July 7. I thought it was much more difficult to become accustomed to
joys than to sorrows. All the happenings of those recent days seemed so
great, so incommensurable, so complete, that even though I had always
had faith in the future of our arms, yet my expectations had been truly
surpassed. After the complete failure of the Austrian offensive, after
the situation had assumed the same status as before the offensive, I
did not dare hope for more. But now reports reached me of our
counter-offensive.
The conduct of the enemy after his complete failure was really
impressive. I saw despairing soldiers with the same lost, wondering
look in their eyes as I saw in the eyes of our soldiers during the
period of Caporetto. I heard it said that several Austrian officers had
wept with rage, for they asserted that this was the first great
offensive which Austria had really lost.
The reports sent to me by Brunora were truly comforting. The Austrians
had lost more then 250,000 men, including dead, wounded and missing,
and as though this were not enough, on this day I was able to read a
report sent down to the population from the aeroplanes:
“All the region between the old Piave and the new Piave has been
reconquered and, furthermore, since the fifteenth of June we have
taken 24,000 prisoners, 63 cannon with a great deal of material and
have also recaptured our guns which were in the advanced zone and
which had to be abandoned during the early phases of the struggle.
The side thrust, the terrible salient which menaced Venice exists
no more. Venice is safe forever!”
My joy reached its culmination at the news of this counter-offensive;
certainly it was attempted also because of the information given in all
my pigeon messages. I had given them detailed information concerning
the losses suffered by eighteen enemy divisions which could no longer
be considered efficient; I told them of the exhaustion of forces on the
lower Piave thus inviting our forces to attempt a counter-offensive if
the condition of our army and that of the Allies permitted it.
Everything had happened as I had foreseen, it had all ended in a
victory which, if not decisive, had enabled us to take a great step
forward towards the final solution, towards the end of the war. I had
not even noticed that our aeroplanes had not come to fetch me as they
had promised.
The long journey I had to take to arrive at the field of Praterie
Forcate on the evening of the twenty-sixth did not seem long to me for
I carried the joy of victory in my heart. I was not at all disappointed
that I did not see the “Voisin” land, in fact, I felt pleased, for I
believed my presence might still be useful on the enemy side of the
lines.
It was really diverting to read the comments in the Austrian newspapers
on the failure of the Piave offensive. The _Gazetta del Veneto_ said
that events had followed exactly their outlined plans, that the aim of
the offensive was not absolutely to break through the line, but to
compel all the Italian troops to congregate on their front so that no
reinforcements might be sent to the French that the Germans might
thereby be enabled to obtain decisive results. These decisive results,
however, had still to come to pass. The _Alkotmany_ of Budapest found
solace in the fact that the Austrian command had been more considerate
of the safety of the troops than of gaining tactical points. The _Az
Uisag_ said that while the Italians had used their reserves, the
Austrians still held theirs intact. The _Pesti Naplo_ wrote, “Our
infantry did its best to try to achieve brilliant successes during the
first days, but if the Italian artillery bombarded all our bridges and
so made it impossible to send reinforcements of munition and food and
heavy artillery, it certainly is not the fault of the Magyar troops.”
Truly elegiac is the tone with which the _Budapesti Hirlap_ described
the battle of the Montello: “Among the precipices of the Montello the
horrors of the battle of Doberdó were renewed; there were Italian
mortars of 40 cm., fire hurlers, heavy grenades, and above reappeared
the reckless Italian aviators from whom it was impossible to find a
refuge in the cruel ground.” The Italian aviators did not “re-appear,”
they have always been active and the Austrian aviators, who at the time
of Caporetto tried to be audacious, know something of the result of
their activities.
But beside all these more or less ridiculous phrases which tried to
hide the failure of the offensive, there was in the Hungarian press a
strong resentment against the leaders who did not know how to lead the
troops to the coveted victory, and all the factions which for the time
being had been quieted in the hope of a decisive action, resumed their
wrangling in tones more threatening than formerly.
The great work of cleaning up was in full blast. All the troops,
especially those who had been put to the hardest test, were sent to
regions far from the front to receive auxiliary forces and to renew
their supplies of arms and equipment. Therefore, even the region we
were living in, which at first was so calm, was now often traversed by
soldiers who came to the woods to cut grass for their horses. Near
Fregona artillery regiments which expected to be sent to France were
stationed. According to the latest reports it seemed that five Austrian
divisions would be sent to the French front. I reported this also to
our command and as I did not know whether they had received my pigeon
messages I wanted to try to find out. In my last message I had asked
that our next plane coming to photograph the signals, fire as many
shots as the number of pigeons received. Great was my satisfaction when
the plane which came to photograph my signals (calm on all the front),
fired five shots, indicating that they had received five pigeons. This
was excellent news and I wished I might decorate the brave little
creatures which had fulfilled their duty so well.
Important changes had occurred in our daily life. For several days now
we had ceased to live in the little stable which sheltered us for more
than a month and pitched our tent on the other side of the hill near
the house of a poor woman who had assumed the task of feeding us. This
change was instigated by the arrival of many soldiers in our region.
The house of the Toneli which was near the road was not well-suited for
sheltering us. Furthermore, after having been for so long in one place
it was better to make a change so as not to make our presence too
noticeable. The poor woman whose name was Maria de Luca and whose
progeny was abundant, willingly prepared our frugal repast, and we
gained a point because in this way we now ate warm meals. At night we
slept in a little hut covered with straw which was well-concealed in a
field of wheat surrounded by several rows of grape-vines. However,
affairs in general were becoming more complicated and even Brunora
reported that in these days the surveillance had greatly increased,
because in the first place many of the gendarmes who were at the front
with the troops had returned; secondly, because there were many
deserters about, and finally because it seemed as if the Austrians were
beginning to suspect something and to attribute the failure of their
offensive to the presence of a spy in their territory. They had found
several pigeons and had posted a notice at Vittorio announcing that
whoever found a pigeon must bring it at once to the command and anyone
found despatching a bird would be shot. Searches in the vicarages had
been begun under the pretext of looking for precious metals. The
gendarmes hoped to find through them some clue to the ramifications of
the spy-work they suspected was being carried on in their midst. The
pastor of Castel Roganziol whom I did not know at all had been
arrested, and it was said he had been transported to the interior of
Austria. Nevertheless I continued to wander about and now that I knew
well the habits of the invading army I increased the number of my
peregrinations and wandered far with Rino, because my soldier,
especially on account of his youthful appearance, preferred to remain
hidden.
In one of these trips I went as far as Cimetta, where my father owns
vast tracts of land, and for a day I was the guest of the peasants
there who greeted me cordially and with great hospitality. The meeting
with old Tomasella, who was almost eighty years old, and who still
remembered my great grandfather was really touching. Not to arouse
suspicion and that the women might not learn of my presence, I stopped
in a wheat-field near the house of our planters. The sun was high in
the heavens and its burning rays gave life to the country and tinged
with red the wheat in the fast ripening fields.
The old man had come to meet me at a spot whither one of his sons had
escorted me. He leaned heavily on a stick and I found him completely
changed; the strong man I knew formerly had been reduced to a truly
pitiful condition by a few months of privation. When he saw me he took
off his hat and embraced me. Out of respect for his venerable old-age I
also removed my hat and kissed him with great feeling while several
tears slowly streaked the bronzed cheeks of two other men who witnessed
the scene.
“Make haste and return here, else I cannot hope to see you ever again.
I shall die peacefully on the day that I know I shall die Italian.”
I started on my return journey and along the road I passed several
Austrian aviation camps, among them the one in San Fior where the
chasing machines were concentrated. Several “D-5’s” were practicing
firing; they would make a few rapid evolutions and then volplane,
directing their volley against a target. Perhaps the Austrians,
anticipating an Italian counter-offensive and having realized the
utility of their aviation branch in warfare through the heavy losses
they had suffered at the hands of our airmen, were trying to prepare
this weapon for use in future contingencies. The Austrians however, did
not realize that the fault lay not in their machines but in their men.
I spoke several times, to the great terror of Bottecchia, who feared I
was too hazardous, with Austrian soldiers I met in the woods. I adopted
the theory that the best way in which not to arouse suspicion, and to
avoid being seized, was to play one’s cards with audacity. For
instance, at times when I must cross a district in which I feared to
meet gendarmes, I waited for a military wagon with some kind-hearted
driver, preferably an old soldier, and I asked him if I might ride with
him. Usually he offered no objection and so I was certain to be safe
because the gendarmes would not dream of arresting a man who was with
one of their soldiers. To gain the good graces of the soldiers and to
commence a conversation I asked them for a bit of tobacco and exchanged
some flour for it. They were usually well pleased with this barter and
so they adopted a rather friendly, confidential, tone and told me their
feelings and opinions. I spoke to them in German which, I told them, I
learnt during the many years I worked in Prussia as a mason, as might
be true of many of our mountaineers. They spoke sincerely with me, but
when their army was mentioned, even though they were not very
enthusiastic about the war, they hid their true feelings and
opinions, prompted by shame and a sense of discipline. The different
nationalities which compose the Austro-Hungarian army mutually hated
one another. An intelligent soldier explained to me that what we
considered the weakness of the Austro-Hungarian army was really its
strength, because the government, by taking advantage of the schisms
and divergences, applied with excellent results the old system of
“Divide at Impera.” For example, when a Bohemian regiment revolted, and
in these times mutinies were frequent, it was easy to find a Hungarian
regiment eager to fire on the rebels. With the exception of the few
Italians, all the other peoples of the vast empire were united by their
great sentiment of devotion towards the House of Hapsburg. For example,
once on meeting a group of Slovene soldiers who seemed unusually
hilarious and joyous, I stopped them on some pretext and asked them the
reason for their unbounded glee, and one of them answered they had just
seen the Emperor, their Charles; that he had stopped and spoken
familiarly with them, and that they had been able to express all their
reverence for him by repeating the word, “servus-servus.”
The soldiers of the Austro-Hungarian army were very badly informed on
military matters and when they asserted one thing, the very opposite
was sure to occur. For instance, they now assured me that the places of
Austrian divisions, which were leaving for the French front, would be
taken by German troops, whereas, I was certain from reports received
from Brunora that the condition of the Germans would not permit them to
send a single man to our front.
I was now beginning to believe that my presence in enemy territory was
commencing to be useless. I was convinced that the conditions of the
Austrian army were such as would not permit of another offensive for a
long time; in fact, I was certain that they would never again be able
to attempt a heavy offensive and that hereinafter their program would
have to be limited to defensive warfare for the protection of the
boundaries of the empire.
I learned of great fortification works which were being constructed on
the Tagliamento and from several prisoners who worked recently on the
Carso I heard that the majority of the artillery which took part in the
last move had been sent back to be stationed beyond the Isonzo in view
of a possible future offensive by our forces.
Lately, in Brunora’s messages I had read a certain fear, not so much
for the military situation, as for our personal safety. He told me that
from certain circumstances which he could not yet explain and which
perhaps were not yet ripe he inferred it was very dangerous for us to
delay much longer in enemy territory. He therefore advised me to hasten
my preparations for arriving on the other side even without the help of
aeroplanes. Brunora told me that he knew the surveillance on the Piave
near Vidor had been so reduced that several prisoners succeeded in
crossing to the other side. The river there is so broad and shallow
that it is easily waded. Furthermore, our supply of food which, during
the first days of our stay was abundant, had gradually decreased and
all those who at first helped us in the belief that our stop would be
very brief, now found they could not continue to give us aid. Our
supply of money had also decreased and I had had to send to my agent at
Vittorio for funds. However, all he sent me was a few crowns and a
great many Venetian bank notes, issued by the Austrians but considered
worthless by the population. For all these reasons it was no longer
possible for us to remain in this region and it seemed well for us to
try to escape in the direction indicated by Brunora. I had found out
that in the region about Vidor, in many wheat-fields which had been
sown before the retreat, the grain was now ripe. I had further learnt
that the Austrian authorities, cognizant of the terrible condition of
the people in the invaded territories because of the depleted food
stocks, had at times stretched a point and permitted the refugees from
those districts to return and reap the wheat. Therefore, I did not see
why we might not venture so far. Not to arouse suspicion, it seemed
well to have some refugee from those districts to act as our guide. In
the very house in which they now prepared our meals there were refugees
who used to live in the region about Vidor before the retreat, and
several of the women were eager to attempt a return in the hope that
they might bring back with them something to eat for the nestful of
hungry children they had to feed.