retake all except a small part of the first line.

June 18-British fall back east of Monchy-lePreux; French capture a German salient in Champagne between Mont Carnillet and Mont Blond.

ITALIAN CAMPAIGN

May 19-Italians take Hill 652 on Monte Vodice; Austrians admit loss of Monte Kuk.

May 20-Italians extend their positions on Hill 652 and break into Austrian lines east of Gorizia.

May 23-Italians recapture positions penetrated by the Austrians in the Travignolo Valley.

May 24-Italians break through Austrian lines from Castagnavizza to the sea, capturing Boscomalo, Jamiano, and strong heights east of Pietrarossa and Bagni, and advance in the San Marco, Monte Santo, and Vodice areas.

May 25-Italians capture fortified heights north of Jamiano and gain ground south of Jamiano to the sea.

May 26-Italians capture a strong network of trenches from the mouth of the Timavo River to a point east of Jamiano, take heights between Flondar and Medeazza, and trenches around Castagnavizza.

May 27-Italians smash through AustroHungarian positions between Jamiano and the Gulf of Trieste, driving across the Monfalcone-Duino Railroad to Medeazza, and carry the heights at the head of the Palliova Valley. May 28-Italians cross the Timavo estuary and occupy San Giovanni. May 31-Austrians fail in attack north of the Tonale Ridge, on the northern side of Monte Pizzul, and in the Rocolana Valley. June 1-Italians defeat Austrian attempts to recapture heights in the Vodice area. June 4-Italians drive Austrians from captured advanced positions on the western slopes of San Marco.

June 5-Italians repulse massed attacks

south of Gorizia from Dosso Faiti to the sea and take advance positions in the sector between Castagnavizza and Jamiano.

June 6-Austrians regain positions before Flondar, South of Jamiano.

June 7-Austrians report successful attacks near Jamiano and defeat of Italian attacks between the Vipacco Valley and the sea.

June 11-Italians begin new offensive on the Asiago Plateau and seize Monte Ortigara and the Agnello Pass.

June 16-Italians in the eastern Trentino carry Corno Cavento.

June 18-Italians advance northeast of Jamiano and repulse attacks on Monte Mosciagh, on the Asiago Plateau, and on Hill 652 in the Vodice.

BALKAN CAMPAIGN May 20-Russians repulse German attacks on the Rumanian front east of Koverka. May 27-British bombard German positions near Livanovo.

May 31-Italians in Albania occupy Cerevoda, Velisest, Osaja, and Cafa. June 7-Rumanians show activity on the Dobrudja front; gun duels in Macedonia on the right bank of the Vardar and south of Huma.

June 16-French cavalry occupies five towns in Northern Thessaly.

June 17-British evacuate several villages on the Bulgar front, after setting them afire; French extend the occupation of Thessaly.

AERIAL RECORD

Danube towns were raided by the Germans and many persons were killed in Ismail, Bessarabia.

Many great raids, in which hundreds of machines took part, occurred on the western front. The British dropped bombs on Ostend, Zeebrugge, Bruges, and Niemunster. Ghent was also raided and St. Peter Station partly destroyed. The London morning papers on June 2 announced that 713 airplanes were shot down on the western front in May, of which 442 were German and 271 British and French. On June 5 the French raided eleven points behind the German lines, including the City of Trèves, in Rhenish Prussia. The Lafayette Escadrille, composed chiefly of Americans, fought fifteen battles in the last two weeks of May.

The Zeppelin L-43 was destroyed by British naval forces in the North Sea. Many lives were lost and hundreds of persons injured in raids on England. On May 23 the eastern counties were attacked and one man killed. On May 26 seventy-six persons were killed and 174 injured in the Folkestone raid. Three machines shot down. One hundred and four persons were killed and 403 hurt in a raid on June 13. On June 17 two lives were lost and sixteen persons injured. One Zeppelin was brought down.

NAVAL RECORD

were

A French topedo boat flotilla put to rout a
flotilla of German destroyers on May 20.
One French craft was damaged.
British warships bombarded

Ostend and Zeebrugge. In a running fight between six German destroyers and the British squadron one German destroyer, the S-20, was sunk and ancther damaged. Japanese light craft arrived in the Mediterranean Sea to help in fighting sub

marines.

Thirteen Bulgarian ships bombarded Kavala. A Russian squadron, cruising along the Anatolian coast on May 29, bombarded four ports and destroyed 147 sailing ships loaded with supplies.

British warships captured Fort Saliff on the Red Sea.

The American steamer Mongolia fired four shots at a German submarine which discharged a torpedo at the liner on June 1. Neither the Mongolia nor the submarine was damaged. The American ship Silver Shell had a running battle with a submarine in the Mediterranean on May 30. After an exchange of sixty shots the submarine disappeared. The Standard Oil steamer Moreni was sunk after a twohour battle with a submarine, and four of her crew were lost.

RUSSIA

The reorganized Cabinet of the Provisional Government, on May 19, declared itself a unit for general peace only; and no annexations or indemnities.

A congress of the Swedish political party passed a resolution favoring complete separation of Finland from Russia.

On June 1 the Kronstadt Committee of the Council of Workmen's and Soldiers' Delegates repudiated the Provisional Government and decided to assume control of Kronstadt. The committee surrendered on June 6, but their decision was reversed on June 11 by agitators, who declared that the declaration of independence was still in force.

A. I. Konovaloff, Minister of Commerce and Trade, resigned because of disagreement with M. Skobeleff, the Labor Minister, concerning economic and financial questions. Many strikes occurred in Petrograd.

General Michael V. Alexeieff resigned as Commander in Chief of the Russian Armies, and General Brusiloff succeeded him. General Goutor took Brusiloff's place on the southwestern front.

An American diplomatic commission, headed by Elihu Root, and a railroad commission, headed by John F. Stevens, arrived in Petrograd. President Wilson sent a note to the Provisional Government outlining the objects and ideals of the United States in the war. These principles were approved in a note sent by Great Britain. The Council of Workmen's and Soldiers' Delegates, in reply to Austrian overtures, made in a telegram from Prince Leopold of Bavaria, adopted a proclamation expressing opposition to a separate peace. Robert Grimm, a Swiss Socialist who acted as Germany's agent in a new peace move, was expelled from the country.

On June 17 the Duma, in secret session, voted for an immediate offensive by Russian troops.

GREECE

On June 12, in response to the demand of the protecting powers-France, Great Britain, and Russia-King Constantine abdicated in favor of his second son, Prince Alexander. Entente forces landed at Piraeus and Castella, and occupied the heights near Phalerum Bay. French cavalry occupied a number of towns in Northern Thessaly, and the populace of Larissa went over to the Venizelos Government. M. Jonnart, the High Commissioner of the protecting powers, issued a proclamation guaranteeing popular lib

erty.

MISCELLANEOUS

A revolt occurred in China as the result of the dismissal of Premier Tuan Chi-jui. The rebellious provinces, under the leadership of General Chang-Hsun, demanded the dismissal of the National Assembly, the revision of the Constitution, the dismissal of the President's advisers, the reinstatement of Tuan Chi-jui, and war against Germany. The United States Government sent a friendly message to the Foreign Office urging tranquillity. The Spanish Cabinet headed by Marquis Prieto resigned and a new one was formed by Eduard Dato. A revolution in the army was averted by the Premier granting infantry officers the right to form committees of defense. Count Tisza resigned as Premier of Hungary after a struggle over electoral reforms. Count Esterhazy succeeded him. An attempt to form a Coalition Ministry in Canada failed. E. P. Patenaud, Secretary of State, resigned because of his opposition to conscription. Lord Devonport resigned as Food Controller in England and was succeded by Baron Rhondda. Colonel Churchill succeeded Viscount Cowdray as Chairman of the British Air Board.

The Grand Dukes of Mecklenburg-Schwerin and Macklenburg-Strelitz consented to far. reaching revision of the Constitutions of the duchies.

The French Chamber of Deputies, in secret session, adopted a resolution declaring that peace conditions must include the liberation of territories occupied by Germany, the return of Alsace-Lorraine to France, and just reparation for damage done in the invaded regions.

D

URING the latter half of May, 1917, General Cadorna's forces on the Isonzo and Carso fronts made one of the most remarkable drives of the year-an assault that lasted eighteen days, with all its original fury. The fighting took place amid the peaks and chasms north of Gorizia, and on the volcanic Carso plateau to the south, a region of desolate rocks and caves, where all the water for the soldiers had to be brought by building an aqueduct, bit by bit, as the army advanced. This land of caves and hiding places had been fortified by the Austrians and complicated with broad areas of barbed wire, behind which enormous 10inch guns and innumerable machine guns swept every path of approach.

The Italians won victories despite these odds. They took heavy guns up mountains hitherto ascended only by Alpine climbers who roped themselves together. They swung bridges from one peak to another. They built trenches, fortifications, roads, tunnels, retaining walls 10,000 feet above sea level; all this in the face of an enemy fighting desperately on the defensive.

When the campaign on the Isonzo closed last November the town of Gorizia and 43,000 Austrians had been captured, and the Italian front, from Plezza on the north, just over the frontier, skirted the Monte Nero heights of the Julian Alps to the bridgehead of Tolmino, (Monte Cucco,) swung along the same range east of Gorizia, passed over the plain south of that city, and, crossing the Vipacco, struck across the northwest corner of the Carso plateau to the sea, two miles from Duino, the Summer home of Prince Hohenlohe, and fourteen miles northwest of Trieste.

This was the situation when the Italians on May 12 began a heavy bombardment of the Austrian positions from

Tolmino to the sea, which two days later became concentrated across the Isonzo, five miles north of Gorizia, where the Austrians by their defenses on the Kuk, 611 meters high, and on the Vodice, 524 meters, still kept the Italians on the right bank of the stream. On May 13 there was also a concentration of fire on the Carso front, south from the Italian positions of Volkovniak, 343 meters, and Dosso Faiti, 432 meters, against which the Austrians later made counterattacks.

Then on Monday morning, May 14, the Italian infantry crossed the river in several detachments, deployed on the left bank, and stormed the ascent of Monte Cucco. The following day they advanced east of Gorizia and also on the Carso to the south. On the 16th they captured the wooded heights on the east bank of the Isonzo and took several small villages with more than 3,000 prisoners. The 17th found the Italians fighting their way toward the mountain crests of Vodice and Monte Santo. Heavy British artillery had been added to the Italian armament. Duino was captured that day. Perceval Gibbon, an eyewitness of part of the fighting, wrote:

"The picturesque point is Monte Santo. It is a steep cone, with slopes like the side of a roof, and on the summit straggle white buildings of a monastery long since shot to ruins. A single cypress, black and monumental, stands not far from the shattered walls of the close, clearcut against the shell-vexed sky. About it a frenzy of shells roars and blazes. Our barrage and theirs mingle in a hellbroth of fire and smoke, through whose tempestuous fog emerges at moments that single statuesque tree, monumentally and tragically faithful to its duty of sentinel over the graves of forgotten saints. But slowly the Italian lines are crawling uphill, paying with their valorous lives for every yard of progress. If in England anybody doubted Italy's ca

pacity for liberal sacrifice or her intention toward victory at all costs, he is now answered."

By stubborn and sustained assaults on the Carso the Italians on May 23 finally broke through the Austro-Hungarian lines on a front of six miles from Castagnavizza to the sea, taking more than 9,000 prisoners, with the town of Jamiano and the strong heights east of Pietrarossa and Bagni. The next day enlarged this success, and on the 25th the Italians took the heights between Flondar and Medeazza and a strong network of trenches extending from the mouth of the Timavo River to a point east of Jamiano.

On May 27 General Cadorna's forces smashed through the Austro-Hungarian positions between Jamiano and the Gulf of Trieste, passing the MonfalconeDuino Railway northeast of San Giovanni and establishing themselves within a few hundred yards of Medeazza. North of Plava they carried the heights at the head of the Palliova Valley, thus joining their Monte Cucco lines with those of Hill 363. This day's work brought the Italians within eleven miles of Trieste. The next day these results were consolidated by crossing the Timavo estuary and occupying the village of San Giovanni. In the northern section the Austrians were hunted out of their subterranean chambers and many prisoners added to the total, which, by this time, amounted to about 25,000.

The Austrian losses in killed, wounded, and missing between May 14 and 29 were estimated at 85,000, and included five Generals and forty high officers. A hundred cannon were taken or destroyed. Perceval Gibbon, writing on the 29th, described the scene on the Carso:

"Everywhere there is evidence of the ghastly Austrian losses. There are whole areas of ground over which the fight stamped its way southeast of Jamiano and Hudilog and along the battleground

parallel with Castagnavizza Road which are littered with bodies clad in that dull gray which is Austria's fighting color. There, for the first time during this offensive, one sees what was so common on the Somme-steel helmets of the enemy lying about, many smashed or drilled by bullets."

Two days later the same correspondent added a curious bit of authenticated history:

"The Italians have just completed examination of two railway tunnels upon the line to Trieste, one 200 yards long, the other slightly less. Both had been turned into shelters for troops and very completely equipped. The roofs are pierced with long ventilating shafts, and water mains have been carried in. There is a mass of arms and ammunition here, and numbers of machine guns.

"It is here that they discovered what was never certainly known upon this front, though frequently rumored, namely, machine gunners chained and padlocked to their guns. I understand they have been officially photographed. Each man has a light steel chain of twisted links, like a dog chain, shackled around one ankle and fastened to the tripod of the gun, and a similar chain padlocked around his waist and linked up to the barrel. These prisoners state that the object is to prevent them leaving the gun in Italian hands when falling back before an attack. Another explanation is suggested by the fact that the chief forces on this southern edge of the Carso consist of Rumanians."

With the beginning of June the Italian offensive abated and the Austro-Hungarians began a series of heavy counterattacks, in which the daring Honveds did some terrific fighting and took many prisoners-Vienna claimed 27,000.

The net result of the month's fighting, however, is a considerable gain for the Italian forces.

T

HE action of June 7, 1917, in which the British by one terrific blow smashed the strong German salient south of Ypres, was one of the most spectacular and thrilling episodes of the war. It took place in the little corner of Belgium where the allied armies had held the enemy checkmated for two and a half years, and where, all that time, they had been harassed by German guns on the Messines-Wytschaete Ridge.

For nearly two years several companies of Australian, New Zealand, and British sappers had been patiently burrowing under this low range of hills, placing beneath them nineteen powerful mines containing a total of more than 1,000,000 pounds of ammonite. Great charges of this new explosive had been in a firing position for fully twelve months, yet the secret was kept and the dangerous work went on under the German fortifications. At 3:10 in the morning of June 7 the whole series of mines was discharged by electric contact, blowing off the hilltops in a vast flame-burst of volcanic fire, rocking the ground for miles as in an earthquake, and emitting a roar that was distinctly heard in England by Lloyd George, listening for it at his country home 140 miles away.

At the same time the whole salient was subjected to the most intense shellfire of the whole war, the climax of nearly two weeks of artillery preparation. In the wake of this infernal rain came the infantry battalions of General Haig under Sir Herbert Plumer, dashing forward with rifle and bayonet. Before the day was over the whole of Messines Ridge was securely in British hands, with more than 7,000 prisoners and many guns. The German casualties were estimated at 30,000. Those of the British were about 10,000.

The attack was divided into three phases. The battle opened with the explosion of the mines at dawn, which was

the signal for the artillery.. Large portions of the German front and support trenches, dugouts, and mining systems went up in smoke. The German front line over the entire distance of ten miles was captured in a few minutes.

The second phase was the storming of the Messines-Wytschaete Ridge, which was accomplished with little loss three hours after the attack began. The British went forward in a concerted rush along the whole sector south of Ypres, from Observation Ridge to Ploegsteert Wood, north of Armentières. The third and final phase, later in the day, was the assault of the rear defenses, which ran across the base of the salient formed by the ridge itself. Here the British found the enemy in greater strength, and the fighting was very fierce. Nevertheless, by nightfall the village of Oosttaverne and the whole rear position-along a front of five miles and at a depth of nearly three miles-had fallen into British hands. The day's work was the largest since Vimy Ridge. It was achieved by the British Second Army, under General Sir Herbert C. O. Plumer, and his force included English, Irish, Australian, and New Zealand troops.

Official Report of Battle

The British War Office summarized the action as follows in its report of June 8:

The position captured by us yesterday was one of the enemy's most important strongholds on the western front. Dominating as it did the Ypres salient and giving the enemy complete observation over it, he neglected no precautions to render the position impregnable. These conditions enabled the enemy to overlook all our preparations for attack, and he had moved up reinforcements to meet us. The battle therefore became a gauge of the ability of the German troops to stop our advance under conditions as favorable to them as an army can ever hope for, with every advantage of ground and preparation and with the knowledge that an attack was impending.