The retreat was accomplished by stages. Each stopping place, where the land and marine forces were gathered and rearranged before carrying out the established plan, had to be protected during the counterattacks of the Italian rear guards, which became more frequent and vigorous with the increasing accuracy of the enemy fire. These attacks were made more difficult by the swampy nature of the ground. This flat and marshy land offers no points of defense and has no traversable and continuous roads. The marines were outnumbered by the regiments confronting them. Every difficulty was overcome by the valor and self-sacrifice of the Italian sailors. Aviators were seen flying for several consecutive days without resting--attacking the moving enemy columns with machine guns; defending themselves against numerous enemy airplanes, or dropping messages under fire at the points of reunion of the Italian troops in order to insure co-operation between the navy and the army; and continually alternating flights of observation with those of bombardment under the most adverse conditions. Platoons of marines stood in the mud behind guns corroded by the inundations, holding back entire companies of enemy troops for days and nights without the possibility of obtaining relief or food. Some of the gun crews dragged not only the mounts and the guns by hand across very swampy ground, with the water up to their knees, but also the munition cases, without taking time for sleeping or eating. Armed submarine chasers threaded their way up winding and narrow canals, in which they could not even have turned around in case of a forced retreat, and hammered a Hungarian battalion for hours, until it had to retire in disorder before the determination of a handful of men with a few cannons and machine guns. Batteries of marines prolonged the defense of Caorle, a few hundred meters from the enemy advance guards, and did not cease firing until every civilian and everything movable had been placed in security. After this they succeeded in reaching the line of the Piave with their efficiency unimpaired. Some companies of sailors clad in gray-green held off a big group of "Honveds," [Hungarian guards,] forced back the boats which were attempting to cross the river, made prisoners of men who had succeeded in crossing with machine guns, captured their arms, defended their own flank from the continuous encircling movements of other enemy troops who had crossed the Piave further up stream, and finally formed a firm pillar of defense for the right flank of the army where it made its final stand.