n Austrian hands. It had been taken
last November in the mountain offensive which followed Caporetto. At one
perilous moment the Austrians had held San Sisto and their patrols had
passed Pria dell' Acqua, but they had been thrown back by Italian
counter-attacks to the line they now held. Our front line ran along the
southern edge of the Plateau, and, on the right, along the lower slopes
of the southern ridge, just inside the pine woods. On the left, further
west, it ran mostly on the flat and more in the open. Where the Val
d'Assa turned west, our front line ran on one side of the shallow gulley
and the Austrian on the other. The Austrian front line was completely in
the open. The first houses of Asiago were only a few hundred yards
behind it.

From the defensive point of view our line was very strong, and the
trenches, particularly at the eastern end, very good, deeply blasted in
the rock. The wooded ridge, running close behind our front line all the
way, completely hid from the enemy all movement in our rear. He could
get no observation here except by aircraft. Even movements in our front
line, owing to the trees, were largely invisible at a distance, and,
owing to the lie of the ground, large parts of No Man's Land could be
seen from our own trenches, but from nowhere in the enemy's lines, with
the result that we were able to post machine guns, trench mortars and
even, for a short time, a field battery there, without being detected,
until these weapons had served their immediate purpose. Our systems of
transport, supply and reliefs of the troops in the line could,
therefore, be carried out at any hour of the day or night with almost
complete disregard of the enemy. His intermittent shelling of the roads
was perfectly blind and haphazard and seldom did us any damage.

He, on the other hand, was in a very undesirable situation. Not only was
his front line all the way in full view from our various ground O.P.'s,
but a long stretch of flat country several miles broad behind his front
line was equally in view. Only a few small folds in the ground were
invisible from all points along our ridge. We could see also most of the
nearer slopes of the northern ridge, though here the thick woods and
breaks in the hillside gave him greater opportunities for concealment.
Taking into account, therefore, ground observation only, we had him at a
tremendous disadvantage. He dared not move nor show himself in daylight
behind his line, a