certing effect, in that their fire has reached
far behind the Italian lines at intervals between the attacks, firing
shots at random which did little actual damage, but gave the
impression of continued advance. With the front of this battle line
extending now to a length of twenty-two miles, the artillery of the
enemy works out at nearly 100 pieces to the mile, or one gun every
twenty yards.

"The shells fired by this artillery are of excellent workmanship. I
have on my table as I write a fragment of a 10-inch shell which I
picked up here. It is rent in deep fissures, which would prove,
according to competent authority, that the explosive materials used
are good. 'The Austrians fired away all their bad shells during
preliminary actions,' was the comment of a young staff officer who is
in the habit of recording the efficiency of enemy shells. But it is
quantity as well as quality which the enemy is relying upon.

"'Twenty thousand shells were fired against my position the first two
days of the engagement,' an Alpini major, commanding a small knoll,
remarked to me. Using this as a basis, it would not be far from the
truth to assert that over 1,000,000 shells have been fired by the
enemy in the present battle, and there is as yet no slackening of
effort.

"And the troops? This morning a group of some 250 Austrians, taken
during the action last night, are in this village. They are divided in
squads of twenty-five, each in charge of an Austrian noncommissioned
officer. The men had had six hours' rest before I saw them. These
prisoners are Rumanians from Transylvania. They are young, well-set-up
troops. They are naturally glad to be prisoners, though their captors
tell me that they fought valiantly. The equipment of these men is new,
and I was struck by the excellent quality of their boots; high, new
leather, thick mountain boots. In fact, all their leather
accouterments are new, and of good leather. Their uniforms are in many
cases of heavy cotton twill, very tough, and resisting the hard
mountain fighting better than the usual cloth uniform. Nearly every
man has an overcoat, which is of stout new cloth. Only five or six of
the men are without caps. None have helmets of any kind, but all wear
the soft cap with ear flaps tied back. According to answers given to
the interpreter, they are of the class of 1915, and have seen fighting
in Galicia.

[Illustration: Detail of Austrian Offensive, May, 1916.]

"Asked about their