evacuated. It had been won with great losses and gallantry in August,
and the Italians had laboriously equipped it with roads and military
establishments to create a firm taking-off place for the next attack
upon the crest of Mount Gabriele, which was expected to drive the
Austrians back for five miles up the Vippaco valley, on the way to
Laibach, one of the back-doors to Triest.

The same day came the news of the fall of the Italian Government, which
had been attacked during the fortnight by a strange combination of the
advanced wing of the pro-war party who considered that the ministry was
not displaying enough firmness in its conduct of the campaign, with the
pacifist socialist party who denounced the Government for infringing
the constitutional rights of the people in the interests of militarism.
A feeling of _malaise_ was in the air. All the elements of success were
present in the Italian Army except the most important of all, the
psychological element.

[Sidenote: Evacuation of Udine.]

By this time motor-lorries had already begun to pour back through Udine,
and in the streets the Signal Corps were taking down the
telegraph-wires. You saw little parties of father, mother, and children
suddenly emerge from house or shop, each with hand-luggage. If you
looked closely you generally saw that the woman was crying.

[Sidenote: Air fights between Germans and Italians.]

On the twenty-sixth there were frequent attempts to reach Udine by
German flyers who were new to the ground. It was the first time that the
Italian Air Corps had had to deal with a German attempt to contest their