assault to break the Austro-Hungarian defences and gain a decisive victory over the Empire. However, the Italian General recognized that the same tactic, that proved so effective on defence, prevented an immediate offence, as the Italian formations at that time were too scattered and mixed up to be effectively coordinated in a decisive assault. Moreover, once the Italian Army crossed the river, they would have to face the same logistic problems as the Austrians. For these reasons, in the subsequent days, only limited actions were fought to gain better start positions for the decisive assault. On the other side, the Battle of the Piave River was the last great military offensive of Austria-Hungary. A clear failure, the operation struck a major blow to the army's morale and cohesion and had political repercussions throughout war-weary Austria-Hungary. The battle signaled the beginning of the end of the imperial-royal army as an effective fighting force and the foretold the internal political collapse of the multi-ethnic Austro-Hungarian Empire, which was finished off at the Battle of Vittorio Veneto four months later. The army offered stiff resistance for four days from 24 to 28 October during the Allied offensive but collapsed as word reached the troops of the Empire's disintegration at which point there was little point to continue resisting. The battle also dealt a severe blow to the German Empire strategy, who considered a separate peace with Italy (and exploiting Italian resources in the affluent Po Valley) as a viable way to concentrate efforts in the western front to finally overcome the Allied forces. Erich Ludendorff wrote:This unsuccessful attack was extremely painful. I could no longer hope that relief on the Western Front might be secured in Italy itself. Order of battle Italy (Armando Diaz) (west to east) 7th Italian Army (Giulio Cesare Tassoni) 1st Italian Army (Guglielmo Pecori Giraldi) 6th Italian Army (Luca Montuori) 4th Italian Army (Gaetano Giardino) 8th Italian Army (Enrico Caviglia) 3rd Italian Army (Duke of Aosta) 9th Italian Army (Paolo Morrone) : in reserve. Austria-Hungary (Arthur Arz von Straußenburg) (west to east) Army Group Conrad (or Armygroup Tirol) (Franz Conrad von Hötzendorf) 10th Army (Alexander von Krobatin) 11th Army (Viktor Graf von Scheuchenstuel) Army Group Boroević (Svetozar Boroević) 6th Army (Archduke Joseph of Austria) 5th Army (or Isonzo Army) (Wenzel Freiherr von Wurm) In popular culture Today, to the Italian public two mottos recall the battle: those written as