li A >> U A -> IJ 
VV JA ± ILi iV 
AULCtT ^«>1 ^i7XC/« 
*J' »'>-') 
aud from the forces behind and feediucr the 
Polish front. Much of this force has been 
already long present upon the frontier, for Italy's 
intervention has been a possibility for months, and 
a probability for weeks. Much more of it has 
been lying behind the first line and waiting until 
it shall be discovered where the pressure will 
come. But, at any rate, the final decision of Italy, 
affecting the southern enemy front, dries up rein- 
forcement elsewhere, and one can lay it down that 
the entry of Italy will especially relieve the enemy 
pressure against Russia upon the East. 
The next point to consider is the geographi- 
cal nature of the Austro-Italian frontier, which 
forms the new enemy front. 
THE ITALIAN FRONTIER. 
The Italians are working upon a front which 
is everywhere strategically disadvantageous to 
them. Were it otherwise, one would have allowed 
a much larger number of enemy army corps to be 
fixed by their action. The enemy has everywhere 
the geographical advantage from the sea to Lake 
Garda, and this fact will dominate all the open- 
ing phases of the campaign, whether Austria or 
Italy takes the offensive here. To appreciate this 
capital truth, let us analyse that frontier. 
It is clearly divided into three sectors, 
marked on sketch (I.) AA, BB, and CC. 
I. The first (AA) is that of the Trentino, or 
basin of the Upper Adige (corrupted in German 
to Eltsh), a perfectly illogical piece of frontier, 
coming right down in a salient within what is 
geographically Italian— that is, upon the 
southern slope of the Alps. But it has none of 
the disadvantages of a salient. 
A salient — that is, in plain English, a thrust- 
out wedge — is weak in proportion as you can 
attack it from cither side, and so make people 
at the jx)int nervous about their ability to retire. 
But the salient of the Trentino (so called from 
the town of Trent or Upper Adige basin) has 
upon either side of it two great walls, w^hich are 
the lateral buttresses of the main Alpine chain. 
These lateral buttresses are not impassable. It is 
conceivable that under favourable circumstances, 
and with the advantage of some unexpected sur- 
prise, one or more passes on the east or 
west of this triangle might be turned. If tliis 
were successfully accomplished, the Trentino 
^^/Jl 
f-^a/n of Mps 
'SrennerThss 
Garda 
31 
