Six months on the Italian front

Chapter 3: CHAPTER I

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About This Book

A war-artist correspondent records six months spent with the Italian army at the front, blending travel notes, illustrated sketches, and immediate battlefield reportage. He describes movement from major cities to frontline towns, dealings with military authorities and press censorship, everyday life under mobilisation, the challenges of mountain and Adriatic sectors, aerial raids on urban centres, and the logistical and tactical preparations that preceded assaults culminating in the capture of Gorizia. The narrative interweaves descriptive vignettes of trenches, troop movements, medical and supply work, and portraits of leadership and soldiery, offering vivid, on-the-spot impressions rather than technical strategic analysis.

CHAPTER I

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.