June I, 1916 
LAND & VV A T E R 
I 
■ Critical 
IfAiisSriansnack 
Valstixgrui alltlie 
ToUccma. aid', . 
M'ain Kailwaiis inl-l^m 
20 SKiies . 30 
the junction of the two great roads whereby not only 
armies but trade pass from the Venetian Plain up into 
and across the Alps. 
We owe that position to a peculiar geographical con- 
dition, which is that the lake from which the Brcnta 
rises, Lake Caldonazzio, instead of being separated 
from the valley of the Adige by a high watershed is 
only separated frjm it by an insignificant " portage," 
open and level, in the neighbourhood of Pergine. 
These two avenues, leading from Trent to the Venetian 
plain, the valley of the Adige and the valley of the 
Brenta, carry, as we saw last week, the two main roads 
and the only railway's in the district. // is impossible for 
the enemy to do anything serious against the Italians 
iintil he is the master of one or other of these avenues, and 
improbable that he will do anything serious until he is 
the master of one or both. 
Upon this account the main Italian resistance has 
been massed in the two valleys, and in these, so far, the 
enemy has not made good. When the blow fell the 
Italian line ran between Roncegno and Novaledo in the 
Sugana and just south of Rovereto in the Lagarina. 
Upon the former sector, the Val Sugana, the retirement, 
though uncovering the town of Borgo, has not exceeded 
six miles. In the latter and more important avenue of 
approach, the Lagarina, it has not covered as much as 
four. At the moment of writing the Italian line stands 
firm across both these essential avenues of approach, 
after a fortnight of Austrian effort. 
But if the Italians thus successfully hold the Lagarina 
and the Sugana against direct attack, viay not those 
valleys be turned? That is the serious problem of the 
moment. An Austrian force failing to break through 
on the upper Brenta or upper Adige might by getting 
through the centre between these divergent valleys 
appear on the lower courses of either stream and so be 
masters of a road into Venetia, cutting off the defenders 
of the upper valley. That is the danger. 
In the centre, the base of the triangle of which the 
rivers Brenta and Adige form the other two sides, there 
has been a serious advance. 
Let us examine the nature of that advance and the ^ 
opportunities it may afford of making the Austrians 
masters of one or other or both of the great roads. 
The frontier' here corresponds to the secondary water- 
shed between the upper and the lower valley of the 
Brenta and the upper and the lower valley of the Adige 
Thus there is a torrent rising upon the frontier ridge and 
falling into the Upper Adige near Rovereto, the valley of 
which is called the valley of Vallarsa, which I have 
marked (i) upon Map II. It has a tributary, which 
I have marked (2) called the Terragnolo, while further 
north a number of small streams fall into the Upper 
Brenta. South of this ridge, a corresponding system 
of torrents runs down to the Lower Brenta and the 
Lower Adige. Those falling into the Lower Brenta are 
the important torrents to notice. North of the great 
knot or central mass of mount Pasubio (not quite 7,000 
feet high) you have the torrent of the Posina, which falls 
down to the mountain town of Asiero and becomes a 
tributary of the Astico, another torrent rising a little 
beyond the frontier. From the other side there falls 
into the Astico the torrent of Val d'Assa, and upon a tiny 
tributary of this is the town of Asiago. ; 
Now the Austrians have not been able to force the 
Monte Pasubio, btit everywhere to the north of it they 
have reached the last ridges overlooking Asiero and 
Asiago. Both these towns are served by light railways 
commimicating with the main railway system of the 
plain immediately bej'ond. The whole district has con- 
siderable industrial importance in the manufacture of 
woollen goods, and its occupation would lead the enemy 
to the very edge of the plain, the line between which and 
the foothills is marked, in this region, upon my sketch 
map by a line of crosses, which show the dangerous 
proximity of the region to the opeai country below. Were 
Asiero and Asiago occupied — and it is difficult to see how 
such occupation can be prevented now — there lies 
behind them and between them and the perfectly open 
country only one last ridge, running roughly as does the 
line A B upon the above sketch. 
But there is something much more important in the 
~ enemy's reaching Asigao than its mere proximity to the 
plains, and that is its proximity to Valstagna on the Brenta. 
In order to see the importance of Valstagna let us 
consider the following argument : 
Supposing Asiero and Asiago to be occupied by the 
enemy, and even supposing the last ridge A B to be lost 
to the Italians, but the main jx)sitions in the great and 
essential avenues of approach, the \'alley of the Brenta 
and the valley of the Adige, to be still held by the Italians, 
what then would be the position of the enemy ? 
It is clear that he would be occupying a very danger© 
