The enemy pressed their advantage on the left flank, occupying
Cividale last Saturday and Udine, which had been the Italian headquarters, on Tuesday. Meanwhile the main body of the Italian Second Army withdreW westwards, abandoning Gorizia last Sunday and Cormons on Monday. The Third Italian Army holding the Carso then began to retire, after having repelled a series of violent attacks, and having destroyed all the bridges over the Lower Isonzo. The next natural line of defence is the Taglia- meat°, which runs from the neighbourhood of Titian's birthplace, Piece di Cadore, eastward parallel to the Clunk frontier, and then southward parallel to the Julian frontier, from which it is about forty miles distant. It is reasonable to hope that General Cadorna may hold this lino. The Isonzo retreat has involved also the withdrawal of the corps holding the Pontebba Pass on the north-east frontier, as the Udine-Villach railway on which it depends for supplies may be cut further south by tho invaders. The Italian left flank in the hills is thus threatened. It is possible also that the enemy may attempt again to break out of the Trentino in General Cadorna's rear. But the Italian Commander-in-Chief, who has achieved eo many successes since 1015, and who parried and foiled a similar thrust from the Trentino last year, is not the man to be dismayed by misfortune. The retreating armies are fighting vigorous rearguard actions west of Udine, and the nation behind them is calm and united. If the enemy thought to arouse dis- sension in Italy by this sudden blow, he never made a greater blunder.
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