ting was, it was so only because it
exerted practically no influence on the general situation. On the
other hand, it was carried on with the greatest display of valor and
persistence that can be imagined and, because of the very nature of
the ground on which it occurred, it forms one of the most spectacular
periods of the war on the Austro-Italian front.

Of these many local operations there were only a few which developed
to such an extent that they need to be mentioned specifically.

One of these was a series of engagements in the Ledro Valley,
southwest of Riva and west of Lake Garda. There the Italians on April
11, 1916, by systematic offensive actions, pushed their occupation of
the heights north of Rio Tonale, between Concei Valley and Lake Garda.
Efficaciously supported by their artillery, their infantry carried
with the bayonet a strong line of intrenchments and redoubts along the
southern slopes of Monte Pari Cimadoro and the crags of Monte Sperone.
On the following day, however, April 12, 1916, the Austro-Hungarians,
by violent surprise attacks, succeeded in rushing a part of the
trenches taken by the Italians at Monte Sperone. In the evening,
after an intense preparation by artillery, Italian infantry
counterattacked, reoccupying the lost positions, after a deadly
hand-to-hand struggle and extending their occupation to the slopes of
Monte Sperone. This was followed by a still further extension on April
16, 1916.

Much of the fighting involved positions on mountain peaks of great
height, creating difficulties for both the attacker and the defender,
which at first glance appeared to be almost insurmountable. Of this
type of warfare in the high mountains, the special correspondent of
the London "Times" gives the following vivid description:

"The Italian dispositions are very complete, and it is at this point
necessary to say a few words upon Alpini warfare, which the Italians
have brought to such a pitch of perfection. They are not the only
mountaineers in the world, nor the only people to possess warriors
famous on the hillside, but they were the first people in Europe,
except the Swiss, to organize mountain warfare scientifically, and in
their Alpine groups they possess a force unrivaled for combat in the
higher mountains. The Alpini are individualists who think and act for
themselves and so can fight for themselves. They are the cream of the
army.

"Locally recruited, they know every track and cranny o