Companies, used
for scouting purposes, form part of the Regiment. The Bersagliere
undress cap is a red fez with a blue tassel.

The Arditi, or Assault Detachments, correspond to the German
Sturmtruppen. They were instituted in the Italian Army in 1917. They
also consist of picked men, and undergo a special training to accustom
them to bomb-throwing at close quarters and to other incidents of the
assault. In the course of this training casualties often occur. Only
young unmarried men of exceptionally good physique can become Arditi.
They are only used in actual attacks and never for the purpose of merely
holding trenches. They therefore spend a large part of their time behind
the lines and receive, I believe, extra pay and rations. They are armed
with rifles and _pugnali_, or small daggers, and wear a low-cut tunic,
with a black knottie and a black fez. On each lapel of their tunic they
wear two black flames, similar to the crimson flames on the collars of
the Bersaglieri. They are, therefore, known as "fiamme nere," or black
flames.

A large proportion of Arditi are Sicilians, and their fighting quality
is very high. Certain detachments of Bersaglieri are also classified as
Assault Detachments and wear low-cut tunics like the Arditi.

The Italian Mountain and Field Artillery are excellent; their Heavy
Artillery is handicapped, in comparison with ours, by its smaller
ammunition supply and fewer opportunities for prolonged practice, but
its methods are scientific and its personnel very keen and capable. The
Italian Engineers have done much wonderful work, to which I shall refer
later.

CHAPTER IV

THE WAR ON THE ISONZO FRONT

From Monte Nero to the Adriatic the distance is, in a straight line,
some 35 miles. Allowing for the curves of the actual line, the length of
Front is between 40 and 50 miles. This portion of the Italian and
Austrian lines is commonly spoken of as the Isonzo Front. It is not like
the Front in the higher Alps, where, as on the Adamello, trenches are
cut in the solid ice, where the firing of a single gun may precipitate
an avalanche, where more Italians are killed by avalanches than by
Austrians, where guns have to be dragged up precipices and perched on
ledges fit only, one might think, for an eagle's nest, where food,
ammunition, reinforcements, wounded and sick have all to travel in small
cages attached to wire ropes, slung from peak to peak above sheer drops
of many thousand feet, wher