The frontal attacks that Cadorna specialized in was suicidal when the Allies held naval superiority and the naval carronades and the Royal Naval Air Service (RNAF)’s planes wreaked havoc on the Italian lines as they tried in futility to fulfill the orders given to them by their commander. In addition, Cadorna had poor relations with the other generals on his staff, and had sacked 217 generals, 255 colonels and 355 battalion commanders before the battle, making regimental and divisional coordination between the troops all the more harder. In addition, he was also detested by his troops for being too harsh, having ordered the summary execution of any officer whose units retreated during the battle. Around 750 commanders would be executed under his command during the entire Battle of Sardinia due to his incapability to defend Sardinia. There are also rumors that he revived the Roman practice of decimation – the killing of every tenth man in a military unit – for units which failed to perform in the battles, though this rumor is largely unfounded, thought it has some basis in truth as Cadorna was known to shoot retreating troops. His foolish leadership allowed the British, French and Spaniards to capture Oristano and Terraiba by the 9th of May before the allies began to move inland.”
