An Austro-Hungarian offensive around the Asiago plateau has been going on since 15 May and the enemy has had great success, at least by comparison with the fruitless pushes by the Italian army over on the Isonzo. Unless the Italians succeed in stopping them they will reach the lowlands and will then be in a position to carry on to the coast, to Venice. It is only about twenty miles to Vicenza. The Alpini battalion Paolo Monelli belongs to has been on Monte Cima for some days and they have occasionally come under artillery fire. But what is happening? And why?Monelli and the rest of them are not receiving any news but they are still trying to understand what is going on, trying to read the signs—and the signs they can find are anything but good. Their own artillery is becoming ever weaker and yesterday evening the last guns in their sector—a battery of light mountain cannon—disappeared. Worse still is the fact that the noise of battle, explosions and muzzle-flashes, slowly moved closer to them and then went past them.
What do You think about The Beauty And The Sorrow?
