Although celebrated by Hemingway in A Farewell to Arms, the Italian front in the World War I has been relatively neglected in literature. And yet some of the fiercest fighting of the war took place in the Alps between the Italian army and the forces of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Over 500,000 Italians were killed or wounded in the war. Sardinian Brigade is a piece of war writing written with sparse simplicity. It recounts the daily life of the soldiers at the front, describes many noble characters, some crazy ones, like General Leone who marched up and down the trenches at night shouting: Stay awake! Your General does not sleep! The cumulative picture is: endless taking and losing of trenches; the deaths of comrades; his tragic visit to his parents who put on a brave face yet are terrified they will never see him alive again; and the Italian soldier who refuses to shoot an Austrian in his sights.