As a result, Austria was compelled to mobilize and mass her forces on the Italian frontier, and she was no longer able to give aid and support to the Germans on the western front. The entire course of the war was then materially changed.
Photograph by E. M. Newman
PEACE IN THE MIDST OF WAR
This picture of Italian children playing with dolls was taken in Italy's darkest hour before the turn of the fortunes of war
Austria's army and navy were thereafter kept busy trying to hold the Italians in check. What happened in the fall of 1917 will always be more or less of a mystery. After two years of the hardest kind of fighting, during which time the Austrians were being gradually pushed back until Vienna itself was threatened, there came a retreat, one of the most disastrous in the annals of war. The Italians lost in two weeks all that they had gained in two years. Worse still, Italy was invaded and a considerable area occupied by the Austrian army.
Consternation ensued, the Italian people were dazed. Something had gone wrong; no one could understand it. But one thing every Italian knew, and that was that no braver soldiers were to be found in any country, and that when Italy had time to recover from her surprise Austria would pay the price.
How the Italian Army Came Back
