THE AUSTRO-ITALIAN FRONT

The disastrous, abortive attempt of the Austro-Hungarian armies, made at the behest of the German high command as a blind to cover the operations planned for midsummer 1918 on the western front, has been described in detail in the last volume. It will be recalled that it consisted of two distinct phases: The Austrian offensive, begun on June 15, 1918, and resulting during the week following in considerable gains along the Piave; and the Italian counteroffensive, setting in on June 22, 1918, and resulting in the loss to the Austrians of all the newly gained ground, as well as of positions which they had held for quite some time. This counteroffensive had reached its end practically on July 6, 1918. From then on, for some three and one-half months, General Diaz employed his Italian armies, ably supported by various Allied detachments, carefully but continuously for the purpose of securing certain well-defined positions from which to land a powerful offensive movement against the Austro-Hungarians, a movement that had been planned months earlier by the now combined Supreme Command of the Allies at the head of which had been placed General Foch.

How far the new pooling of all Allied military resources had progressed by August, 1918, is, perhaps, most typically illustrated by the appearance on the Italian front of a regiment of United States infantry. Its reception and its review by King Victor Emmanuel of Italy on August 1, 1918, is graphically described by the London "Times" correspondent attached to Italian Headquarters.

"The American infantry," he says, "that have arrived on the Italian front marched past King Victor Emmanuel to-day. Signor Orlando, the prime minister, and Mr. Nelson Page, the American ambassador to Italy, were with the king. A cardinal-archbishop in his scarlet robes was a brilliant figure among the group of gray-clad generals and drab civilians who were waiting to pay their respects to the king.

"The unusual height and bigness of frame of the individual man was what struck one most as the long khaki column moved by. These Americans are comparatively young soldiers, but their review discipline was thoroughly steady. Looking them over, one had the feeling that in the American army the individual as such counts for more than in most European armies. The highly trained amateur, brought to the climax of personal perfection—that is the aim of American training, rather than the production of the machine-made professional soldier.

"The Italian peasants watched the Americans with admiration and delight. 'What a life I have had!' said an old dame, who served me with coffee in a wayside inn. 'I was here as a girl when the French and Piedmontese defeated the Austrians at Solferino. I remember the battle in 1866, when the Italians beat the Austrians again. Then in this war I have seen Italian, British, and French troops pass by, and at last here I am watching the Americans.'"

A stirring manifesto was issued to the Italian army recalling the close relations existing between the United States and Italy before the war and the important part Italians in recent years had been playing in the development of the New World.

Military operations on the Italian front on August 1, 1918, were of minor importance and, in this respect, were quite typical of what was to take place during August, September, and the first three weeks of October, 1918. There was moderate artillery activity along the whole front. At Alano Italian patrols forced advanced Austrian posts to withdraw, inflicting losses and taking some prisoners. A captive balloon and six hostile aeroplanes were brought down.

The Austrian activity moderated somewhat on August 2, 1918. Italian and Allied artillery effectively bombarded Austrian lines of communication at Asiago. Along the whole front Italian patrols were extremely active.

South of Nago, on August 3, 1918, an Italian assault detachment captured by a surprise attack Hill 173 on Dosso Alto, which the Austrians had taken on June 15, 1918. In spite of determined resistance four officers and 172 men were taken prisoners after many had been killed or wounded. During the preceding night French detachments in a series of brilliant surprise attacks had penetrated deeply into the Austrian lines at Zocchi, east of Asiago, capturing some 125 men and considerable material. West of Asiago British troops broke into Gaiga, making some prisoners. In the Tasson region and in the Alano Basin Italian reconnoitering patrols gathered in considerable booty and took some prisoners.

Between Asiago and the Brenta Italian patrols on August 6, 1918, effectively harassed the enemy's advanced lines, inflicting losses and capturing prisoners.

The largest operation that the British, fighting in Italy, had yet carried out was put through between midnight and 4 a. m., August 8, 1918. It was not an attack so much as a simultaneous series of about a dozen raids along the whole of our front. To blow up dugouts, destroy machine-gun emplacements, and take prisoners were the objectives and in realizing them the British troops reached the southern fringe of Asiago town, the first Allied troops to touch its outskirts since 1916.

Like a stroke of noisy magic the British barrage burst out in the silence of the mountain night exactly at 12 o'clock. The Asiago Plateau, a natural stage for warfare, five miles or so across, with barriers of black pine-grown hills to north and south, was for the next three hours ablaze with red, bursting shells, dazzling Verey flares of different colors, solo searchlights, and the dull glow of fires. One could imagine the commotion in the Austrian lines at that sudden interruption of the peace of the summer night. Hungarians, Croats, Bosniaks, tumbling pell-mell from their dugouts; staff officers behind the front, two hours abed, rushing half-dressed to the telephones. For three hours, while the British were about their work, the din went on, until at 3 o'clock they came back, bringing at a small cost 360 prisoners with them, and leaving many enemy dead in their ruined works.

On the same day in the Giudicaris region Italian parties forced the Chiese River. In the Daone Valley other Italian troops surprised a party of the enemy on the southern slope of Dosso del Morti and took twenty-one prisoners. This was a period of raids on a large scale. For several nights Italian or Allied guns spread their fire over the plain of northern Italy. Following on the successful British invasion of the enemy's front line, the French during the night of August 9, 1918, took five officers and 238 men in a surprise attack. On the Sisemol sector, and between there and the Brenta, the Italians brought in sixty prisoners from the enemy front lines.

Again on August 10, 1918, French troops penetrated deeply into the enemy's strong points in Monte Sisemol, destroying part of the garrison and forcing the remainder to surrender. Two hundred and fifty prisoners and eight machine guns were taken.

From their positions on Monte di Valbella, Col del Rosso, and Col di Chele Italian troops succeeded at various points in passing the enemy lines and inflicting heavy losses. They took fifty-nine prisoners, suffering only slight losses themselves.

During August 10 and 11, 1918, the fighting activity along the whole front was very moderate. North of Col del Rosso Italian patrols forced back an advanced Austrian outpost. Five hostile aeroplanes were brought down.

Fighting occurred during the next few days in the Tonale region and in the Lagarina Valley. On the Piave an Italian detachment crossed the western branch of the river, made a surprise landing on an islet west of Grave di Papadopoli and occupied it. Thirty-six prisoners and four machine guns were captured. In the Tonale region Austrian reactions against advanced Italian positions were repulsed on August 15, 1918. On the Piave, southwest of Grave di Papadopoli, three hostile attacks against the Italian garrison were driven back with heavy losses. Four hostile aeroplanes and a captive balloon were brought down.

There was lively activity by both artilleries during August 16, 1918, on the Asiago Plateau, northwest of the region of Monte Grappa, and on the middle Piave. In the upper Zebru Valley one of the Italian patrols attacked an enemy advance post at an altitude of over 11,000 feet and drove it back. Two hostile aeroplanes were downed.

On August 17, 1918, there were isolated artillery actions from Stalvio to Asiago, in the Grappa region, and on the lower Piave. After violent artillery preparation the enemy attempted, by strong encircling attacks, to retake the Piave Islet, captured by the Italians a few days earlier. After suffering heavy losses, abandoning machine guns and material, and leaving twenty-nine prisoners in Italian hands, the Austrians were forced to retire.

Still another Austrian attack, made the next day, August 18, 1918, against the same position broke down under Italian fire. On the whole front there were artillery duels and considerable activity by reconnoitering patrols.

Early in the morning of August 19, 1918, after violent artillery bombardments, numerous enemy troops attacked from west and from north the Italian lines on the Cornone, forming southern slopes of the Sasso Rosso, on the Asiago front. The Italian garrison stopped the enemy after a brisk hand-to-hand struggle. Reenforcements quickly arrived, counterattacked the enemy, repulsed him with heavy losses, and captured prisoners. Austrian attempts to attack Italian advanced lines north of the Ledro Lake and to surprise protection patrols north of the Col del Rosso were hindered by Italian fire. British reconnoitering parties captured a few prisoners on the Asiago Plateau. Allied batteries had been very active from the Lagarina Valley to Astico Valley. An unusual enemy artillery activity in the Asalone area provoked effective concentrations of fire on the part of the Italian batteries.

These local minor engagements and artillery actions were typical of the fighting on the Austro-Italian front during the next ten days, indeed, with few exceptions one might say, almost during the next two months. Day by day fights between advanced posts were reported. Thus Italian reconnoitering patrols captured prisoners on August 27, 1918, as they did, indeed, on almost every day, in the Posina Valley, in the Val di Assa, and in the Grappa region. An Austrian motor boat, maneuvering on Lake Garda in the Grentino sector, was sunk by Italian artillery.

In the Concei Valley enemy attacks were averted on August 28, 1918, by Italian fire. Advanced posts were driven back with losses. Prisoners were taken on the northern slopes of Altissimo, and north of Col del Rosso hostile reconnoitering parties were dispersed.

On the following day, August 29, 1918, in the Brenta Valley, Italian infantry parties, in a successful surprise operation, captured the village of Rivalta. Successively other detachments, with the cooperation of the artillery, occupied the village of Sasso Stefani, after having overcome in a lively fight the stubborn resistance of the enemy. Thirty-eight prisoners, including one officer, were captured. In the region to the north of Col del Rosso, on the Asiago Plateau, two enemy thrusts were again completely arrested by Italian fire.

Italian artillery carried out concentrations in the mountain area on September 1, 1918. On the Piave some boats, containing Austrian troops attempting a surprise attack, were upset. At Stelvio and on the Asiago Plateau Austrian patrols were repulsed with heavy losses to them.

Along the mountainous front Italian artillery on September 6, 1918, effectively shelled the enemy's front lines and rear areas. In the Concalaghi, Pesina, and the Assa Valley Italian patrols engaged enemy exploring and drove them back. North of Monfenera an attempt to raid the advanced lines was arrested by the garrison, which afterward, by a counterattack, put the Austrians to flight with losses. On the lower Piave Austrian scouts attempting to cross the river in small boats were driven back by rifle fire. During the night following the French carried out a raid which was typical of the work the Allied troops accomplished on the plateau of Asiago. The two companies that made the attack had a mile and a half of no-man's-land to cross. The ground was most difficult—cut up into ravines, pitted with flooded shell holes, densely overgrown with tall grass, and littered not only with old trenches, ruined dugouts and tangles of torn barbed wire, but also with Austrian dead, who still lay there unburied since the big attack in June.

It was at night and in a dense fog that the French started out. It took three hours for the half battalion to grope its way toward the Austrian line, but shortly before 5 o'clock they were ready to attack, and at 9 minutes to 5 a fierce French box barrage—in front and behind the enemy trenches and from the flanks—was opened on the enemy trenches, and the Italian and British artillery on either side started a distracting bombardment. At 5 o'clock precisely the barrage lifted and the French infantry rushed forward to find a smashed trench in front of them, fuming with smoke and dust and strewn with dead and wounded men. Some of the stouter redoubts and machine-gun posts held out for a little while, but with bombs and fire boxes their garrisons were smoked or blasted into silence, and then with fifty prisoners the two French companies came back, having to pass, indeed, through the Austrian barrage, but losing only a few men on the way.

Austro-Hungarian patrols which attempted on September 13, 1918, to approach the Italian lines on Monte Corno, in the Grappa region of the mountain front, were repulsed by the Italian fire.

Italian infantry and ardoti parties after a short but effective artillery bombardment, and assisted by low-flying aeroplanes, in the morning of September 14, 1918, attacked and captured the whole of an Austrian defensive system on the Grovella, south of Corte. Three hundred and fifty prisoners, a number of machine guns, some hundreds of rifles, and much other war material fell into Italian hands.

In the region north and northwest of Grappa, on the northern Italian front, Italian detachments in the morning of September 15, 1918, raided the enemy lines and improved at some points the positions already occupied. The Italians took 321 prisoners and captured numerous machine guns. On the remainder of the front there were artillery duels and patrol activity.

On either side of the narrow and precipitous gorge of the Brenta River, at the point where it leaves the Austrian lines and enters the Vallian, an eyewitness of some of these attacks says, there has existed since last winter a formidable barricade of wire and a complex system of enemy trenches. Wire fills the whole valley with an impassable tangle. It lies half under water in the rushing stream itself and writhes up each wall of the steeply sloping rock on either side. Moreover, on the ledges and in the caves and crannies of those high cliffs were hidden Austrian machine guns to sweep the narrow gorge below.

Yet with a sudden attack at dawn of September 16, 1918, Italian infantry rushed the whole of this barrier system and captured nearly 350 prisoners. The fighting was severe, but short, in the dark ravine, and the Italians' victory was aided by their aeroplanes, which dived one after another into that gap between the high mountains, dropping bombs and emptying drums of machine-gun bullets upon the Austrian garrison below. Shortly afterward another sector close at hand, to the north of Mount Grappa broke into activity. A series of little raids and rushes were carried out there to improve the line in several places. At once, here too, the Italians made good their intentions, and took over 300 prisoners and a number of machine guns.

Along the whole front there were artillery actions of a harassing nature during September 10, 1918. Italian batteries caused fires at Melette, in the Asiago Plateau region and blew up an ammunition dump near Grisolera, on the lower Piave River. Attempts of hostile assault parties failed in front of the Italian lines south of Mori, at Mont Corno, and Val Arsa, to the north of Grappa and east of Salettuol.

On the other hand, Italian reconnoitering parties attacked and drove back in the Ledro Valley a small observation post of the enemy, who left dead and prisoners. Ammunition and various material were brought back from reconnoissances at Tonaleselle and on the islets in the Piave in the Montello region. One hostile aeroplane was brought down. West of Feeri, and in the valley of Jenioa, there were patrol encounters with the capture of some prisoners by the Italians.

Among the Allied troops fighting with the Italians was a Czecho-Slovak unit. On September 21, 1918, an action occurred between these troops and German and Hungarian forces on the Trentino front. It was the first in Italy in which the Czecho-Slovaks operated as a unit in their regular formation. The enemy launched the attack, prepared with greatest secrecy, east of Lake Garda. It appeared from the dispatches that the Germans and Magyars had no definite territorial objective, but planned the stroke in the hope of gaining support for the Austrian claim that the Czecho-Slovaks would give way voluntarily when faced by the army of the country that so long had held them in subjugation.

It was believed in Rome and by officials of the Czecho-Slovak Headquarters in Washington that if the Austrians had achieved even a local success they would, after executing as traitors any Czecho-Slovaks taken prisoners, have again affirmed that the Czecho-Slovaks did not wish to fight against Austria.

The assault was begun at daybreak by picked detachments composed exclusively of Magyars and Germans under General Schiesser. It followed a destructive artillery fire in which thousands of gas shells were used. The Czecho-Slovaks went over the top to meet the foe, and the first column was forced to retire. The second column, after desperate hand-to-hand fighting, succeeded in occupying a part of the Czecho-Slovak position, but was driven out after a bloody battle. No prisoners were taken by either side.

Premier Orlando of Italy paid homage to the valor of the Czecho-Slovaks by a telegram of congratulation to the Czecho-Slovak National Council in Paris.

For the next few weeks this continuous struggle on the part of the Italians to secure the positions necessary for their men was maintained without change.