GREAT BLOW BY THE ITALIANS

Dominion, Volume 10, Issue 3087, 18 May 1917, Page 5

GREAT BLOW BY THE ITALIANS

TERRIFIC BATTLE ON TEE JULIAN FRONT AUSTRIAN LINE BROKEN FURIOUS FIGHTING IN 1 . THE WEST GERMAN ATTACKS REPULSED WITH TERRIBLE LOSSES BRITAIN'S WAR AIMS DISCUSSED The most thrilling news of the day is the official dispatch from Italian Headquarters, unfolding the scope of the great offensive hinted at the previous day. The Italians, advancing on 56 miles of front, have broken the Austrian line, and taken several important positions and villages. Over 3000 prisoners have already been taken. The offensive is now in full swing. In the West, the Germans, in a desperate attempt, it is said, to recover tho initiative, have hurled furious massed attacks on "both the French and the British fronts. In cach case, so heavy was the pressure, the line was bent back, but in both cases the lost ground was recovered, with disastrous consequences to tho enemy, who suffered, very heavy losses. The latest development from Russia is the resignation by H. Miliukoff of his Cabinet position as Foreign Minister. As a set-off to this piece of ill-news is a report that the three principal contending parties in the new Russian political situation have reached agreement upon three cardinal points, one of which is the unity of- the Allied Front. The situation is summed up by one commentator as "bad, but not desperate." In reply to Mr. Snowden (Socialist) and other Labour members of the i House of Commons, lord Robert Cecil (Under-Secretary for Foreign Affairs) 'has made some interesting references to certain unconsidered aspects of the "no-annexation" cry.