Austria's army and navy were thereafter kept busy trying to hold the
Italians in check. What happened in the fall of 1917 will always be
more or less of a mystery. After two years of the hardest kind of
fighting, during which time the Austrians were being gradually pushed
back until Vienna itself was threatened, there came a retreat, one of
the most disastrous in the annals of war. The Italians lost in two
weeks all that they had gained in two years. Worse still, Italy was
invaded and a considerable area occupied by the Austrian army.
Consternation ensued, the Italian people were dazed. Something had gone
wrong; no one could understand it. But one thing every Italian knew,
and that was that no braver soldiers were to be found in any country,
and that when Italy had time to recover from her surprise Austria would
pay the price.
_How the Italian Army Came Back_
[Illustration: BOOKSTALLS IN ROME