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| The Last Victory by Ivan Berryman. (AP)
The terrible battles that raged between the Italian and Austro-Hungarian armies on the Piave river in Northern Italy in June 1918 had already claimed many thousands of lives on both sides, but as the Italians drove the Austro-Hungarians back, things were to take a defining turn for the worse, as torrential rain and melting snow caused the river to flood, sweeping away bridges, boats and men alike. The Italians continued to bombard their retreating enemy and rake them with machine gun fire as they tried to cross. Italian and Allied aircraft too joined in the ruthless destruction of the beaten Austro-Hungarian forces and soon only one pontoon bridge remained. On 20th June, an Italian SIA.7b attempted to bomb this final lifeline, but its efforts were thwarted by the red Albatros D.III (Oef) of Hauptmann Godwin von Brumowski who immediately downed the intruder to claim his 35th - and final - confirmed victory, despite his own aircraft being hit no less than 37 times. An estimated 60,000 Austro-Hungarian troops are believed to have perished during the retreat across the Piave, surely one of WW1's most tragic episodes.
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