opposite the strongholds of the Italians. Four hundred thousand of the best soldiers of the Austrian army were massed in front of the guns. The Italians, on their side, seem to have had some inkling of a forthcoming attack, although they grossly underestimated its strength; at all events, they had sent some reinforcements to their

Trentino positions just before the storm broke. The chief deficiency of the Italians, however, lay in artillery.

As customary, the Austrians prefaced their drive by a terrific bombardment on May 14. Before many hours, the Italian positions had been blasted into ruin and the Austrian shells were falling upon an army stationed in the open. When the Austrian infantry then advanced, the Italian centre fell back, but the flanks resisted vigorously.

Indeed, on the flanks the Austrians were able to make little direct headway, but they continually drove back the Italian centre until the flanks were also compelled to withdraw in order to maintain a straight line. For a week the retirement of the Italian centre was rapid, until along almost the whole Trentino line the attackers were on Italian soil. By May 25, the Austrians were nearing the southern edge of the mountains which overlook the plain of Venetia; and unless they should be stopped within the next several days, they would be able to swoop across the plains and get at the Italian army along the Isonzo from the rear. Cadorna rushed up reinforcements, but the mountainous character of the country and the scarcity of communications made it doubtful if the retreating Italian forces could be materially strengthened before the first days of June. During the latter part of May, the Italian centre was still being forced back, but on the left the Italians were holding firm. At Coni Zugna and at Pasubio and at Buole Pass positions were held in such a fashion as to form salients into the Austrian line. Again and again the Austrians advanced again these positions, but again and again they were unable to make headway. On May 30, the Austrians reached the climax of their attempts on the Italian left, but again they were thwarted by the magnificent defence of the outnumbered Italians; and with the stand on the left the remainder of the Italian line was being given a moment's breathing-space in which to re-form. Nevertheless, the Austrians continued to advance in the centre and on the right. On May 25, Battale fell. On May 28, the Austrians crossed the Posina and were separated from the Venetian plains by only a single ridge of high hills. On June 3 they won one of the points on this ridge, were also on the heights overlooking Arsiero, and had captured Asiago.

But by June 3 reinforcements reached the Italian line and it stood firm, thanks to the stand made by the left wing. The Austrian frontal attacks were beaten back. In the next several days the Austrians resorted to flank attacks but equally without success. And, while they, too, were rushing up reinforcements and preparing for a final stroke, their attention was diverted. Responding to a despairing cry for help, on June 4 Brusiloff had launched his great drive in

Bukowina. Without this Russian diversion, Cadorna's army might have been surrounded, with only portions of it managing to retreat along the coast with sufficient speed to avoid surrender; the road to much of northern Italy would have been opened; the ever-smouldering Italian revolution might have broken out, with results upon the military campaign similar to the results of the Russian Revolution; Roumania might have joined the Central Powers; and Austria would have been able to throw many of her forces and much of her equipment and supplies into the scales of battle in France and northern Belgium.

But the threat in Bukowina was too serious to be overlooked. Austria hastened to divert many of her crack troops from the Italian to the Russian front. With the opposing forces thus nearly equal in number, Italy repelled all further attacks; and by the middle of June was safe and still in a position to launch her great drive along the Isonzo, although she had been in dire peril and perilously close to the edge of complete disaster.

The Italian counter-attack in the Trentino was launched on June 16. On the right, after sharp fighting, the Austrians were driven out of their more advanced positions and by the end of the month both Asiago and Arsiero were recovered. The Austrians were still removing troops to the Russian front and on June 27 the entire Italian centre was once more across the Posina. By July 10 the Austrian front was behind both the Posina and the Asa, and there it maintained itself. The Austrian retreat was skilfully conducted and the Austrian losses were not great in comparison with the Italian, but the enemy had been forced to relinquish more than three-fourths of the ground he had gained. For the remainder of 1916 the battle-line in the Trentino was on the average only some five miles beyond the point where it had been before the Austrian offensive, and only in a few places did it encroach, and then only slightly, on Italian soil.

THE CAPTURE OF GORIZIA

In July the battle-line on the fifty-mile front along the Isonzo was practically where it had been at the beginning of the preceding winter. North and south of Gorizia the Italians had established a