ad only one reserve division. The heavy artillery
was withdrawn, the light artillery was packed up, the company commanders
having orders to retire in the night. Only a few rapid-fire batteries
were left with a view to deceiving the enemy. But as the Italians
appeared to the Austrians to have no heart to come on--there may have
been other reasons--the artillery was unpacked and the Austrians
returned to their old front. In May 1917, between Monte Gabriele and
Doberdo, Boroevi['c] had no reserve battalion; his troops, in full
marching kit, had to defend the whole front: they were able to do so by
proceeding now to this sector and now to that. No army is immune from
serious mistakes--"We won in 1871," said Bismarck, "although we made
very many mistakes, because the French made even more"--but the
Yugoslavs in the Austrian army could not forget such incidents as that
connected with the name of Professor Pivko. This gentleman, who is now
living at Maribor, was made the subject of a book, _Der Verrath bei
Carzano_ ("The Treachery near Carzano"), which was published by the
Austrian General Staff. His battalion commander was a certain
Lieut.-Colonel Vidale, who was a first cousin of the C.O., General
Vidale; and when an orderly overheard Pivko, who is a Slovene, and
several Czech officers, discussing a plan which would open the front to
the Italians, he ran all the way to the General's headquarters and gave
the information. The General telephoned to his cousin, who said that the
allegation was absurd and that Pivko was one of his best officers. The
orderly was therefore thrown into prison, and Pivko, having turned off
the electricity from the barbed wires and arranged matters with a
Bosnian regiment, made his way to the Italians. The suggestion is that,
owing to the lie of the land and the weak Austrian forces, it was
possible for the Italians to reach Trent; anyhow the Austrians were
amazed when they ceased to advance and the German regiment which was in
Trent did not have to come out to defend it. Everyone in the Austrian
army recognized that the Italian artillery was pre-eminent and that the
officers were most gallant, especially in the early part of the War,
when one would frequently find an officer lying dead with no men near
him. But such episodes as the above-mentioned--it would be possible, but
wearisome, to describe others--could not but have some effect on the
opposing army, and would be recalled when the Italians sang