ment continues. The Italian guns
apparently refrain from answering. But every battery is in readiness,
every Italian gun is trained on the spot where the enemy must pass.
Every man is at his post, waiting, waiting. It is just before dawn.
The air of this Alpine Valley is cold and raw. A bleak wind blows
through the trees. The cannonade slackens. From our position we cannot
see the enemy advancing, but the black, broad strip of newly-upturned
soil on the crest of the Monte Collo shows the effect of the
bombardment. Split wide open like a yawning crater, the hilltop has
been plowed up in every direction. Barbed wire, parapets, and trench
lines have disappeared, buried under the tangled earth clumps.

"A minute, perhaps five or ten! 'They are coming,' is whispered in the
observation post. A thunder of Italian artillery greets the attacking
forces. On they come. Instinctively one can discern a shadowy mass
moving forward. Huddled together, they crouch low. Shells are falling
and then cease, and the 'click,' 'click,' of the machine gun's
enfilading fire is heard. The enemy reaches the Italian advance
trenches. The first streaks of light, gray and cold, show new
attacking forces coming up over the hill. They penetrate deep into the
plowed soil. They seem to hold the hill. Stumbling through the
cratered terrain the Austrians advance toward the Italian positions.
Then from out of the tawny earth an Italian battalion springs up. One
can almost imagine that one hears their hoarse battle cry, 'Avanti,
Savoia! Avanti!' as they fall upon their enemies.

"We learn later that the losses have been heavy. The Italian
possessions have been badly damaged and have been temporarily
evacuated. Both sides have taken prisoners, and what was the battle
ground is now a neutral zone. Some hours later I again look across to
the Monte Collo. The hill crest is deserted. Below the summit fresh
Italian troops are occupying new and stronger positions, while an
endless stream of pack-mules is winding slowly up the mountainside."

On May 20, 1916, the battles in southern Tyrol, on the Lavarone
Plateau, increased in violence as the result of Italian attacks. The
Austrians reached the summit of the Armentara Ridge and on the
Lavarone Plateau penetrated the first hostile position.

The troops of Archduke Charles Francis Joseph also added to their
successes. They captured the Cima dei Laghi and the Cima di Nesole.
The Italians also were driven from the B