Italian Front

“ They came racing across the stretch of “No man’s land” between the opposing trenches, straight for the Italians, taking their chance amidst the Austrian shells, still falling briskly.
The spectacular effect of the grey-coated figures, without arms or accoutrements, running towards them, hands up, and frantically shouting “Kamerad! Kamerad!” was startlingly dramatic.
The Italian soldiers were so amazed at the sight that, regardless of the risk of exposing themselves, they showed themselves over their own parapets and stood gazing at what was taking place. ”

“ It was quite touching to hear on all sides the expressions of affection of the big rough soldiers for the wiry little man, covered with dust, who saluted one and all so genially as he whirled past in the big car.
It is this feeling of brotherhood of which the King sets the example that animates the whole army—one could not fail to be struck by it—officers, non-commissioned officers and men are all on the most friendly terms together and there is probably no more democratic army in the world to-day than the Italian. ”

“ I often went out riding on the Piazza d'Arme and along the ramparts and in the country round Ferrara with Italian officers. Days were still very anxious, and the news from the Front not always good, and one rather avoided talking about the war. But one evening at dinner I succeeded in piercing the polite reserve of a little Captain who was sitting next to me. "Italy should have made it a condition of her intervention," he said, "that the other Allies should have sent troops to the Italian Front. Also more guns and war material. Italy, at the beginning of her war, had many heroes but few guns. ”

“ Things were quiet on this sector of the Front that afternoon, though Italian Field Guns were bursting shrapnel from time to time over the Tamburo. As I went along the trenches I was several times greeted by Italians who had been in America, "Hullo, John! How are you? How d'you like this dam country?" This type brings back with it across the Atlantic the frank, almost brutal, familiarity of a new and democratic civilisation. It contrasts oddly with the quieter ways of those Italians who have lived all their lives in Italy, amid one of the oldest and most mature civilisations of the world. ”

“ From the highest officer to the most humble private, one and all are animated with but a single idea—that of thrashing the Austrians and restoring to Italy the territory which is hers by right. But there is no frothy bombast about them; in the town, as in the trenches, though the conversation always reverted to “la guerra,” it was to discuss it in the sober, self-contained manner of the strong man who knows his own strength and therefore does not deem it necessary to insist on it. ”

“ Rumour had it that so eager was the nation to get to grips with its hereditary foe that a revolution would ensue were the King to hesitate as to his course of action, while it had been an open secret for some weeks that a general mobilisation of the Army and Navy had been in active progress since the commencement of the period of tension. Italy, therefore, was the point de mire of the entire world on the 20th of May, 1915, when I left London, and I could congratulate myself that, thanks to the journalistic flair of Charles Ingram, I should be on the spot in time for anything that might happen. ”

“ And when, a week later, the whole tale could be told, it was evident that no great offensive on any Front during this war, prepared with so great elaboration and carried out with so great resources, had ever quite so blankly failed, as the great Austrian offensive from the Astico to the Sea. And the effect upon the self-confidence and morale of the Italian Army and of the Allied contingents was correspondingly great. ”

“ It looked, therefore, like taking months to accomplish what the Italians had fondly hoped would be but an affair of weeks, though considering the unforseen difficulties that had to be overcome, it redounded to the credit of General Cadorna and his lieutenants that so much could be recorded as actually compassed.
The occupation of two thousand square miles of Austrian territory with a population of over 300,000, was an achievement which in itself was sufficient answer to those captious stay-at-home arm-chair critics who were continually asking “What is Italy doing?” ”

“ The following day a new rescript of the Generalissimo appeared in the papers to the effect that until [21] further orders no correspondents were allowed in the War Zone. This was awkward for me, as, of course, I was already in it, but I made up my mind to run the further risk of getting up to the actual Front if it were possible. But how, without speaking Italian, for, of course, the “interpreter” element had disappeared from Venice since there were no longer any tourists to interpret for. ”

“ Should by any evil chance the others gain the upper hand there might be a very sudden and sinister change in the international situation. Every man who does, says, or writes a thing which may in any way alienate the Italians is really, whether he knows it or not, working for the King of Prussia. They are a grand people, striving most efficiently for the common cause, with all the dreadful disabilities which an absence of coal and iron entails. It is for us to show that we appreciate it. Justice as well as policy demands it.
The last day spent upon the Italian front was in the Trentino. ”

“ The little that nature had left unprotected was being made good by the untiring efforts and genius of the Italians, and the Austrian chances of ever capturing the place are practically nil. Its curious configuration largely contributes to its impregnability and power of resistance if ever besieged. ”

“ In the centre of the town is a statue of the Emperor Maximilian (it looks exactly like Beckmesser in the “Meistersingers” singing his pricelied) , and on the day of the entry of the Italian soldiers some wag conceived the happy idea of placing a sack over the head and an Italian flag in one of the hands, an indignity that must have caused the Austrian inhabitants to gnash their teeth with impotent rage, but there were touches of humour discernable everywhere which conveyed to you more perhaps than anything else an idea of the moral of the troops. ”

“ Certainly no army—not even excepting the German—ever started a war under better conditions.
Udine in the early weeks of the war was right up at “the Front,” so to speak, and therefore an extremely important centre. It was practically from here that the commencement of hostilities was made.
At four o’clock in the morning of the 24th of May the Italian army crossed the Indrio, a tributary of the Isonzo, overcame a feeble resistance and entered Austrian territory. ”

“ Italian lines here were some distance inside Austrian territory, so we had a good opportunity of judging for ourselves the difficulties that had to be overcome to have advanced so far, as well as the preparations that had been made by the Austrians for their proposed invasion of Italy.
Cunningly concealed trenches, barbed-wire entanglements and gun emplacements commanded every approach, whilst protecting the advance of troops. It seemed incredible that such well planned works should have been abandoned. ”

“ When things were quiet at the Front, life in Udine was stagnant, and I often used to wonder what the Italian correspondents could find to write or wire about every day, for they always seemed to be hard at it, even when the communiqués were of the very briefest character. ”

“ It was then discovered that the Austrians had concentrated no less than 400,000 troops in the Trentino sector at a point where they were protected by a series of powerful forts. This particular sector had all along been recognized as the weakest point on the Italian Front, but as there had been no indication of an offensive impending in this direction no steps had been taken to meet it. ”

“ The Swiss and Austrian frontiers meet on the summit of a Brobdingnagian cliff of rock of strange formation, which towers above the Forcola. Through field glasses the frontier guards and the blockhouses are plainly discernable.
This overhanging proximity of the enemy strikes me as constituting a constant menace to the Italian position, as every movement within its enceinte is visible from the height above. The fact also of the Austrian and Swiss frontier guards being so close to each other as to be able to fraternise must inevitably conduce to espionage. ”

“ Everywhere the soldiers were received with open arms by the peasantry of the redeemed province, and many touching scenes were witnessed in the villages through which they passed, villages that had long given up hope of ever being under the Italian tricolour again. In one place the women said [40] they would always kiss the ground the Italians were marching over. ”

“ In this sector of the Front the most important operations in the Trentino were taking place, and the Austrians were straining every nerve in order to stay the victorious progress of the Italians, but the lightning rapidity of their advance had proved irresistible, and had forced a retirement to their second line. ”

“ In spite of the fact that the Austrians had the geographical advantage of position almost everywhere, and that their frontier was comparatively so close to many important Italian cities, the intrepid advance of the Italian troops upset all the calculations of the Austrian generals, and, instead of advancing into Italian territory, they found themselves forced to act on the defensive some distance to the rear of their first line positions, and well inside their own frontier. ”

“ Monte San Michele, as I shall describe in my next chapter, was captured simultaneously with Gorizia, and one saw from here the formidable series of trenches the Italians, with a courage which will pass into history, constructed and gradually pushed forward up the hill, under the fire of the Austrian guns, until the final assault, when the whole position was taken.
Unless this operation had been successful, no troops would have been here now, as this road was, prior to the victory, a “No man’s land.” ”

“ The successful operations of the first day of the war were immediately followed up by a vigorous offensive, and the Italian troops practically swept everything before them during the next few days in their wild triumphant advance, all of which, in the language of the Ring, proved the value of being ready and getting in the first blow. ”

“ Here again the extraordinary preparedness of Italy was demonstrated. There were military works everywhere—barricades of barbed wire and trenches right down to the edge of the water—with men behind them watching and in readiness for any emergency. ”

“ During the entire day the onward march continued. After a preparatory attack in Monte Quirino, the important town of Cormons surrendered and a few hours later Caporetto, Cervignano, Terzo, Medea, the ancient city of Aquileia and Grado, the “Austrian Ostend,” in the Adriatic. The first day of operations, therefore, dawned auspiciously for Italy. ”

“ Everything for our big journey had been planned out with true Italian thoroughness, even to providing every one of us with a set of large and reliable maps, whilst on the head of giving permission to see all we desired there was no cause for complaint, as we were to be allowed to go everywhere along the Front; the only reason for disappointment being in the information that immediately after the tour was finished we should be obliged to leave the war zone until further orders. ”

“ From Rome to Brescia is quite a long journey, via Milan, where one has to pass a night.
There was quite a big gathering at the reception of correspondents in the quaint little Town Hall where we assembled, as, in spite of the weeding-out process which had taken place in Rome, no fewer than forty-one papers were represented—twenty-six Italian, six French, seven English, and two Swiss.
As was to be expected, Italian journalism was widely represented. It had no less than twenty-six correspondents, and every town of importance in Italy appeared to have sent someone. ”

“ At Turin, where we arrived in the afternoon, the station was buzzing with rumours that war had already been declared—this, as it turned out, was not the case, but it showed how acute was the crisis and the excited state of popular opinion. ”

“ The train for Milan goes right through to Venice, so, being momentarily independent of the British military authorities, I decided to spend a few hours there on my way to the Front.
The carriage was full of Italian officers, chiefly Cavalry, Flying Corps and Infantry. It is their custom on meeting an unknown officer of their own or of an Allied Army to stand stiffly upright, to shake hands and introduce themselves by name. ”

“ Although it has been seen that man for man the Italian is far and away superior in fighting quality to the Austrian, it cannot be denied that when well supplied with machine guns, and behind positions which afford him almost complete protection, the Austrian soldier will put up a very determined resistance before he gives in. ”

“ During the course of the afternoon the city was completely occupied by troops, and there had not been a hitch in the victorious advance. One saw soldiers everywhere—cavalry, infantry, Bersaglieri cyclists; in fact, almost every branch of the Army.
In every open space and in the courtyards of the [232] principal public buildings were bivouacs, all being carried out in the usual methodic manner of the Italians. The troops had the streets entirely to themselves, as no civilians were allowed out of doors that day, and none of the shops were open. ”