8 
LAND & WATER 
May 31. 1917 
of that main . position. Whether they will destroy it in its 
turn as they have destroyed the defences covering it only the 
luture can show. To follow these details we must'consult 
the sketch map appended. 
Before the intensive artillery preparation was undertaken 
(bcf,'inninK, 1 beheve, upon Wednesday last, the 22hd), th^' 
Austriaji positions across the Carso and down to the Adriatic 
followed a pecuUar trace. They ran as does the doftcd line 
i-i-i-i upon Map II. Leaving the plain of the V'ippaco (the 
great town of which is Gorizia to the north) at the issue of the 
Isonzo Gwrge, the Austrians lay in trenches which ran up the 
northern escaqjment of the Carso plateau rather south of 
east and then ran almost due south to cover Kostaiijevica, 
and the twin summits of the Faiti., Upon reaching the 
neighbourhood of Kostanjevica they titrned almost due east 
and west, covered the village of Hudi-Log and then turned 
sputh again to the southern escarpment of the" C^rso. .Upon 
reaching the crest of this (the steep wall by which the Carso 
falls upon the Adriatic plain and lower foothills, the cultivation 
of whibh contrasts with the hard, bare limestone of the plateau 
above), the line went east and west again, covering the village 
of Jamiano to a foothill marked with tlie letter A upon Map 
II., and thence turned due south to the Adriatic tiirough the 
Hot Baths of Montfalcone at the point marked Bagni and 
across the marshes to the sea. ^'* 
Line in Echelons 
It will at once be noted that this line makes three odd steps 
in other words, that the Italians stood in three eciielons, eadi 
one to the south being further west than its northern neigh- 
bour. . The cause of this has been well pointed out by tl.e 
Italian military writer Barone, Monsieur Bidou's quotation 
from whom I am following in this matter. 
The enemy has for his chief object the covering of Trieste. 
Not only because the ])olitical and strategic importance 
of that great jwrt is \-ery high, nor even because a retirenrcnt 
beyond it would dangerously lengthen his hne, but still more 
because with Trieste in Italian hands 'the Istrian Peninsula 
as a whole and especially the all-important naval base of 
Pola, would go. The reason of this in its turn is clear enough 
if one looks at a railway map. The sole connection of Pola 
with the Austrian munition factories, etc, i^ a line of com- 
munication, a railway, driven through very difticult country 
be successfully covered. It is ifpoh this accouht'tbat the big 
Italian effort of last year led our Alhes to the'-curicmsly shap«l 
line l-i-i-i just -described. ' - 
Now behind this line there runs what is the main defence of 
Trieste ; just as, far away in France, the Drocourt-Queant hne 
is the main defence of Douai. I have marked it on Sketch II. 
by the full line 3-3-3-3. It is very strong. It holds the second 
and highest summit of the Faiti (Hill 464) ; just covers 
Kostanjevica ; comes down to the southern escarpment t)( the 
Carso covering Brestovica, and then mounts to and holds the 
highest and strongest summit of all, that of Hermada, or Hill 
^2^, a nearly isolated height of about 1,000 feet, covered with 
muclj oak and dominating the Adriatic and the coast road 
and railway. m 
It is upon the possession of the Hermada that the battle 
really turns. For with the Hermada as an observation post 
the whole country to the east is under direct observation up 
to a line of heights hi, 000 yards away, the sunmiit of which is 
Mount Lconartlo, and which are in the immediate neigh- 
lx)urhood of Trieste. So long as Hermada remains in the 
enemy's hands all the Italian advance is under the direct 
observation of the Austrians. > 't 
At the moment <jf writing this main position 3-3-3-3 is 
still intact. Tlic Italians hold the westrrnmost and lowe^t 
summit of the Faiti, i)ut they have not yet reached Kostan- 
jevica, and are only upon the western slopes of the Hermada. 
The line they have reached is roughly the line 2-2-2-2 upon 
Map II. They are at the St. (iiovanni and at Mcdeazza ; 
but the oak woods of the Hermada Hill stand above them full 
of and hiding the enemy's tro'ops and guns, an exceedingly 
difficult position to carry. 
Meanwhile, tlic FTeet, including a number of British 
monitors, have been bombarding along the shore in the zone 
between the two arrows marked on Map II., and have been 
.striking with particular insistence upon the i)oint X, the most 
vulnerable point of the Austrian communications in this 
region. 
It will be seen that two railways lead from Trieste to tlie 
front and heJp to nmniti<jn the tn)o])s Imlding Hermada. 
These two unite at the point X, which is al.'^o a point highly 
vulnerable from the sea. Of the two railwavfi that whicli 
follows the sea coast is, in peace time, T believe, tbe principal 
line. It is now, however, under direct hre front the sea, save 
just behind the point and castle of Miramar. But the other 
line running inland is protected from direct observation by 
a line of heights, which here runs everywhere parallel to the 
sea coast. H. Bemoc. 
an4 passing close to the east of Trieste itself. The direct line 
of advance upon Trieste, therefore, that by the Adriatic coast, 
has drawn tpwards it the best and the largest number of the 
Austrian forces in this region. Where it was a question of 
sacrificing one of another of several points, the northern was 
sacrihced rather than the southern in order that Trieste might 
Mr. Perry Robinson comes of a gifted family of writers, 
l)ut not one has done finer work than he in this story of the 
Sonnne battle. He has felicitously eiuitled;\bis book The 
lurning Point (Heineniann, ()s. net). Every week that passes 
makes it more obvious tiiat July ist, 191O, the day on which 
the Somme battle opened, was one of the mt^it momentous 
dates of the war. We still continue the work that was then 
begun ; and when it is at last completed, victory should 
be within the gra.sp of the Allies. Mr. Perry Kohins'on is the 
special correspondent of the Times and the LYaih News ; 
the readers of those journals are familiar witli his brilliant 
despatches. This volume is one which having been read 
with avidity, will ])e placed m\ the bookslielf fou future 
reference ; it tells the story of the historic figlits and battles 
of last autumn with a simple directness that stirs the bloixl. 
The extraordinary swiftness with which Czardom was at 
the last swept away i.s. hardly yet fully comprehended in this 
country. Nor is this suqjrising when we read the record of 
events in Petrograd last March as set down by an eyewitness, 
Mr. Stinton Jones, who, in this \o\nmc'\Riiss'ia in Revolution, 
Herbert Jenkins. 5s. net), gives the first connected narrative 
of that dramatic episode. It seemed as though fate were on 
this occasion entirely on the side of the people, for in the 
short week of revolution, more than once the future of demo- 
cracy hung by a hair, and the least untoward occurrence 
would have instantly given despotism the upper hand. 
Had the revolution been suppressed, the first thing that 
would have happened would have been a separate peace with 
Germany ; and all those who had taken part in the rising would 
have been punished with utter- brutality. As it was, blood 
tlowed freely in the streets of the capital, the Czar's secret 
police being the chief offenders ; not unnaturally there was 
some retaliation. The special wonder is the extraordinary 
good nature, orderliness and restraint of the people during a 
l)eriod when no authority existed. Mr. .Stinton Jones' book 
has an historical value apart from its exceptional local interest. 
It ought to be widely read, for it is illuminative of the events 
that led up to the revolution as well as dcsc'riptive of the actual 
upheaval. A more rapid ami dramatic revolution has lievcr; 
happened, and it reads almobt like a fairy tale. 
