For the moment the scene was fairly peaceful, that is to say the guns on either side were only firing in a desultory way; but, of course, one could not tell how long this would last and what might “come over” at any moment; however, as we had come here with the intention of going right into Asiago, this had to be chanced. My companion advised hurrying across as quickly as possible as there was no cover anywhere, and the road was quite exposed to the view of the Austrian gunners.
It was a typical summer morning, with the birds singing merrily on all sides, so it was somewhat difficult to realize that there was danger in strolling along leisurely, but before we had gone far we met stretcher-bearers coming towards us with their sad burdens, and quite a number of soldiers carrying wounded men on their backs.
No big engagement was in progress we learned, but the guns and rifles were taking their steady and relentless daily toll all the time.
This constant stream of wounded ended by getting on one’s nerves, and made you wonder what the fates had in store for you.
The town, from a distance, appeared to be quite undamaged, but on getting near to it one found it was in a sad state of ruins. Very few of the houses had escaped the ravages of fire or bombardment.
The position of Asiago, midway between the opposing batteries, had, of course, in a great measure brought this about, and was responsible for its gradual destruction.
There was a great deal of street fighting before the invaders were driven out and back to the hills, and in several places were hastily erected barricades formed with broken furniture and other miscellaneous articles. Barbed wire entanglements of a novel construction were also placed in some of the streets in case the Italian cavalry attempted to force a way through.
So Asiago was very closely connected with the stirring events that were taking place, and from being an unheard of little frontier town, had become one of the most spoken of places in Italy.
The fact that the communiqués referred to it almost daily is proof of the importance attaching to this point, and it required ceaseless vigilance on the part of the Italians to retain their foothold in its ruined streets. But no attempt has been made to fortify the place, its defences are the trenches on the hills beyond, and which, at the time I was there, were gradually being pushed forward.
Any troops in the town itself were only there de passage for a few hours. It would have been risking unnecessary sacrifice of life to have kept them there for any length of time.