,*. •• 



Photograph from Comando Supremo, Italian Army 



THE SKIRMISH LINE OE ITALIAN SKIMEN ADVANCING IN ATTACK 



These troops, mounted on skis, can descend upon an enemy position like a flock of great 

 white birds, bringing a message of disaster to their foe. In this picture they are creeping 

 forward in skirmish formation, firing as thev go. 



the cemetery gate, singing as he looked 

 for the mules. 



And the never-ending procession I saw 

 every time I looked out of my bedroom 

 window ! Day and night the camions 

 went up on one side of the little street 

 taking munitions, bread, etc., while thou- 

 sands of mules and men tramped by, the 

 rnules bearing water and food for the 

 soldiers, and brightly painted Sicilian 

 carts carrying fodder for the mules. On 

 the opposite side of the street came down 

 another procession, made up of empty 

 camions to be loaded again and Red 

 Cross ambulances bringing in the wound- 

 ed. Through our tiny village 120,000 

 loaves of bread passed each day. 



SOLDIERS BATTLE AMID ARCTIC COLD IN 

 THE HIGH ALPS 



I was talking to a young nurse, 21 

 vears old, who came down from a hos- 

 pital in the high Alps by toboggan last 

 week. At noon, when hanging out her 

 .sheets to dry in the sun, they often freeze 



stiff. The sentinels must sometimes be 

 changed every ten minutes, so as not to 

 die with the cold. Some of the men are 

 fighting on peaks, where supplies can 

 reach them only by the telif erica (you 

 know, the baskets slung to a wire that 

 pulls them up thousands of feet), or by 

 cords and ladders up perpendicular walls 

 of rocks. 



This afternoon I attended a party at 

 the Villa Mirafiori, where there are about 

 83 wholly helpless victims of the war. 

 They had a lottery and some gifts. Kind 

 friends gave me 45 francs, with which I 

 was able to buy a number of gifts for 

 them — knives, pipes, etc. Four of the 

 boys had lost both hands — strong, com- 

 petent-looking men, so good and patient 

 and serene. It is terrible to be so en- 

 tirely well otherwise and yet so helpless. 



I am giving a marionette show at the 

 villa in a few days. There is no form of 

 entertainment so popular. I gave one 

 for 450 soldiers last week in the big hos- 

 pital here. The men were almost hys- 



61 



