The Project Gutenberg EBook of With British Guns in Italy, by Hugh Dalton

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Title: With British Guns in Italy A Tribute to Italian Achievement

Author: Hugh Dalton

Release Date: November 17, 2003 [EBook #10107]

Language: English

*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK WITH BRITISH GUNS IN ITALY ***

Produced by Jonathan Ingram and PG Distributed Proofreaders

WITH BRITISH GUNS IN ITALY A TRIBUTE TO ITALIAN ACHIEVEMENT

BY

HUGH DALTON

SOMETIME LIEUTENANT IN THE ROYAL GARRISON ARTILLERY

WITH 12 ILLUSTRATIONS AND 3 MAPS

First Published in 1919

TO THE HIGH CAUSE OF ANGLO-ITALIAN FRIENDSHIP AND UNDERSTANDING

"Nella primavera si combatte e si muore, o soldato."

M. PUCCINI, Dal Carso al Piave.

"So they gave their bodies to the commonwealth and received, each for his own memory, praise that will never die, and with it the grandest of all sepulchres; not that in which their mortal bones are laid, but a home in the minds of men, where their glory remains fresh to stir to speech or action as the occasion comes by. For the whole earth is the sepulchre of famous men; and their story is not graven only on stone over their native earth, but lives on far away, without visible symbol, woven into the stuff of other men's lives."

Funeral Speech of Pericles.

"Dying here is not death; it is flying into the dawn."

MEREDITH, Vittoria.

PREFACE

So far as I know, no British soldier who served on the Italian Front has yet published a book about his experiences. Ten British Batteries went to Italy in the spring of 1917 and passed through memorable days. But their story has not yet been told. Nor, except in the language of official dispatches, has that of the British Divisions which went to Italy six months later, some of which remained and took part in the final and decisive phases of the war against Austria. Something more should soon be written concerning the doings of the British troops in Italy, for they deserve to stand out clearly in the history of the war.

This little book of mine is only an account, more or less in the form of a Diary, of what one British soldier saw and felt, who served for eighteen months on the Italian Front as a Subaltern officer in a Siege Battery. But it was my luck to see a good deal during that time. Mine had been the first British Battery to come into action and open fire on the Italian Front. And, as my story will show, it was either the first or among the first on most other important occasions, except in the Caporetto retreat, and then it was the last.

I have camouflaged the names of all persons mentioned throughout the book, except those of Cabinet Ministers, Generals and a few other notabilities.

For permission to reproduce photographs, I wish to thank the representatives in London of the Italian State Railways (12 Waterloo Place, S.W.), and my friend and brother officer, Mr Stuart Osborn.

H. D.

LONDON, February 1919

CONTENTS

PREFACE

PART I INTRODUCTORY

CHAPTER I THE ANGLO-ITALIAN TRADITION AND ITALY'S PART IN THE WAR

PART II SOME EARLY IMPRESSIONS

CHAPTER II FROM FOLKESTONE TO VENICE

CHAPTER III FROM VENICE TO THE ISONZO FRONT

CHAPTER IV THE WAR ON THE ISONZO FRONT

CHAPTER V PALMANOVA

CHAPTER VI AQUILEIA AND GRADO

CHAPTER VII A GRAMOPHONE AND A CHAPLAIN ON THE CARSO

CHAPTER VIII A FRONT LINE RECONNAISSANCE

CHAPTER IX AN EVENING AT GORIZIA

CHAPTER X A CEMETERY AT VERSA

CHAPTER XI UDINE

CHAPTER XII THE BRITISH AND THE ITALIAN SOLDIER

CHAPTER XIII I JOIN THE FIRST BRITISH BATTERY IN ITALY

PART III THE ITALIAN SUMMER OFFENSIVE, 1917

CHAPTER XIV THE OFFENSIVE OPENS

CHAPTER XV WE SWITCH OUR GUNS NORTHWARD

CHAPTER XVI THE FALL OF MONTE SANTO

CHAPTER XVII THE CONQUEST OF THE BAINSIZZA PLATEAU

CHAPTER XVIII THE FIGHTING DIES DOWN

CHAPTER XIX A LULL BETWEEN TWO STORMS

PART IV THE ITALIAN RETREAT AND RECOVERY

CHAPTER XX THE BEGINNING OF THE ENEMY OFFENSIVE

CHAPTER XXI FROM THE VIPPACCO TO SAN GIORGIO DI NOGARA

CHAPTER XXII FROM SAN GIORGIO TO THE TAGLIAMENTO

CHAPTER XXIII FROM THE TAGLIAMENTO TO TREVISO

CHAPTER XXIV THOUGHTS AFTER THE DISASTER

CHAPTER XXV FERRARA, ARQUATA AND THE CORNICE ROAD

CHAPTER XXVI REFITTING AT FERRARA

PART V A YEAR OF RESISTANCE AND OF PREPARATION

CHAPTER XXVII IN STRATEGIC RESERVE

CHAPTER XXVIII THE FIRST BRITISH BATTERY UP THE MOUNTAINS

CHAPTER XXIX THE ASIAGO PLATEAU

CHAPTER XXX SOME NOTES ON NATIONAL CHARACTERISTICS

CHAPTER XXXI ROME IN THE SPRING

CHAPTER XXXII THE FIFTEENTH OF JUNE, 1918

CHAPTER XXXIII IN THE TRENTINO

CHAPTER XXXIV SIRMIONE AND SOLFERINO

CHAPTER XXXV THE ASIAGO PLATEAU ONCE MORE

PART VI THE LAST PHASE

CHAPTER XXXVI THE MOVE TO THE PIAVE

CHAPTER XXXVII THE BEGINNING OF THE LAST BATTLE

CHAPTER XXXVIII ACROSS THE RIVER

CHAPTER XXXIX LIBERATORI

CHAPTER XL THE COMPLETENESS OF VICTORY

CHAPTER XLI IN THE EUGANEAN HILLS

CHAPTER XLII LAST THOUGHTS ON LEAVING ITALY

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

Italian Troops Crossing a Snowfield in the Trentino

Railway Bridge over the Isonzo Wrecked by Austrian Shell Fire

Italian Mule Transport on the Carso

No. 3 Gun of the First British Battery in Italy

Casa Girardi and Italian Huts

Some of Our Battery Huts near Casa Girardi

The Eastern Portion of The Asiago Plateau

Road Behind Our Battery Position Leading to Pria Dell' Acqua

Chapel at San Sisto and Italian Graves

Huts on a Mountain Side in the