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WITH BRITISH GUNS IN ITALYA 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 forhis own memory, praise that will never die, and with it the grandest ofall sepulchres; not that in which their mortal bones are laid, but ahome in the minds of men, where their glory remains fresh to stir tospeech or action as the occasion comes by. For the whole earth is thesepulchre of famous men; and their story is not graven only on stoneover 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 hasyet published a book about his experiences. Ten British Batteries wentto Italy in the spring of 1917 and passed through memorable days. Buttheir story has not yet been told. Nor, except in the language ofofficial dispatches, has that of the British Divisions which went toItaly six months later, some of which remained and took part in thefinal and decisive phases of the war against Austria. Something moreshould soon be written concerning the doings of the British troops inItaly, 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 ofa Diary, of what one British soldier saw and felt, who served foreighteen months on the Italian Front as a Subaltern officer in a SiegeBattery. But it was my luck to see a good deal during that time. Minehad been the first British Battery to come into action and open fire onthe Italian Front. And, as my story will show, it was either the firstor among the first on most other important occasions, except in theCaporetto retreat, and then it was the last.

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

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

H. D.

LONDON, February 1919

CONTENTS

PREFACE

PART IINTRODUCTORY

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

PART IISOME 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

...