ty were away preparing the reserve position on San Michele, and we
had hardly any reliefs for the guns. The Major, too, looked very tired
and frayed, but, whenever our eyes met, he gave me a smile of
encouragement and leadership. That evening, during a short break in the
firing, he asked me, since he himself could not leave the Command Post,
to go round and "buck the men up" and thank them on his behalf for the
way in which they had behaved. "So long as the Major's pleased, we're
satisfied," said one man. Another, a Bombardier who afterwards got a
Commission, and had been with Darrell on a reconnaissance on Faiti a few
days before and had nearly been killed on the journey, said, "Well, Sir,
we were thinking of the boys in the Front Line today." And well he
might, for it had been a hellish bombardment up there. After delivering
my message to the men, I walked up and down the road in front of the
guns for a few moments in the short silence, realising how the Alliance
of Britain and Italy was burning itself more deeply than ever into our
hearts in these days of trial.

That night the enemy attacked again, and we lost Faiti and Hill 393, and
had to fire on them. I heard afterwards from the Group that Colonel
Canale, when he gave the order to fire on 393, was almost weeping on the
telephone. Next day we counter-attacked and retook Faiti, but 393
remained in Austrian hands. Rumours and denials of rumours came in from
the north. It was said that we had lost Monte Nero and Caporetto, and
that German Batteries had kept up a high concentration of gas for four
hours on our lines in the Cadore. And we knew that the Italian gas masks
were only guaranteed to last for an hour and a half in such conditions,
and that each man only carried one.

CHAPTER XXI

FROM THE VIPPACCO TO SAN GIORGIO DI NOGARA

On the 27th the rumours became bad. The German advance to the north was
said to be considerable and rapid. Orders came that all the British
Batteries were to pull out and park that night at Villa Viola, behind
Gradisca, "for duty on another part of the Front." Probably, we thought,
we were going north. "The gun concentration up there must be awful,"
said the Major. I told Cotes that we were probably going into the thick
of it, and his eyes shone with pride. He was a fine fellow. That day the
sun was shining, and the Italian planes in this sector seemed to have
regained command of the air. For the moment there was a little lull in
th