Victory Address

24 October – 3 November 1918, after a hard-fought battle on Mount Grappa and the central Piave River, an Italian military offensive ended in victory at Vittorio Veneto.

On 3 November, the Italians entered Trento and Trieste. On the same day the armistice was signed at the Villa Giusti (Padua) bringing an end to hostilities on the following day. The Victory Address was inscribed on a marble plaque as a permanent memorial.

From Supreme Command Headquarters 12:00 hours, 4 November, 1918

War address No. 126

The bitter war against Austria-Hungary, which the Italian Army, inferior in number and equipment, began on 24 June 1915 under the leadership of His Majesty and supreme leader, the King, and conducted with unwavering faith and resolute bravery without rest for 41 months, is won.

The major battle, which began on the 24th of October 1918 and in which 51 Italian divisions, 3 British, 2 French, 1 Czechoslovak and 1 US regiment fought against 73 Austro-Hungarian divisions, is over.

The swift, courageous advance of the 29th Army Corps on Trento, blocking the retreat of the enemy armies from Trentino, as they were overwhelmed from the west by the troops of the VII army and from the east by those of the I, VI, and the IV armies, led yesterday to the utter collapse of the enemy’s front.

From the Brenta to the Torre, the fleeing enemy is being pushed ever further back by the irresistible onslaught of the XII, VIII and X Armies and the cavalry divisions.

On the plains, His Royal Highness the Duke of Aosta is advancing rapidly at the head of his undefeated III Army, eager to return to the positions he had previously conquered and had never lost.

The Austro-Hungarian Army has been annihilated: it suffered terrible losses in the dogged resistance of the early days of the battle, and subsequently lost vast amounts of materials of every kind, as well as almost all its stockpiles and supply depots. It has so far left about 300,000 prisoners of war in our hands including many officers and at least 5,000 pieces of artillery.

The remnants of what was one of the world’s most powerful armies are returning in hopeless disarray to the valleys from which they had descended with arrogant confidence.

Diaz