if possible,
of destroying men and guns completely, or, failing in that, at least to
render it untenable for the reserves who would try to rally to its
defense.

[Sidenote: The Alpino thoroughly dependable.]

"We had the position ranged to an inch, and so, fortunately, lost no
time in 'feeling' for it. This, with the surprise incident to it, was
perhaps the principal element in our success; for the plan--at least so
far as _taking_ the summit was concerned--worked out quite as perfectly
in action as upon paper. That is the great satisfaction of working with
the Alpino, by the way: he is so sure, so dependable, that the 'human
fallibility' element in a plan (always the most uncertain quantity) is
practically eliminated.

[Sidenote: Alpini scale the cliff.]

"It is almost certain that our sudden gust of concentrated gunfire
snuffed out the lives of all the men in the machine-gun post before
they had time to send word of our developing infantry attack to the
reserves in the gallery below. At any rate, these latter made no attempt
whatever to swarm up to the defense of the crest, even after our
artillery fire ceased. The consequence was that the 120 Alpini I sent to
scale the cliff reached the top with only three casualties, these
probably caused by rolling rocks or flying rock fragments. The Austrians
in their big 'funk-hole' were taken completely by surprise, and 130 of
them fell prisoners to considerably less than that number of Italians.
The rest of the 200 escaped or were killed in their flight.

[Sidenote: Difficulties of holding the summit.]

[Sidenote: An Austrian counter-attack.]

"So far it was so good; but, unfortunately, taking the summit and
holding it were two entirely different matters. No sooner did the
Austrians discover what had happened than they opened on the summit with
all their available artillery. We have since ascertained that the fire
of 120 guns was concentrated upon a space of 100 by 150 metres which
offered the only approach to cover that the barren summit afforded.
Fifty of my men, finding shelter in the lee of rocky ledges, remained
right out on the summit; the others crept over the edge of the cliff and
held on by their fingers and toes. Not a man of them sought safety by
flight, though a retirement would have been quite justified, considering
what a hell the Austrians' guns were making of the summit. The enemy
counter-attacked at nightfall, but despite superior numbers and the
almo