TRANSCRIBER’S NOTE
Italic text is denoted by _underscores_.
There is only one Footnote in this book, on page 166. This Footnote
has been moved and placed directly under the paragraph that has its
anchor [A].
Some minor changes to the text are noted at the end of the book.
SIX MONTHS ON THE ITALIAN FRONT
WORKS BY THE SAME AUTHOR
FROM THE ARCTIC OCEAN TO THE YELLOW SEA
THE LAND OF GOLD
FROM EUSTON TO KLONDIKE
DAME FASHION
MY BOHEMIAN DAYS IN PARIS
MY BOHEMIAN DAYS IN LONDON
[Illustration: _The Author in San Martino del Carso._
_From a snapshot by Robert Vaucher._
_Correspondent of the Paris L’Illustration._]
SIX MONTHS ON
THE ITALIAN FRONT
_From the Stelvio to the Adriatic_
1915-1916
By
Julius M. Price
_War-Artist Correspondent of the
“Illustrated London News”_
NEW YORK
E. P. DUTTON & COMPANY
681 FIFTH AVENUE
1917
PRINTED IN GREAT BRITAIN BY
THE WESTMINSTER PRESS
411A HARROW ROAD
LONDON W
TO THE ITALIAN MILITARY AUTHORITIES
in recognition of the courtesy and many kindnesses
extended to me during my six months’ work with the
glorious Army of Italy.
NOTE
I am indebted to the Directors of the _Illustrated London News_ for
their kind permission to reproduce in this book the sketches and
drawings I made for them whilst on the Italian Front, a great many of
which have already been published.
PREFACE
As the reader will discover for himself, I have no pretensions
to pose as a Military Expert. This book is the result of a few
hasty impressions gathered over a period which, with all its minor
inconveniences and little daily worries, I look back upon as among
the happiest and best filled of a somewhat varied career. I have
not yielded to the temptation to be interesting at the expense of
veracity; to that fact the indulgent reader will, I trust, attribute
many of the dull pages. If in the latter half of the book I have laid
particular stress on the operations leading up to and culminating in
the capture of Gorizia, I hope I may be forgiven, as I had the good
luck to be the only foreign correspondent on the spot at these scenes
of History-making. In my dedication I have paid a humble tribute
to the many kindnesses I received at the hands of the Military
Authorities, from His Excellency General Cadorna downwards. I can
only repeat it here.
JULIUS M. PRICE.
21, Golden Square,
London, W.
_January, 1917._
CONTENTS
CHAPTER I: PAGE
Marching orders—I leave for Rome—Paris via Folkestone and Boulogne
in war time—My campaigning kit—The war-correspondent’s list—Quaint
item—Travelling “light”—A box of choice Havanas—Boulogne to
Paris; well-intentioned ladies and their “Woodbines”—The one and
only cigarette—Paris to Turin—Curious order on train—Method and
prescience—Few soldiers on route—Arrival in Rome—A cheap room—No
sign of excitement in streets—23rd May—Excitability of the Italian
no longer noticeable—Rome unruffled—The declaration of war—On the
Corso Umberto that evening—The Café Aragno—National stoicism—The
DAY—Business as usual—The general mobilisation—A triumph of
organization—At the War Office 3