all the Italian movements.
For this reason the Supreme Command decided to act in a way that was meant to change the situation. A new army (the Sixth Army) was set up under the command of General Ettore Mambretti who had led 200,000 men to the conquest of Mount Ortigara, a peak at an altitude of 2,105 metres at the eastern extremity of the plateau between Veneto and Trentino. This action, considered as one of the most important of the whole conflict, was organized in mid-June but straightaway it was hit by misfortune and by several setbacks. The Austro-Hungarian counter offensive on the Flondar had made it necessary to bring forward this attack. Very hurriedly Mambretti organized the frontlines but just as he was about to issue the order (07th June), torrential rains halted the start of operations. The next day there was the premature explosion of a mine that was meant to be used against the Austro-Hungarian line and in a single moment 230 Italian soldiers were killed.
In the meantime the situation on the Karst calmed down and as a result this allowed the Sixth Army the possibility to prepare the operation with greater confidence. Rather unexplainably, however, Mambretti decided not to wait and launched the assault against Ortigara on 10th June. The divisions marched towards the steep walls of the mountain while 430 cannons and 220 grenade launchers started to attack the Habsburg trenches. But once again misfortune picked on the Italian soldiers: low clouds prevented them from having a good view and all the shots that were fired against the enemy positions failed to hit their targets.
Despite the request by some officers to halt the battle, Mambretti gave the order that the battle should go on because he was firmly convinced that the bombs and the grenades launched by the Italians soldiers would produce results. But things turned out differently and the soldiers were stranded on the muddy side of the mountain and turned themselves into easy prey for the Austro-Hungarian artillery.
On 19th June weather conditions again improved and the attack resumed with the support of Caproni bombers, triplanes that provided the necessary aerial support for the Italian advance. The battle raged for one week but with the exception of several pieces of artillery and of about one thousand soldiers, the gains were practically nil.
After two weeks of harsh fighting, on 25th June the Habsburg soldiers definitely repelled the assaults of the Sixth Army with the use of flamethrowers and gas. The Battle of Ortigara thus became one of the most dramatic episodes of the First World War: in sixteen days the Italian side lost more than 25,000 men and some battalions lost more than 70% of their effective strength.
