the world some way behind.]

We turned out of view of the plain over undulating snow fields and down
a long valley and came out on a small plateau, screened by a gradual
ridge from the eyes of the enemy. Here we provisionally chose a Battery
position close to a small solitary house, known as Casa Girardi, on the
edge of a pine wood. All round Italian guns were firing in the snow. We
went on to Col. d'Astiago, which would be our probable O.P. The summit
commanded a wonderful view of the high mountains to the northward,
Longara and Fior, Columbara and Meletta di Gallio, and the sheer rock
face of the Brenta gorge, and the stream far below, and the great mass
of the Grappa rising beyond.

As we came down, lorry loads of Italian troops passed us going up,
Alpini, Bersaglieri, Arditi and men of the 152nd Infantry Regiment. They
cheered us wildly as they passed, waving their caps and crying, "Avanti!
Avanti! Viva l'Inghilterra! Viva gli Alleati!" And as the string of
lorries turned round and round the spiral curves of the road, now high
above us, they were cheering and waving still, until they disappeared
from view.

* * * * *

The Battery ate their Christmas dinner at San Martino, though the air
had been thick with talk of an immediate move. On this, as on other,
occasions the Major made an excellent speech, in the course of which he
said: "You will be going very soon into a place where, before this war,
no one would have dreamed that Siege Artillery could go. You were the
first British Battery to be in action in Italy, and you will probably be
the first British Battery to be in action in the Alps. We shall be very
uncomfortable, at any rate for a time, but we shall pull through all
right, as we always have before. It will be an honour to be proud of,
and an experience to remember for the rest of our lives. And I know that
whatever happens to us in this coming year, you will all behave as
splendidly in the future as you have always done in the past."

The enemy was doing a good deal of night bombing at this period. Treviso
and Padua were attacked with great persistency, so much so that the
British G.H.Q. decided to move from the latter city to some smaller and
more peaceful place. We used to hear the bombing planes coming over
nearly every night and explosions more or less distant. They bombed
Bassano, Cittadella and Castelfranco, the latter especially because the
French had their Headquar