It looked a sheer impossibility, yet the Alpini did it, and in spite of the plunging fire from machine guns on the summit, and the shells from flanking batteries at Settecase further up the valley of the Astico.
Verily these soldier mountaineers have well merited the eagle plumes that adorn their Tyrolean hats.
I have recounted these exploits, because they appeared to me to exemplify the burning enthusiasm that animated the troops, and made them eager to undertake anything that was asked of them. From what one could gather, scarcely a day passed without some unrecorded deed of daring being accomplished.
Of course it was not possible for a correspondent to learn beforehand any details of the operations about to be carried out, so, in the event of anything big happening, it was purely a matter of luck being on the spot or anywhere near it.
For this reason one made of Udine a pied à terre, as it was obvious there was nothing to be gained by motoring from place to place on the offchance of seeing something dramatic. At Headquarters one got to know anything there was in the shape of news, and one could arrange one’s movements accordingly.
From the point of view of the journalist, the Censorship Club-room was an ideal “news” centre, since it is not absolutely necessary for him to see what he writes about—so much can be done from hearsay—but for me, as an illustrator, it was obviously a very different matter, and doubtless I missed many a good subject for my pencil through not being fortunate enough to be in the vicinity when some dramatic incident was taking place.
It has always struck me that a pen picture has therefore an advantage over a pencil one. You can, if forced to, make it through the medium of your ears, and your eyes are not essential for its accuracy, as is the case with an artist’s notes.
For several weeks the correspondents were all gathered together at Udine, and only left it occasionally for short excursions.
The Isonzo Front was, from the motoring point of view, so short a distance away that you could start off in the car at six o’clock in the morning, be right up to the firing line by half-past seven, see all there was to see and be back in Udine easily in time for lunch. This, of course, would not have been possible before the advent of the petrol engine.
In the old days of the war correspondent, when he could only get about by means of horses, a “trip” such as is now made easily in a morning would have meant a real “journey” of probably a couple of days, and providing himself with food and probably sleeping outfit as well, so as to be prepared against all contingencies.