an official dispatch from
Rome, in which it was stated:

"The failure to resist on the part of some units forming our second
army, which in cowardice retired without fighting or surrendered to the
enemy, allowed the Austro-German forces to break into our left wing on
the Julian front. The valiant efforts of other troops did not enable
them to prevent the enemy from advancing into the sacred soil of our
fatherland. We now are withdrawing our line according to the plan
prepared. All stores and depots in the evacuated places were destroyed."

ITALIAN HEADQUARTERS CAPTURED.

These troops were compelled to fall back along a front almost 125 miles
long and Undine, the Italian headquarters, was captured. Germany had
found the weakest spot in the Italian line and occupied about 1,000
square miles of territory before General Cadorna's forces were able to
establish a line of strong defense.

The retirement of the Italian troops was one of the most picturesque in
the history of the war, and Germany made her gains at terrible cost.

The retirement was accompanied by shielding operations of the rear
guard, which poured a deadly fire into the advancing columns and at the
same time destroyed powder depots, arsenals and bridges with the double
purpose of giving time for the withdrawal of the Italian heavy guns and
of preventing military stores falling into the hands of the enemy.

The Germans encountered stubborn resistance on the Bainsizza plateau,
and heaps of enemy dead marked the lines of their advance. Around Globo
ridge a bersaglieri brigade, outnumbered five to one, held back the
enemy while the main line had an opportunity to get its retreat in
motion. In one of the mountain passes a small village commanding the
pass was taken and retaken eight times during desperate artillery,
infantry and hand-to-hand fighting.

Before the Italians were able to establish a line of resistance they
were compelled to fall back to the Piave, and at some points to a much
greater distance. Meantime the Allies rushed assistance to the retiring
forces, and while the collapse of Cadorna's line was unfortunate, it had
the effect of making it more obvious that there should be more unity of
operation between the Allied forces.

Russia's republic, under the leadership of Premier Kerensky, collapsing
at the same moment, intensified the seriousness of the Allied situation,
and largely at the suggestion of America an Inter-Allied War Council was
f