Chapter XX

Declaration of war between Italy and Germany—Effect of declaration
at Udine—Interesting incident—General Cadorna consents to give
me a sitting for a sketch—The curious conditions—Methodic and
business-like—Punctuality and precision—A reminder of old
days—I am received by the Generalissimo—His simple, unaffected
manner—Unconventional chat—“That will please them in England”—My
Gorizia sketch book—The General a capital model—“Hard as nails”—The
sketch finished—Rumour busy again—A visit to Monfalcone—One of
the General’s Aides-de-camp—Start at unearthly hour—Distance to
Monfalcone—Arctic conditions—“In time for lunch”—Town life and
war—Austrian hour for opening fire—Monfalcone—Deserted aspect—The
damage by bombardment—The guns silent for the moment—The ghost of a
town—“That’s only one of our own guns”—A walk to the shipbuilding
yards—The communication trench—The bank of the canal—The pontoon
bridge—The immense red structure—The deserted shipbuilding
establishment—Fantastic forms—Vessels in course of construction—A
strange blight—The hull of the 20,000 ton liner—The gloomy
interior—The view of the Carso and Trieste through a port-hole—Of
soul-stirring interest—Hill No. 144—The “daily strafe”—“Just in
time”—Back to Udine “in time for lunch”—Return to the Carso—Attack
on the Austrian positions at Veliki Hribach—New Difficulties—Dense
woods—Impenetrable cover—Formidable lines of trenches
captured—Fighting for position at Nova Vas—Dramatic ending—Weather
breaking up—Operations on a big scale perforce suspended—Return
London await events 281

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

FACING PAGE

The Author in San Martino del Carso _Frontispiece_

During the entire day the onward march continued 11

Rugged and threatening, visible for miles around, is the
frowning pinnacle of bare rock known as Monte Nero 26

It meant practically scaling a cliff of rock 38

A rude altar of rough boxes was set up 50

The King appeared indefatigable and was out and about in
all weathers 62

Along the big military highway constructed by Napoleon 74

As he whirled past in the big car 88

The whole region was positively alive with warlike energy 100

A very useful-looking Nordenfeldt quick-firer mounted on
the fore-deck 112

Before us stretched the broad valley of the Adige 124

On one of the worst portions we passed a gang of peasant
women carrying barbed wire up to the trenches 136

One would have liked to spend an indefinite time in these
scenes of warlike activity 148

But nothing had stopped the rush of the Italians 160

And came up with reinforcements hurrying forward 172

The least severely wounded occupants jumped out of the
wagon 186

And day by day one heard of minor successes in Trentino 198

The object of this being to hide movements of troops and
convoys 210

Two infantry regiments, the 11th and 12th, forded and swam
across the river 222

The soldiers round us now began to move forward, and we
were practically carried up the gully with them 234

I was fortunate enough to get some interesting sketches of
the cavalry crossing the river under fire 246

The only difficulty the officers experienced was in getting
them to advance with caution 258

They came racing across the stretch of “No Man’s Land” 270

A grey-haired officer of medium height, whom I immediately
recognized as the Generalissimo, was reading an
official document 283

To advance through the jungle called for all the cool,
disciplined courage of the Italian soldier 291

CHAPTER I

Marching orders—I leave for Rome—Paris via Folkestone and Boulogne in war time—My campaigning kit—The war-correspondent’s list—Quaint item—Travelling “light”—A box of choice Havanas—Boulogne to Paris; well-intentioned ladies and their “Woodbines”—The one and only cigarette—Paris to Turin—Curious order on train—Method and prescience—Few soldiers on route—Arrival in Rome—A cheap room—No sign of excitement in streets—23rd May—Excitability of the Italian no longer noticeable—Rome unruffled—The declaration of war—On the Corso Umberto that evening—The Café Aragno—National stoicism—THE DAY—Business as usual—The general mobilisation—A triumph of organization—At the War Office.