General Diaz was quick to profit by his initial success.
On Tuesday he sent his Third Army across the Lower Piave, thus extending his right to the sea, while on the left he developed his attack in the mountains on either side of the Upper Piave and stormed Monte Cesen, which commands that valley from the east as Monte Grappa commands it from the west. The Italian centre, including British, French, and American troops, advanced very rapidly northward to Vittorio and north-eastward towards Smile on the Livenza,, fifteen miles from the Piave. The Italians thus secured the only railway through the mountains which connected the Austrian armies from the Trentino with their armies in the Venetian Plain. On Wednesday the Italians in the moun- tains west of the Brenta gained- an important success by taking Asiago, while in the plain they continued their swift advance. Forty thousand prisoners had been counted. The significance of the Italian victory was admitted the same night, when the Austro. Hungarian Government announced that its troops would evacuate Italian territory, nominally to further " the conclusion of an armistice and peace," but really in the hope of averting a military disaster. No one will be deceived by this Chinese method of " saving face."
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