Necessity and experience had brought about a number of changes and adjustments in equipment. During the year 1916, for example, helmets had been adopted as the headgear for the whole. army, though the Bersaglieri and Alpini preserved as well as they could their picturesque distinguishing features, fastening the feathers upon their helmets. The Bersagliere "trot" had

of the river in three sections-north of Tolmino, east of Plava and on the northwestern butt of the Carso. Gorizia, about halfway between Plava and the Italian stand on the Carso, was guarded, north and south, respectively, by Monte Santo and Monte San Michele, still in the hands of the AustroHungarians. General Cadorna's plan called for sharp and sudden attacks on

been set aside for the bicycle or "pushbike." And a new weapon was being produced with great rapidity-the "bombarda," a sort of "glorified trenchmortar." Requiring less material and less skill in the making than a gun, the bombarda proved useful when carried well to the front. Of 91⁄2-inch calibre, it could hurl big projectiles upon the enemy front, tearing openings through wire entanglements and demolishing fortifications.

THE CAPTURE OF GORIZIA IS PLANNED.

If we recall the previous accounts of movements along the Isonzo, we shall see that the Italians held positions east 592

these two buttresses and the seizure of the city itself.

The direction of the offensive was entrusted to the Duke of Aosta, commanding the 3rd Army Corps, on the Carso. His army was to advance across the northern side of the Carso, so as to make secure the southern approach to Gorizia. At the same time, the 6th Army Corps, under General Capello and his Chief of Staff, Colonel Badoglio, was given the task of carrying Monte Sabotino, Oslavia, and Podgora, those heretofore impregnable bastions on the west bank of the river opposite Gorizia. Then they were to capture Gorizia and storm Monte Santo and Monte San Gabriele.

The violence of the bombardment that shook the whole Isonzo front, on August 1, spoke loudly of the efficiency of the preparation that had been made. After a day or two, the bombarded area was narrowed to the stretch between Monte Sabotino and the Adriatic. The greatest fury centred upon Monfalcone where, in accordance with General Cadorna's stratagem, a misleading feint attack was made on August 4. The Austrians, driven from their trenches, left asphyxiating bombs there, which exploded after the Italians had rushed in. As the Italian gas-masks provided up to this time fitted very closely and were uncomfortable, many of the men had discarded them. Consequently, several thousand were caught defenseless against the poison fumes and many died. In the confusion that followed, an Austrian counter-attack succeeded in taking back the trenches which had been captured. But the feint had accomplished all that General Cadorna desired. The Austrians hastened to reinforce the Monfalcone position, in anticipation of further attack there.

Then the storm broke about Monte Sabotino and San Michele. The former hill had been given most careful study. by Colonel Badoglio for several months. Under his direction, the engineers had constructed long tunnels reaching within a distance of less than a hundred feet from the Austrian trenches. The artillery bombardment directed toward Gorizia and Sabotino was aimed at the enemy's "brains and eyes." An exact knowledge of his arrangements made it possible to destroy his headquarters and cut off wire communication between the centre and the outlying posts on the surrounding heights. In this way the bringing up of Austrian reinforcements was greatly impeded.

ITALIAN ADVANCE IN AUGUST, 1916 The three days following were spent in battle for the ridges of Oslavia and Podgora, where scientifically constructed fortifications were held by stubborn contestants. In one case, an Austrian major and forty of his men fought with such fortitude and gallantry that the Italian officer who conquered them ordered his own men to present arms to the prisoners.

ORIZIA IS ENTERED BY THE KING.

GORIZ

At last the long-disputed strongholds on the west bank, Sabotino, Oslavia,

and Podgora, were won. There was still an obstacle to overcome before Gorizia could be entered. The retreating foe had badly damaged the bridges. While the engineers were repairing them with all possible speed, a small force of Italians forded the stream. As soon as the iron bridge could possibly be used, ambulances and supply trains traveled perilously across it, and on the morning of August 9, the main army had reached the east shore. That day, the Duke of Aosta with his royal cousin, King Victor Emmanuel III, rode into Gorizia at the head of the army. The Duke, by his bravery and kindliness, and the king, by his democratic simplicity and his friendly intercourse with his fighting subjects, had early won the admiration and devotion of their soldiers.

The advance on the Carso had been keeping pace with the proceedings farther north before Gorizia. The 3rd Army made a direct assault upon fourcrested San Michele, parts of which had already passed back and forth between the contesting forces many times since the Italians had first set foot upon the Carso. On the eighth of August, there was no longer any question about its possession. The southern buttress of the Gorizia bridgehead thus made sure, it was possible to enter the city in security. On the ninth, as we have seen, the entry was made.

The barren, arid table-land of the Carso was a battle-field hardly surpassed for difficulty and danger. An old legend accounts for it by narrating that when the Creator, after He had finished making the world, was about to cast into the sea all the stones left over, the Devil overtook Him beside the Isonzo and slit open the bag containing the stones. The result was the Carso plateau. "Its sides facing north and west are partly wooded, but the table-land itself has no vegetation higher than grass and stunted brushwood. The earth is red, the limestone white; in winter these are the two colors of the Carso, but in summer an outcrop of green grass completes the Italian

tricolor." Hundreds of doline, or huge cup-shaped hollows, made hiding-places where men, huts, and guns were utterly concealed. The plateau became an "ominous ambushed desert." The stone surface itself greatly multiplied. the danger from projectiles, when it splintered into thousands of flying fragments under an exploding bomb or shell.

In the limestone surface the AustroHungarian belligerents had drilled and blasted their defensive works, even reinforcing them with thick iron plates in some exposed position. Lord Northcliffe was forcibly impressed by the works when he visited them during this very invasion. A French correspondent gives a detailed description of their elaborate completeness. He writes:

HE LUXURY OF THE AUSTRIAN QUARTERS.

THE

"Behind the trenches the troops had as shelters deep caverns which could contain several battalions. Confident that they would never be beaten back, the Austrians had fitted them out luxuriously; the walls were paneled, electricity was installed everywhere, ventilating ducts made it easy to change the air, water mains brought good drinking water. Along the Vallone ridge, every regiment had its numbered cavern. The officers' rooms were sumptuous; beds, chairs, sofas, tables, carpets, nothing was missing in them. The newspapers found there were dated August 3rd, and reported the declarations of Premier Tisza, assuring his auditors that the Austrian Staff had taken all the necessary measures to keep the Italians forever out of Gorizia.

Upon this doubly hostile plateau General Cadorna's forces now turned their faces toward Trieste. San Martino del Carso, the Doberdo plateau, and the heights of Sei Busi and Cosich yielded before their impetuous onslaught. Directly south from Gorizia a straight, dry valley cuts through the Carso upland in a direct line toward the head of the Adriatic. It can plainly be seen that this Vallone afforded a natural road of communication. General Cadorna aimed to control it by occupying the ridges on either side. August