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When Cialdini, at the head of the reorganised Italian army of which he now held the chief command, advanced across the Po to Padua, he found the path practically open. It was still possible for Italy to accomplish two things which would have in a great measure retrieved her prestige. The first was to occupy the Trentino; the second was to destroy the Austrian fleet.
"The initial plan of battle decided upon is to separate the Austrian forces in the Trentino from those on the Piave by a breach at the junction of the Fifth and Sixth Austrian armies.
These attempts were resumed on May 20, 1917, in the Trentino, in the Campo area, in the Daone Valley, southeast of Lake Loppio, at Rio Cameras, in the Adige Valley, and on the Maso Torrent line in the Sugana Valley. Late in the evening masses of Austrian troops vigorously assaulted Italian positions on the Pasubio, west of Monte Dente.
Cadorna, to strike at the coveted city of Trieste, twenty-two miles to the southeast. With the capture of the "keystone" at Goritz, the Italian commander confidently expected the resistance of the Austrians to weaken and looked forward to the early occupation of the coveted provinces of the Trentino.
They yielded, however, hardly ever results of any importance and had practically no influence on the relative positions of the Austrians and Italians. Italian attacks south of Salcano and west of Lokvicza were equally unsuccessful. Especially heavy artillery engagements occurred on that day on the Trentino front and along the coast of the Gulf of Trieste near Monte Santo.
A special correspondent of the London "Times" describes the fighting around Monte Pasubio in the Trentino, which has already been mentioned in the preceding pages, as follows: "When the tide of the Austrian invasion rolled back at the end of June, 1916, its margin became fixed on the crest of the Pasubio, an enormous and irregular group of mountains, of which the Italians remained in possession of the highest peak, but all the northern summits and the top of the whole central ridge called the Cosmagnon Alps remained to the enemy.
At one point a bombardment of the Austrian lines resulted in a small ammunition dump being blown up. On the Trentino front even the artillery was handicapped by snowfall on February 3, 1917. In the upper Comelico Valley Italian troops repulsed a surprise attack. On the Julian front there was the usual artillery firing.
In the Posina Valley, at Astico, in the Plezza sector, before Sagora, and in the vicinity of Boscomalo and Hudilog, the activity of Italian reconnoitering patrols led to minor skirmishes. During the next few days there were desultory artillery actions in the Trentino. Italian batteries shelled Austrian positions on Monte Creino and dispersed supply columns on the northern slopes of Monte Pasubio.
We know more or less what will happen to Alsace and Lorraine, to Belgium, to the Trentino, because in those cases the claims of one or other of our Allies to demand a particular settlement are quite certain to be agreed to by those not so immediately and vitally concerned.
Detachments of Italian infantry on March 2, 1917, successfully raided Austrian trenches at different points, destroyed defensive works, and captured ammunition and other war material. Austrian patrols made several similar raids. On March 4, 1917, artillery activity increased noticeably on the Trentino front from the Travignola Valley to the upper Cordevole.
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