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Hilaire Belloc, and some special correspondents of the London "Times" give a most vivid picture of actual conditions in the Austro-Italian mountains in war times.
As a necessity of practical politics, therefore, there emerged the Austro-Italian policy of an independent Albania.
The German is proud of Vienna, yes; but the Czech looks to Prague, the Pole to Cracow, the Austro-Italian swears by Trieste." He also complained that there is rather a tendency to think of Hungary as subject to Austria, instead of an associated state; and that this tendency is fomented by the Austrian papers, whose references to Hungary insinuate this conception.
There was on the Isonzo front, however, an absence of the horrors of war in the shape of devastated towns, villages, and countryside, with which the world has become familiar in illustrations from Belgium and northern France. Over no field of operations was the veil of official secrecy more securely held than over the events proceeding on the Austro-Italian front.
Occasional attempts on the part of the Italians to push their lines still farther had little success. Equally unsuccessful were Austrian endeavors to regain some of the lost ground. On the balance of the Austro-Italian front there was a great deal of local fighting in the various mountain ranges. With the beginning of November, 1916, the Italians once more resumed their drive against Trieste.
This was roughly the position from the military point of view on the various Austro-Italian fronts toward the close of the year, when the obstacles facing the Italian forces began to be appreciated by the outside world.
Nothing of any importance occurred anywhere on the Austro-Italian front during the last few days of March, 1917. April brought somewhat warmer weather, resulting in the beginning of the spring thaws. This made military operations even more difficult and brought about a very noticeable reduction in all activities on both sides.
Italy refused, alleging that, as Servia was not guilty of aggression, the Austro-Italian Alliance did not hold good for such a venture. Germany also refused the Austrian offer why is not clear. Austria was annoyed with the gains of Servia in the Peace of Bukharest, for which Kaiser William was largely responsible. Probably, then, they differed as to some of the details of the Balkan settlement.
There was fighting up the street of the village, and a struggle in the space where Rinaldo had fallen; successive yellowish shots under the rising moonlight, cries from Italian lips, quick words of command from German in Italian, and one sturdy bull's roar of a voice that called across the tumult to the Austro-Italian soldiery, "Venite fratelli! come, brothers, come under our banner!"
Beyond that neither side attempted anything of importance, though here and there small engagements resulted in slight adjustments of the respective lines. On the other parts of the Austro-Italian front much the same condition prevailed during all of November, 1916; indeed even artillery activity was frequently interrupted for days by the severity of the weather.
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