Reports from the Italian front show that though our Allies
have had to withdraw at two points, there is no cause for any immediate anxiety as to their power to stay the Austrian advance. It is the old story. By means of careful preparation and the con- centration of specially heavy artillery and picked troops at a weak pointand on a narrow front, the Austrians have been able to drive a wedge through the Italian lines. But their penetration, as has so often happened to the Germans, the French, and the i has only brought them face to face with the discovery that penetration, unless it takes place on a very great scale, is only too apt to confront the penetrator with the risks of envelop- ment. Penetration is a very dangerous game indeed while the flanks hold, and if an attempt is made to regularize the position by driving the enemy away, right and left, fl Enka beyond flanks arise' to baffle the attackers.
