fall again at
the end of August. The time allowed for big things in the Alps by big
armies is strictly limited. Also we must remember that there are
winter defenses to be made in the snow, and summer defenses to be made
in the earth and rock. The Austrians were clever in attacking the
other day, just as the snow defenses had crumbled and the summer
defenses had not been completed. The barbed-wire chevaux-de-frise are
often covered by snow in a night and have to be renewed. When the
snow thaws, all this jumble of obstacles reappears tangled together.

"Other ghastly sights also reappear, like the 600 Austrian corpses on
Monte Nero--almost awe-inspiring of heights. They had fallen in the
snow which had covered them. In the summer they reappeared one morning
in strange attitudes, frozen hard and lifelike, and gave the Italian
garrison their first fright."

On April 11, 1916, in the Monte Adamello zone, while a heavy storm was
raging, Italian detachments attacked the Austrian positions on the
rocky crags of the Lobbia Alta and the Doss di Genova, jutting out
from the glaciers at an altitude of 3,300 meters, (10,918 feet). On
the evening of April 12, 1916, they completely carried the positions,
fortifying themselves in them and taking thirty-one prisoners,
including one officer and one machine gun.

The next day, April 13, 1916, saw some severe fighting in the Sugana
Valley in the Dolomites, where Italian troops carried with the
bayonet, a position at Santosvaldo, west of the Sarganagna torrent,
taking seventy-four prisoners, including five officers.

Three days later, April 17, 1916, Italian Alpine troops in the Monte
Adamello zone, occupied and strengthened the Monte Val di Fumo Pass,
at an altitude of 3,402 meters (11,161 feet).

During the night of April 18, 1916, one of the most spectacular and
important exploits of this period was executed. In the upper Cordevole
zone Italian troops, after successful mining operations, attacked
Austrian positions on the Col di Lana and occupied the western ridge
of Monte Ancora. The Austrian detachment occupying the trenches was
mostly killed. The Italians took as prisoners 164 Kaiserjaegers,
including nine officers.

This successful operation of the Italians was of exceptional
importance. The Col di Lana is a mountain 4,815 feet high, which forms
a natural barrier in the valley of Livinallengo and protects the road
of the Dolomites from Falzarego to the Pordoi Pass and dominat