June 27, 1 91 8 
Land & Water 
The Italian Victory : By H. Belloc 
MY task this week is a difiBcult one. The last 
news that has come in at the moment of writ- 
ting is a dispatch of only just over twenty 
words from General Diaz to the effect that 
the Austrians are recrossing the Piave in 
disorder. Beyond that we know nothing, and very little 
useful commentary can be made upon a statement at once 
so important and so simple, until the detailed results of the 
Italian pursuit shall be given us. 
All we can do in the meanwhile is to present the position 
as clearly as may be, and show what its possibilities are ; 
after which a recapitulation of- the battle may also be of 
some service. 
The enemy in forcing the Piave a week ago achieved 
roughly three things upon this front. 
In the North he seized the eastern end of the Montello, an 
isolated hill giving excellent observation, and threatening, 
if it could be taken in its entirety, to outflank the whole of 
the Piave line from the north or left. At the other extremity 
he occupied rapidly and successfully a considerable bridge- 
head beyond the point of St. Dona, the lowest point at 
which an offensive crossing can be made with any hope of 
deploying largely upon the further side. And this establish- 
ment of a large bridgehead threatened, if it were ex- 
tended, to turn the Piave line by the right or southern 
flank. Meanwhile he had crossed at numerous points in be- 
tween, but in lesser force, and with the object of holding the 
ItaUans there, rather than of advancing. The plan was 
clearly one of envelopment by the two wings. The Piave, 
which for much the greater part of the year is no great ob- 
stacle north of a point about six miles from St. Dona, and 
which even when it is in flood is an obstacle only occasionally 
(because it rises and falls so rapidly), behaved in a fashion 
p)eculiarly embarrassing to the offensive. It had risen suf- 
ficiently to help the first crossing ; for, paradoxical though it 
sounds, a certain small rise of the river helps troops to cross 
in the higher reaches, allowing pontoon bridges to be 
thrown across, whereas when the water is at its lowest, there 
is a mixture of fordable places, and numerous narrow arms a 
little too deep to be fordable, which make a very complicated 
task. The enemy's first crossings, then, a week ago, were 
made under conditions perhaps as good as any that could 
have been chosen by him, and it is probable that he picked 
his moment in connection with the then state of the river. 
The bridges once firmly established, and more permanent ones 
constructed by the engineers behind the cover of the bridge- 
heads consolidated on the further bank, would, if the river 
should fall again, give every advantage for the continuation 
of the programme. But the river rose unexpectedly upon 
the third day of the operations. Many existing bridges, and 
apparently all those under construction were swept away. 
It was only in the deeper part, atove St. Dona, that a number 
of large pontoon bridges — no less than five — completely stood 
the strain. Elsewhere,' in varying degrees, the new work was 
damaged or destroyed. The bridge on the extreme north 
supplying the Montello and crossing at Nervesa was main- 
tained, but for many miles below everything went. General 
Maurice has pointed out in the Daily Chronicle the impor- 
tant element in this affair, which is the presence of cut logs in 
the higher part of the torrent bed up in the mountains, which, 
coming down on the swollen current, would act as battering 
rams against the piles of the new bridges and the pontoons. 
He remarks with justice that though the operations of the 
woodsmen would naturally be suspended during hostihties, 
a great deal of the cut timber would still be left lying above 
flood level, and would be caught when the river rose, and 
whirled down. 
This rise in the Piave very gravely hampered the supply of 
the Austrian troops who had managed to cross. It starved 
the considerable force which had seized the eastern end of 
the Montello and all the various detachments down the 
middle of the stream. Nothing was left tolerably supplied 
except the bridge head to the west of St. Dona, on the lower 
reaches, where^ the flood was less violent and the permanent 
depth of water gave security to the pontoon bridges. It 
was therefore here, west of St. Dona, that the chief Austrian 
effort could be made, and apparently as many as five divisions 
were ready to take part in it, a considerable portion of which 
had by the end of the week crossed to the right or eastern bank. 
It is estimated that by that time — Thursday and Friday- 
some 70,000 Austro-Hungarians were beyond the stream. 
Much the greater part of them concentrated on the 
Montello, and at the opposite end of the line, west of St. 
Dona ; the remainder strung out in narrow batches between 
the two. 
At this point there enters an element of far more import- 
ance even than the behaviour of the river, with its sudden 
and unexpected flood, and that element was the skilful 
handhng of the Italian reserv'es, coupled with the excellent 
fighting quahties which they displayed. At the two chief 
points— the Montello and the St. Dona bridge-head— the 
Italian pressure began to be heavy by Wednesday, and 
decisive throughout Thursday and Friday ; while the smalkr 
Austrian forces in the middle were thoroughly pressed back 
to the very banks of the stream. At the close of these 
operations two things were already clear. First, that the 
enemy would not succeed in itaching the summit of the 
Montello, and would therefore fail to obtain either that 
obser\-ation over the plain, or that position upon the flank 
of the Itahan fine, both of which were his objects in attempting 
to capture the hill. Second, that his only chance of further 
advance was in the south— west of St. Dona. Here he 
made very vigorous efforts, but the Italian rapidity was 
too much for him. He could not supply at anything hkc 
the rate which was demanded by the increasing pressure 
against him, and before Saturday he had lost his battle. 
Meanwhile, on Friday there had taken place an operation 
the effect of which was probably very great, though no 
dispatch has yet given us the co-ordination between it and 
the Austrian retreat. I refer to the passage of a mixed 
Italian force of soldiers and sailors across the canahsed 
mouth of the two rivers, Sile and Piave, at Cavazuccherina. 
The Piave in its natural state runs from St. Dona south- , 
eastwardly into the sea at Cortelazzo. But it had another 
branch, called the Old Piave, running into the marshy lagoons 
north of Venice. Just where this touches the brackish water 
the httle river Sile comes in, at the point called Capo Sile. 
From this point a canal has been dug along the edge of the 
lagoon with high banks, which carries the water of the Sile 
and of the Old Piave down to Cortelazzo, at the piouth of 
the Piave proper. 
Now, this canal is the chief obstacle of the neighbourhood. 
Through it passes the great bulk of the water coming down 
the Piave bed, and a body which can force this obstacle will 
certainly be able sooner or later, unless there is special con- 
centration against it, to force the easier obstacle of the 
Piave proper a little further east, between Grisolera and 
Kevedolo. 
A study of the curious ground in this neighbourhood at 
once shows the importance of such a move. South of the 
i^ossctru 
illSJOl 
01 2 J t ^ S 7 
fine formed by the River Sile and the canal you have abso- 
lutely impossible ground formed by the shallows and mud flatsof 
the lagoon. North of it, between Capo Sile and Fossalta there 
is ground difficult indeed between, for it is cut up by in- 
numeiable ditches and willow banks with very narrow raised 
paths hardly to be called roads ; but stiU an advance is 
possible to the enemy, and here it was that his advance has 
been made. He held all the northern half of this district, 
which is bounded by the Sile, the Piave, the Old Piave, and 
the Fossetta Canal. He even managed to cross the latter 
obstacle, and had nearly reached I.osson, which he was in 
the act of assaulting, when his opponent seized the crossing 
at Cavazuccherina, far away on his left. Eastward of 
