reckoning. The war that had been from the first gloriously offensive,
was suddenly transformed into an outnumbered struggle against invaders
who had already seized half of one of the richest provinces of Italy.
Yet, though numbed by the shock and stricken to the heart by the
realization of her disaster, Italy reacted well. There was no talk of
yielding to be heard, only anxious discussion of the best means of
organizing the further resistance that would so soon be necessary.

For though the great majority of the Italian army had succeeded for the
moment in escaping from the grasp of the Austro-Germans, the enemy was
steadfastly pursuing. Encouraged by a victory that must have more than
realized his most ambitious hopes, reinforced by captured guns and
material, he would wait only long enough to get sufficient strength into
position before hurling the whole of his weight once more against the
Italian line.

[Sidenote: Impossible to meet the second shock on the Tagliamento.]

To meet this second shock on the Tagliamento was not possible. The river
itself quickly became, as the rain stopped and the waters fell, too
easily traversable an obstacle to be worth fortifying. The line which it
would have imposed upon the Italian army was, moreover, too long to be
held in the depth desirable for resistance to the attack of superior
numbers. So the Tagliamento was occupied as an intermediate position
only long enough to shield the further retreat of the army and its
transport behind the broader and deeper stream of the Piave.

[Sidenote: The new stand behind the Piave.]

[Sidenote: Winter rains will delay enemy's heavy guns.]