Declaration of war between Italy and Germany—Effect of declaration at Udine—Interesting incident—General Cadorna consents to give me a sitting for a sketch—The curious conditions—Methodic and business-like—Punctuality and precision—A reminder of old days—I am received by the Generalissimo—His simple, unaffected manner—Unconventional chat—“That will please them in England”—My Gorizia sketch book—The General a capital model—“Hard as nails”—The sketch finished—Rumour busy again—A visit to Monfalcone—One of the General’s Aides-de-camp—Start at unearthly hour—Distance to Monfalcone—Arctic conditions—“In time for lunch”—Town life and war—Austrian hour for opening fire—Monfalcone—Deserted aspect—The damage by bombardment—The guns silent for the moment—The ghost of a town—“That’s only one of our own guns”—A walk to the shipbuilding yards—The communication trench—The bank of the canal—The pontoon bridge—The immense red structure—The deserted shipbuilding establishment—Fantastic forms—Vessels in course of construction—A strange blight—The hull of the 20,000 ton liner—The gloomy interior—The view of the Carso and Trieste through a port-hole—Of soul stirring interest—Hill No. 144—The “daily strafe”—“Just in time”—Back to Udine “in time for lunch”—Return to the Carso—Attack on the Austrian positions at Veliki Hribach—New difficulties—Dense forest—Impenetrable cover—Formidable lines of trenches captured—Fighting for position at Nova Vas—Dramatic ending—Weather breaking up—Operations on a big scale perforce suspended—Return London await events. CHAPTER XX On the 28th August, 1916, Italy declared war on Germany. The declaration had, however, been so long anticipated that, so far as one was in a position to judge, it made little or no difference in the already existing state of affairs; since the two nations had to all intents and purposes been fighting against each other for months, and at Udine, at any rate, it scarcely aroused any comment outside the Press. However, it settled any doubts that might have existed on the subject, and henceforth the Italians and the Huns were officially justified in killing each other whenever they got the chance. Curiously enough, it was through General Cadorna himself that I learned that war had been declared. It was under somewhat interesting circumstances, which I will relate. I had always desired to make a sketch of the Commander-in-Chief of the Italian Army, and with this idea had asked Colonel Barbarich at the Censorship if he would try and arrange it for me. He willingly agreed, but a few days after he told me that he had done the best he could for me, but that the General had said that for the moment he was far too occupied, but perhaps he would accede to my desire a little later. I must therefore have patience. This looked like a polite way of putting me off, and I accepted it as such.