nd the Carso, beginning on May 14th, in ten
days achieved more than any onlooker had dared to hope. In the section
between Tolmino and Gorizia where the Isonzo runs in a fine gorge, the
western bank belonging to Italy, and the eastern to Austria, all the
important heights on the eastern bank across the river, except one that
may fall to them any day, have been carried by the superb fighting of
the Italians, amongst whom Dante's fellow citizens, the Florentine
regiment, and regiments drawn from the rich Tuscan hills have specially
distinguished themselves. While on the Carso, that rock-wilderness which
stretches between Gorizia and Trieste, where fighting, especially in hot
weather, supplies a supreme test of human endurance, the Italians have
pushed on and on, from point to point, till now they are within ten
miles of Trieste. British artillery is with the Italian Army, and
British guns have been shelling military quarters and stores in the
outskirts of Trieste, while British monitors are co-operating at sea.
The end is not yet, for the Austrians will fight to their last man for
Trieste; and owing to the Russian situation the Austrians have been able
to draw reinforcements from Galicia, which have seriously stiffened the
task of Italy. But the omens are all good, and the Italian nation is
more solidly behind its army than ever before.

So that in spite of the apparent lull in the Allied offensive on the
French front, during the later weeks of May, all has really been going
well. The only result of the furious German attempts to recover the
ground lost in April has been to exhaust the strength of the attackers;
and the Allied cause is steadily profited thereby. Our own troops have
never been more sure of final victory. Let me quote a soldier's plain
and graphic letter, recently published:

"This break-away from trench war gives us a much better time. We know
now that we are the top dogs, and that we are keeping the Germans on the
move. And they're busy wondering all the time; they don't know where the
next whack is coming from. Mind you, I'm far from saying that we can get
them out of the Hindenburg line without a lot of fighting yet, but it is
only a question of time. It's a different sensation going over the top
now from what it was in the early days. You see, we used to know that
our guns were not nearly so many as the Germans', and that we hadn't the
stuff to put over. Now we just climb out of a trench and walk behin