PROGRESS OF THE WAR

Dominion, Volume 11, Issue 231, 18 June 1918, Page 4

PROGRESS OF THE WAR

The. offensive opened against Italy is described as the most ambitious Austria-Hungary has attempted in any theatre of war, and its early events are summed up by Mr. Warner Allen, ;i. correspondent of experience, in the statement that no offensive in this war lias had a less propitious On the particulars thus far available it seems that the enemy is attempting to carry on the plan in which he was brought to a halt six months ago. That is to say, it is his essential object to break the Italian front on the Asiago Plateau and the Grappa massif, between the southern-eastern border of the Trentino and the Piave. Full success in this region would enable him to deploy in low country west'of the Piave', and so turn the whole Italian line between the mountains and the Ben- In spite of the violence of his opening attacks, he has made, as reports stand at time of writing, hardly any headway in this enterprise. He has in places gained a little ground in the high country, and at one or two points has succeeded in-crossing tho Piave. But unless Allied reports are unduly optimistic- he has nowhere gained any tactical success of vital importance, and is at all points firmly held. The Aust-rians claim the. capture of ten thousand prisoners. Unless it is out of keeping with other claims lately made by tho enemy—notably that of the Germans that they had captured in the first five weeks of the Western battle twice as many British guns as were actually lost—this is no doubt a considerable exaggeration. On the other band, the Italians and the Allied divisions fighting in their company have gathered in three thousand prisoners.

The Italians arc so far at a disadvantage on their present line that if the enemy proves himself capable of a sustained effort they may conceivably be compelled to withdraw to the Adige. But the sacrifices such a retreat would entail will assuredly not be made while successful resistance on the present lino is possible. A retreat to the Adigo would mean abandoning to the enemy the city of Venice and other townß and cities, many of them seats of important manufactures. The Austrians have, of course, every possible incentive to press for a speedy decision. Apart from the necessity of conforming their policy to that of Germany, the prospect of entering another winter in ■ anything like existing conditions is one they can hardly afford to contemplate. During last winter the Italian armies were engaged in reorganising and making good the losses of the disastrous retreat from the Isonzo. but an inconclusive endinir to the summer campaign which has now opened would leave the Austrian armies on the Venetian Plain dangerously ox-

posed. The advantages derived by the enemy from his possession of the mountain country are in seme respects seriously modified during the winter. All his transport lines run through mountain valleys and passes, many of which are made difficult of passage by the winter snows. Since the Italian transport routes run largely through comparatively open country it follows that Austrian armies left 011 the Pi a ve, line or its vicinity for another winter would stand in serious danger of being_ overwhelmed by an enemy in a position to concentrate against them in superior strength and with a much hotter (low of supplies. It is so much the more necessary from the enemy's point of view that existing conditions should ho transformed before another winter.is reached.

At time of writing the enemy's claim that he broke the Italian lines on the Plateau ,of the Seven Communes (the plateau between the As-tico and the Brenta) is completely discredited by detailed Allied reports. His principal efforts were directed against the defences flanking the valley of the Brenta at a distance of about seven miles north) of the point at which it opens on the plain ijear the town of Bassano. The Austrians gained some advancod positions at Mont di Val Bella, four miles west of the Brenta,. at Mount Asolone, three miles east of that river, and at some other points in this region. But as information stands the line, has at all points been re-established exccpt in the case of the advanced elements lost at Mont di Val Bella.