Hello soldiers ! We see youre enjoying the teaser for the upcoming Caporetto update, so how about some more? As stated before, were aiming to release it this year, but thats all the info we can share for now. Please enjoy Isonzo and look forward to the updates and expansions! As always, if you want to chat with fellow soldiers, you can join our Discord . Here you can also report any issues you encounter in the game!

Italian Remembrance Day

Today is National Unity & Armed Forces Day in Italy. On this day, the Italians commemorate the victory in WW1, an event that they consider the completion of the process of an unified Italy. The most important people in the Republic pay homage to the Italian Unknown Soldier and the Redipuglia War Memorial, where over 100.000 Italian soldiers found their final resting place.
The Unknown Soldier The body of Italy's Unknown Soldier was chosen from among 11 coffins containing the unidentified remains of fallen Italian soldiers who fought, retrieved from various areas of the Italian front of WW1. Maria Bergamas, the mother of Italian soldier Antonio Bergamas whose body was never recovered, made the difficult choice in the Basilica of Aquileia on 28 October 1921. Reaching the 10th coffin in the line, she slumped to the floor and screamed her son's name. This was the body chosen.
The Italian Army Forces open their barracks to the public, showing exhibitions of The Great War, often combined with sport demonstrations by soldiers. On squares in big Italian cities, concerts are held by military bands.

German Gewehre

Now on to this week's devblog, taking a look at some more weaponry you'll see in Isonzo with the Caporetto Expansion.

Gewehr 88/05 Commission Rifle

First up, we have the Gewehr 88/05 Commission Rifle. Prior to its debut, the German Army found itself on the backfoot with the introduction of the Lebel 1886 combined with the new smokeless cartridge 8mm Lebel. This resulted in something of an arms race within Germany itself. They needed to produce a design which would replace the ,now obsolete, black powder Mauser model 1871. Borrowing from a series of prototype and submitted designs, eventually the pattern of the Gewehr 1888 would be ironed out. This weapon would see a 5-round capacity, a rimless 8mm cartridge, barrel jacket and enbloc design akin to that of the Mannlicher system. However the G88 enbloc could be loaded both ways. Far from perfect, these rifles would be the mainstay of the German army until the adoption of the Gewehr 98 later. Overall, just shy of 3 million were produced for Germany and its allies.
While the Mauser production was well under way for the Gewehr 98, it was noticed that a widespread conflict in Europe would eat up large numbers of arms, prior to the outbreak of World War One. In 1905 the Gew88 was revisited, and many of the rifles were converted to take the new 7.92 Spitzgescho (pointed projectile) spitzer bullet. This conversation made several changes to the weapon: the addition of a clip bridge for the stripper clip system in use with the new ammunition, rechambering of the barrel, a feed interrupter, and loading made easier with cuts to the chamber and receiver wall. The hole from which the enbloc would fall out was typically sealed too. Our model in game reflects the iconic and rather viscous looking Seitengewehr 1871 bayonet.

The Germans had around 500,000 of these converted rifles by the outbreak of war in 1914, which was extremely useful in a war of attrition. These rifles could use the same ammunition stocks as the Gewehr 98 and in issuing these rifles to rear line troops ,or soldiers less likely to see combat, it allowed for the superior Gewehr 98 to be given priority where they were needed.Weve covered this weapon in our game series previously; this antiquated rifle played an important part in the Great War.

Kar88

With the adoption of the Gewehr 1888 to replace the outdated black powder rifles, a carbine version of the main battle rifle would often be made as well with large armament changes. The Gewehr 1888 was no exception here. The Kar88 was designed with cavalry use in mind. It used the same ammunition and had the same mechanism, but it was a slimmed down version. Some features like the bolt handle were changed to reduce snagging. The overall idea was that the weapon should be light, small, and handy.
The rifle would be issued with cavalry and a version would be introduced for foot artillery use in 1891 the only difference between these rifles is the addition of a stacking hook. The Kar88, like other carbines, would also often be issued to light infantry and non-frontline units, making its way to the frontlines in many parts of the conflict. This model lacked the ability to attach a bayonet and were primarily produced by none-state arms manufacturers CG Haenel and VC Schilling.
About 225,000 of these carbines were made, at the arsenal in Erfurt made a batch of around 25,00 carbines in 1891, our model reflects this unique little batch. Again, no stranger to the game series, this short rifle should offer a nice parallel to the carbines of the Italian and Austro-Hungarian forces.

Was ist das?

To end this weeks devblog, we got a little guessing game for you! Do you know what this is? Be sure to reply with your answers

See you next week soldiers!