from the Trentino indicated an Italian advance on Rovereto in
Tyrol, thirteen miles southwest of Trent, and upon Mori, near by.
Monfalcone was taken by the Italians on June 10--the first serious
blow against Trieste--as Monfalcone is a railway junction and its
electrical works operate the light and power of Trieste. In the
extreme north, on the threshold of the Carnic Alps, after three days'
fighting it was reported on June 10 that the Italians had swept the
Austrians from Monte Croce and possessed themselves of Freikofel. The
Austrian city of Gradisca was reported taken on June 11, as indicated
in an official statement signed by Lieut. Gen. Count Cadorna, Chief of
Staff of the Italian Army. The defenses of Goritz were shelled by the
Italian artillery on June 13, and on June 14 the Italian eastern army
had pushed forward along the Gulf of Trieste toward the town of
Nabresina, nine miles from Trieste.

[Illustration: LIEUT. GEN. COUNT CADORNA

Chief of the Italian General Staff

(_Photo from Paul Thompson_)]

The Italian advance was checked--but not until June 16, more than
three weeks after the beginning of the war--by an elaborate system of
intrenchments prepared by the Austrians along the Isonzo River. On
June 17 the Italians in the Trentino had arrived at the town of Mori,
where their forces were blocked by the fortifications between that
town and Rovereto. On June 18 a dispatch of The Associated Press from
Rome reported that the Austrians had then so strengthened their forces
that they were taking the offensive both from Mori and Rovereto
against the Italians, who were encamped at Brentanico at the foot of
Mount Altissimo, at Serravale, situated in the Lagardina Valley, and
also in the Arsa Valley. Tolmino, on Austria's battlefront to the
north of Goritz, was being heavily fortified by the Austrians with a
garrison of some 30,000 men, this place being considered indispensable
to their operations as the key to the Isonzo Valley. On June 20, the
fourth week of the war, was reported by General Cadorna as marking a
brilliant victory at Plava. But on the following day reports from Rome
indicated that the Italians were encountering strong and
better-organized resistance from the Austrians. On June 22 dispatches
from the Italian front to Berlin declared that serious reverses had
been experienced by the Italians in their attempts to storm the
Austro-Hungarian line along the Isonzo River.

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