What was particularly surprising in the Eleventh Battle of the Isonzo was the ease with which the Second Army succeeded in penetrating the Bainsizza Plateau up to Mount San Gabriele. In the previous months every small advance had cost many sacrifices and the battles were very harsh. In this case, however, General Capello found himself facing an area that was practically abandoned, with the presence of a few divisions that surrendered without putting up a fight. The question arose spontaneously in the offices of the Italian military command: why did the experienced Borojevic, nicknamed 'The Lion of Isonzo" allow the Italians to advance so easily?
In effect the loss of the Plateau and of Mount Santo was not a unique case. On 22nd August 1917 Emperor Charles I and Borojevic met in Postumia, a locality in Slovenia east of Trieste where the Austro-Hungarian Supreme Command in Isonzo had its headquarters. Both of them knew that the situation was getting worse day by day because of the lack of reinforcements and of new recruits. On the contrary the Italian army continued to produce weapons and to amass armaments along the front on the Karst.
The Emperor therefore requested that the Bainsizza Plateau be abandoned in order to preserve both men and ammunition in the hope that the terrain would block (or at least slow down) the Second Army. This was a dangerous tactic but one that would surely give positive results in the next weeks. Charles I in fact promised Borojevic that in a short while it would be possible to coordinate an attack from the bridgehead of Tolmino (Fritz Weber, Dal Monte Nero a Caporetto - Le dodici battaglie dell'Isonzo 1915-1917, Mursia, Milan, 1994, page 234).
Consequently, in the early hours of 24th August the regiments on the plateau received an order to withdraw silently eastward. Everything proceeded according to plan: the Italian troops advanced but experienced enormous difficulties in their movements and, once they reached San Gabriele on foot, they were repelled.
