Armando Diaz, 1861-1928, Italian field marshal that replaced Cadorna as chief Italian commander during World War I (1917).
During the Battle of Caporetto [5], 24 October to 9 November 1917 the Italian Army lost over 300,000 men and was forced to withdraw, causing the replacement of the Italian Supreme General Luigi Cadorna with General Armando Diaz. Diaz reorganized the troops, blocked the enemy advance by implementing defenses in depth and mobile reserves and stabilized the front-line around the Piave River.
In June 1918, a large Austro-Hungarian offensive, aimed to break the Piave defensive line ending the war, was launched. The Imperial army tried on one side to force the Tonale Pass and enter Lombardy, on the other side to make two converging thrusts into central Venetia, the first one southeastward from the Trentino, the second one southwestward across the lower Piave. The whole offensive came to worse than nothing, the attackers losing 100,000 men.
He defeated (1918) the disintegrating Austro-Hungarian army at Vittorio Veneto and concluded (Nov. 3) the armistice, based on unconditional surrender, with Austria-Hungary.
