without bayonet 8 pounds 6 ounces, and was
sighted up to 2,200 yards. The outbreak of the war found a process of
rearmament going on in the artillery. Italy at that time had no
adequate siege train and her heaviest mobile weapons were
210-millimeter howitzers and 149-millimeter guns. While the details of
the final artillery equipment were not made public by the War
Department, events showed that the Italians were well supplied with
modern guns of both medium and heavy caliber. The mountain artillery,
of which there were thirty-nine batteries, was especially efficient,
not only in guns, but in men and transport animals. It was said that
the Italian artillery mules could drag a gun wherever there was room
for its emplacement.

Italy was one of the first countries to use aeroplanes in war, and her
aviation corps had had experience in Tripoli. Although handicapped by
lack of money, the Italian military aviators were well abreast of
their opponents, at least in the theoretical and mechanical
development of the science. During the winter of 1914 a considerable
increase was made in the personnel of the corps and in the number of
machines.

There is reason to believe that at the beginning of the war the
Italian soldier was not highly regarded by Austrian and German
military authorities. As a whole the army's reputation had been
injured by the Adowa disaster and by the slowness of the campaign in
Tripoli. But the developments of actual warfare in the spring and
summer of 1915 proved that Italian apologists were correct in their
claim that in the former war the army was handicapped by political
causes. Physically the Italian troops were equal to any in Europe. The
Alpini were perhaps the best mountain soldiers in the world. The
Italian soldier is not impressive as to stature, but he is tough and
enduring. He is cheerful and obedient under discipline and hardship,
and the relations between officers and men were such as to produce the
best results in a hard campaign.

All these qualities were requisite for the difficult task to which
General Cadorna now turned his first line troops, numbering about
700,000 men. To oppose this advance the Austrians mustered on the
frontier about half that number. General von Hofer was chief of staff
under Archduke Eugene and General Dankl was in command in the Tyrol.

Two reasons have been advanced to explain the succession of small
victories with which the Italians opened their campaign. The f