"VALLEY OF HELL."

Taihape Daily Times, Volume 8, Issue 40, 17 February 1916, Page 3

"VALLEY OF HELL."

ISONZO A RING OF DEATH AND AFLAME WITH GUNS.

One of tna most viv-ict descriptions of the conditions under which Italy and Austria arc- waging their war has been supplied by an Austrian officer, who was wounded in the fourth great battle on the Isonzo. "After the lull, which began in the middle of November," he says, "it was not expected that the Italians would be in a position to resume the offensive at so early a date, but almost immediately they attacked again with the same determination, to the great surprise of the defenders, and their generals as well. When I was wounded the battle I was raging on a point where I could see i the whole of the Gorizia battlefield, from the sea and the Monte del Sei Busi down to Plava. The terrain below was a ring of death, and in the south, mar the sea, the whole line was aflame with guns. I could not keep count of the number of attacks th& Italians delivered, they were so numerous. At the same time' the battle raged with just as much violence on the Monte San Michele, where our men had to suffer hell's agony "many times before. This time the battle was fought on the northern slope. The Italians succeeded in taking our positions, and a battalion of Tyrolese Jaegers who were sent to recapture them never returned. There are two conspicuous characteristics of the fighting on the Isonzo; one is the amazing rapidity of the gunfire, and th? other the closeness of the enemy positions to each other. Imagine, then, the strain on the nerves! The Italians nrepare overone of their attacks with many hours of bombardment, and it happens very often that after such a deluge the Italians simply send out patrols to ascertain if there are any living beings in our positions. The vatrols return with the news that they are still a'lvv.. and other patrols would be sent out to verify the report. The cases of insanity in consequence of the nerve shocks sustained by the bombardment are very numerous. On? of our mei. after one of their cannonades, recused to cat or drink, for .be asserted that the Italians hod poisoned everything, and at last ho died. Another one, in n fit of insanity, began to fire at our own officers, and was seized only ufti'r he had wounded three of them. No doubt the Italians feel the strain, f-.-r we often hear the exlamatiou. "Santa Maria!" Our men can only survive these bombardments by hiding in caves and tunnels and by protecting themselves with steel sheets. I can trulystate that the greatest heroes of human nduranaee in this war are those men who are fighting on the Italian front, whether they be defenders or attackers. The two opposing lines in some parts are so close to each other that only 15 yards divide them. In such positions anyone who shows -in inch of himself is doomed to certain death, in spite of the steel protectors. The distance is so small between the two lines that the Italians in one place succeeded in pulling down our wire fences with long spies. Our men

say that hell has been moved to the Isonzo Valley, and some of them roll you, as an historic fact, that many centuries- ago Dante, who spent some time there, described the Monte Sabotimo in his "Inferno.' "