With British Guns in Italy

With British Guns in Italy

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Title: With British Guns in Italy A Tribute to Italian Achievement
Author: Hugh Dalton
Release Date: November 17, 2003 [EBook #10107]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
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BRITISH GUNS IN ITALY ***

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WITH BRITISH GUNS IN ITALY A TRIBUTE TO ITALIAN
ACHIEVEMENT
BY
HUGH DALTON

SOMETIME LIEUTENANT IN THE ROYAL GARRISON
ARTILLERY
WITH 12 ILLUSTRATIONS AND 3 MAPS
First Published in 1919
TO THE HIGH CAUSE OF ANGLO-ITALIAN FRIENDSHIP AND
UNDERSTANDING
"Nella primavera si combatte e si muore, o soldato."
M. PUCCINI, Dal Carso al Piave.
"So they gave their bodies to the commonwealth and received, each for
his own memory, praise that will never die, and with it the grandest of
all sepulchres; not that in which their mortal bones are laid, but a home
in the minds of men, where their glory remains fresh to stir to speech or
action as the occasion comes by. For the whole earth is the sepulchre of
famous men; and their story is not graven only on stone over their
native earth, but lives on far away, without visible symbol, woven into
the stuff of other men's lives."
Funeral Speech of Pericles.
"Dying here is not death; it is flying into the dawn."
MEREDITH, Vittoria.

PREFACE
So far as I know, no British soldier who served on the Italian Front has
yet published a book about his experiences. Ten British Batteries went
to Italy in the spring of 1917 and passed through memorable days. But
their story has not yet been told. Nor, except in the language of official
dispatches, has that of the British Divisions which went to Italy six
months later, some of which remained and took part in the final and

decisive phases of the war against Austria. Something more should
soon be written concerning the doings of the British troops in Italy, for
they deserve to stand out clearly in the history of the war.
This little book of mine is only an account, more or less in the form of
a Diary, of what one British soldier saw and felt, who served for
eighteen months on the Italian Front as a Subaltern officer in a Siege
Battery. But it was my luck to see a good deal during that time. Mine
had been the first British Battery to come into action and open fire on
the Italian Front. And, as my story will show, it was either the first or
among the first on most other important occasions, except in the
Caporetto retreat, and then it was the last.
I have camouflaged the names of all persons mentioned throughout the
book, except those of Cabinet Ministers, Generals and a few other
notabilities.
For permission to reproduce photographs, I wish to thank the
representatives in London of the Italian State Railways (12 Waterloo
Place, S.W.), and my friend and brother officer, Mr Stuart Osborn.
H. D.
LONDON, February 1919

CONTENTS
PREFACE

PART I INTRODUCTORY

CHAPTER I

THE ANGLO-ITALIAN TRADITION AND ITALY'S
PART IN THE WAR

PART II SOME EARLY IMPRESSIONS

CHAPTER II
FROM FOLKESTONE TO VENICE
CHAPTER III
FROM VENICE TO THE ISONZO FRONT
CHAPTER IV
THE WAR ON THE ISONZO FRONT
CHAPTER V
PALMANOVA
CHAPTER VI
AQUILEIA AND GRADO
CHAPTER VII
A GRAMOPHONE AND A CHAPLAIN ON THE CARSO
CHAPTER VIII

A FRONT LINE RECONNAISSANCE
CHAPTER IX
AN EVENING AT GORIZIA
CHAPTER X
A CEMETERY AT VERSA
CHAPTER XI
UDINE
CHAPTER XII
THE BRITISH AND THE ITALIAN SOLDIER
CHAPTER XIII
I JOIN THE FIRST BRITISH BATTERY IN ITALY

PART III THE ITALIAN SUMMER
OFFENSIVE, 1917

CHAPTER XIV
THE OFFENSIVE OPENS
CHAPTER XV
WE SWITCH OUR GUNS NORTHWARD

CHAPTER XVI
THE FALL OF MONTE SANTO
CHAPTER XVII
THE CONQUEST OF THE BAINSIZZA PLATEAU
CHAPTER XVIII
THE FIGHTING DIES DOWN
CHAPTER XIX
A LULL BETWEEN TWO STORMS

PART IV THE ITALIAN RETREAT AND
RECOVERY

CHAPTER XX
THE BEGINNING OF THE ENEMY OFFENSIVE
CHAPTER XXI
FROM THE VIPPACCO TO SAN GIORGIO DI NOGARA
CHAPTER XXII
FROM SAN GIORGIO TO THE TAGLIAMENTO
CHAPTER XXIII

FROM THE TAGLIAMENTO TO TREVISO
CHAPTER XXIV
THOUGHTS AFTER THE DISASTER
CHAPTER XXV
FERRARA, ARQUATA AND THE CORNICE ROAD
CHAPTER XXVI
REFITTING AT FERRARA

PART V A YEAR OF RESISTANCE AND
OF PREPARATION

CHAPTER XXVII
IN STRATEGIC RESERVE
CHAPTER XXVIII
THE FIRST BRITISH BATTERY UP THE MOUNTAINS
CHAPTER XXIX
THE