OPERATIONS ON THE ISONZO

Nelson Evening Mail, 21 September 1916, Page 5

OPERATIONS ON THE ISONZO

STEADY ITALIAN OFFENSIVE. (Australian and N.Z. Cable Association., ROME, Sept. 19. The Italian offensive on the Isonzo is proceeding steadily. During the first phase of the fight, from the 13th to the 16th inst.. the Austria ns lost two-thirds of their front line. The most bloody encounters occurred on the second and third days, when the enemy's reserves arrived. The Fifth Austrian Army Corps, which has been countering the Italian right flank, sustained enormous losses. Count Cadorna postponed the offensive Tor eight days owing to the heavy rains. The bombardments were so tremendous that the Austrian trenches were reduced to mounds of pulverised ruins, mingled with arms and legs. ' The attackers frequently found the' Austrian trenches full of big nnexploded shells. Austrian 15-inch guns are now fi-antic-ally endeavouring to destroy Gorz and Montfalcone. Italian heavy batteries are demolishing the vast ca,verns in the heights behind Gorz and Trieste, where the Austrian 15-iuch guns are sheltering. AT RRAIDS AT VENICE. DEPLORED BY THE POPE. (Australian and N.Z. Cable Association.) ROME. Sept. 19. The I'ope has written to the Patriarch of Venice deploring the Austrian air raids.

GERMAN BRUTALITY AT ITS WORST. AMERIC A N REP 0 RT. ' Australian and N.Z. Cable Association.) (Rec. Sept. 21, 9.15 a.m.) NEW YOBK, Sept. 20. A most barbarous and revolting story is published in the New York Times of Turkish atrocities against the Armenians. The paper is in possession of photographs and original documents of the Faculty of the German High School at Aleppo. Turkey lodged a protest with the German Foreign Office, in which it was stated : "We feel it our duty to draw the attention of the Foreign Office to the fact that it is impossible to carry on the school work unless Germany ends the brutalities inflicted here on exiled wives and children of murdered Armenians. Owing to the horrible scenes daily near the school our work is absolutely valueless. Girls, boys, and women, practically naked, lie on the ground, amid coffins waiting to receive them. Of three thousand healthy peasant women driven here from Upper Armenia, only fifty are left. They are reduced to skeletons. The good looking ones are decimated by vice, and the ugly ones are victimised by 'beatings, hunger, and thirst. Those lining the Avater's edge are not allowed to drink. Europeans are prohibited from distributing bread. Over a hundred corpses "are taken daily from Aleppo. All this was witnessed by high Turkish officials. Fifty people reduced to skeletons are lying in a heap near the school. Tliey are practically insane, and have forgotten how to eat. The natives declare that the Germans are responsible. Educated Turks and Arabs shake their heads sorrowfully when they see the 'brutal soldiers drag through the town pregnant women whom they beat with cudgels. The scenes we witnessed are degrading to mankind, and unless stopped will be a terrible stain on Germany's honour for generations to come. T>r Gratener, in an accompanying letter, says this is not only a massacre, but an attempt to exterminate the Armenians in Turkey. Talaat Bey's officials cynically admitted this to the German) Consul. Eighteen thousand Armenians were driven out of Charput and Sivas, and only 350 reached Aleppo. Many of those were driven to the Syrian steppes, where the survivors had a miserable existence. They had seen many corpses floating in the Euphrates and lying on the steppes. With a few exceptions, the, Germans witness these things unperturbed, saying they are afraid to interfere lest they offend the Turks. The Armenians at Urfu, seeing the fate of their compatriots, refused to leave the town, upon which Count Wolf Von Wolfskel ordered a Dorrfbardment, after which a thousand Armenians surrendered. He hadn't the power to prevent all being massacred.

, TWO AMERICANS ON BOARD \ BRUTISH VESSEL. (■Rec. Sept. 21, 11.20 a.m.) WASHINGTON. Sept. 20. The American Consul-General in London reports that two Americans were among the crew of the British steamer Strathgay, which was torpedoed in the English Channel on September 6th by a German submarine.