The heavy rains that lashed Veneto in October 1918 forced Armando Diaz to change his initial plans for the offensive on the Piave. This setback was followed by a strong storm that raged precisely on 24th October and postponed again the start of operations and presented difficulties both for General Giardino on Mount Grappa as well as for the Gordon Highlanders, the British contingent that in the night of 23rd October managed to occupy the Grave di Papadopoli thanks to the assistance that they received from the gondoliers of Venice.
The initial plan envisaged the construction of eight bridges: one at Vidor, three in the area between Fontana del Buoro and Moriago (north of Montello), one between Santa Croce and Falzé, two near Nervesa and the last one further south, in the zone of the Grave. If the situation turned out to be very favourable, the Supreme Command would have ordered the construction of twelve other bridges. But at that time the currents of the water were so strong that it was impossible to build boat bridges to reach the left bank.
After two days of inaction, on 26th October the soldiers of the Tenth Army finally succeeded in making their way near the Grave and attacked the first Austro-Hungarian line. Further north the Eight Army and the Twelfth Army built seven other bridges by means of boats but the current and the bombing by the Habsburg troops destroyed them during the night and the soldiers who had succeeded in arriving at the bridgeheads in the afternoon were isolated. With great skill the next day the passage at Fontana del Buoro was established again and this made it possible to consolidate a second bridgehead between Mosnigo and Sernaglia. General Caviglia, at the head of the Eight Army, understood that it was not possible for the other bridges to be rebuilt quickly and ordered his soldiers to make use of the bridge on the Grave. In this way the 18th Corps, upon reaching the left bank, could head directly for Santa Lucia and Conegliano and free the road for the soldiers who were blocked around Nervesa and Priula. The plan of Diaz was succeeding: the strategic objective to break in two the Austro-Hungarian front at the road that led to Vittorio Veneto had been achieved.
Borojevic understood that the situation was precipitating and ordered his men to retreat towards the river Monticano, between Vittorio Veneto and Motta di Livenza. On 29th October two other bridges were prepared and these allowed the Italians to transfer to the left bank the larger part of their troops and heavy artillery. In the meantime the most advanced columns had left behind them the left bank of the river Piave and marched in a northeastern direction. The Piacenza Brigade reached Susegana and then Conegliano in the evening. Without stopping once, after seventeen hours of forced marching, at 10.30 am they entered Cozzuolo, one of the two inhabited villages that formed Vittorio Veneto.
At the same time the Lancieri Regiment of Florence reached Serravalle (the second village of Vittorio Veneto) where it met again small groups of Austro-Hungarian troops. For the whole day there were skirmishes between Italian soldiers who were gathering in ever increasing numbers and Habsburg troops who had sought refuge in the surrounding hills. In the night, however, even these last rearguards abandoned this city in Veneto.
