yards behind the
Austrian front line, but admirably protected by the configuration of the
ground from enemy fire. An Italian drilling machine was at work here,
operated by compressed air, drilling holes in the rock for the insertion
of dynamite charges, and, by means of gradual blasting, gun pits and
cartridge recesses and dug-outs were being created in the stubborn rock.
Here a heavy thunderstorm broke and we sheltered in the Headquarters of
an Italian Field Artillery Brigade, likewise blasted out of the mountain
side. I returned with Venosta. I asked him to show me the famous
Bersagliere trot, and by way of illustration we doubled along the road
for about half a mile. On the British Front the spectacle of two
officers thus disporting themselves for no apparent reason would have
caused much remark and amusement. But the Italians, whom we passed,
seemed to see nothing remarkable in our behaviour. They are, perhaps,
more tolerant of eccentricity than we are.

It may be of interest at this point to say a few words about some of
the special characteristics of the Italian Army. Every modern Army has
adopted a distinctive colour for its war-time uniform, chosen with a
view to minimising visibility. Thus we wear khaki, the French
horizon-blue, the Germans field-grey. The Italians have adopted an olive
colour, commonly spoken of as "grigio-verde," or grey-green.

The various Italian Corps, Regiments and Brigades wear distinctively
coloured collars on their tunics which, except in the case of the
Arditi, fit closely round the neck. For example, the Granatieri, or
Grenadiers, who both in their high physical standards and military
prestige resemble our own Guards Battalions, wear a collar of crimson
and white. The colour of the Artillery is black with a yellow border,
that of the Engineers black with a red border. Of the Infantry, the
Alpini collars are green and the Bersaglieri crimson, the bands of
colour being shaped in each case like sharp-pointed flames turning
outwards. For this reason the Alpini are often called the "fiamme
verdi," or green flames, and the Bersaglieri "fiamme rosse," or red
flames. The Infantry Brigades of the line, who bear local names,--the
Avellino Brigade, the Como Brigade, the Lecce Brigade and so
forth,--have each their distinctively coloured collars.

These local names mean very little, for, as a matter of policy, men from
all parts of Italy are mixed indiscriminately together in each Brigade.
Th