were not kept long in
suspense as to where this thrust from the north first would come.

On May 29, 1915, under cover of a heavy fog, the Austrians
concentrated a strong force from Villach, brought them to Mauthen, and
from that point launched five successive attacks in an effort to win
back the pass of Monte Croce in the Carnic Alps. The Alpini met the
attacks with musketry and machine-gun fire, then, after the last
attempt had failed, leaped from their trenches and drove the Austrians
down the valley.

Thus began the battle of Monte Croce, an engagement described in the
official bulletins of both countries in a way that gave the world its
first intimation of the peculiar features of this mountain warfare.
Each side had large reserves, and the struggle for the pass continued
day and night, the Italians pushing over the neighboring passes and
gathering their strength for a counterattack when the Austrians were
exhausted.

On June 8, 1915, the Italians stormed Freikofel, a height commanding
the Plocken Plateau, and took the Pass of Valentina and the Pass of
Oregione, 7,500 feet high, and overlooking the wooded valley of Gail.
The Alpini won Oregione by climbing through ice and snow over Paralba
Mountain and fighting their way downward. Undaunted, General Dankl
called up a fresh corps.

On the night of June 14, 1915, the Austrians made a supreme effort to
break through the Italian line and put into effect his plan of pouring
an army through the Carnic Alps to attack the flank of the main
Italian army. Although 100,000 men were engaged in this battle, the
ground permitted no massed movements. For miles the saddle of
Oregione, the snow-clad sides of Paralba, and every smaller peak and
ravine extending to Monte Croce and Freikofel were speckled with
fighting men. After the two sides came to grips, the big guns held
their fire, and it was man to man and bayonet against bayonet. At one
point only did the Austrian thrust reach Italian soil. For a short
time the Austrians were on Paralba at an elevation of 8,840 feet, but
threatened both in the flank and in the rear they were forced to
retreat and take refuge in their prepared positions on Steinwand, a
huge limestone mountain overlooking the Gail Valley.

The strategic idea of General Cadorna is more easily understood when
one studies the railway map of the Austrian territory north of the
Carnic border. Here their railway line through the Drave Valley passed
closer to th