ng the whole line from
Tolmino to the sea. It was maintained with a regularly quickened
rhythm until the morning of May 14, 1917, when it was intensified to a
powerful drum fire. During the first part of the bombardment the
Austrians reacted but feebly. It seemed as though the Austrians had
been taken by surprise, but their reply was more vigorous on May 13,
1917, and extremely violent on the morning of the 14th. Austrian
batteries then opened a heavy curtain of fire, pouring thousands of
projectiles on the trenches in the Italian line.

Undeterred by this tempest of fire, the Italian infantry, toward noon,
leaped over the parapets and dashed forward toward the objectives
previously assigned. These positions were almost all difficult ones,
and some of them hitherto had been regarded as impregnable; such, for
instance, as the heights on the left bank of the Isonzo, from Plava to
Salcano Pass. The steep slopes, covered with rocks and dotted here and
there with thick clumps of brush, constituted a formidable obstacle to
an infantry advance. Successive lines of trenches, prepared months
before above deep caverns, well supplied with defensive and offensive
material, were defended by seasoned troops and protected by batteries
placed so as to flank attacks with their fire. Notwithstanding these
conditions, the Italian infantry advanced.

This vigorous offensive movement was continued by the Italian troops
on May 15, 1917. Ably supported by artillery, they succeeded in
establishing themselves on the steep and wooded heights along the
eastern bank of the Isonzo, north of Goritz, which had been
transformed by the Austrians into a formidably fortified defensive
position. On the left wing one of the Italian columns, after forcing a
passage across the river between Loga and Bombrez, captured the
last-named village and fortified itself there.

In the center the heights of Hill 383, northeast of Plava, were
captured, while the Florence infantry brigade and the Vaellino
brigade, after taking by assault the villages of Zagora and Zagomila,
which were infested by machine guns, carried the crests of Monte Cucco
and Monte Vodice with great dash.

On the right wing the other Italian columns made considerable progress
on the steep slopes of Monte Santo. Fierce Austrian counterattacks,
prepared and supported by a bombardment of exceptional violence, were
all repulsed.

In the area east of Goritz the Messina brigade conquered Hill 174
n