WAR MEMOIRS OF DAVID LLOYD GEORGE 1917

THE CAPORETTO DISASTER 489
they did not stand alone in their trouble, I suggested to M.
Painleve, the French Premier, that we should both go to
the Italian Front and invite the Italian Premier to meet us
there. I certainly attached no exaggerated importance to
our presence on the spot, but where the object was above all
to reestablish morale and to reinforce the national will for
continuing the War, every gesture of friendship and comradeship
had its effect in promoting that restoration of confidence
which is the best antidote for panic. I decided to take
General Smuts with me, also Sir Henry Wilson.
My intention was to leave General Wilson at the Italian
Headquarters to keep in touch with the Italian Commanderin-Chief
and ascertain from him what further cooperation or
help was needed, and to keep us informed generally on the
situation. M. Painleve readily concurred in my suggestion
that we should visit the Italian Front. As the result of a
communication addressed to the Italian Government we
were informed that Signor Orlando and Baron Sonnino
would meet us at Rapallo to confer on the situation. M.
Franklin Bouillon, who was the most strenuous vocal member
of M. Painleve's Cabinet, accompanied him. General
Foch had already left with Sir William Robertson and they
were both already in contact with General Cadorna. During
our halt at Modane, trainload after trainload of French
guns and cheerful French soldiers passed through on their
way to meet the foe on battlefields where their ancestors
had won undying fame. Frenchmen had fought and worsted
the Austrians in many notable campaigns under the sunny
skies of Italy and they took no account of the fact that their
old adversaries were now reinforced by still older foes from
the Rhineland. Three years' hard fighting had given them
the measure of German prowess and they were not afraid
to meet on the Piave the soldiers they had fought with success
on the Marne and the Meuse. I never saw a more joyous