ITALIAN FRONT.

Taihape Daily Times, 3 January 1918, Page 5

ITALIAN FRONT.

ENEMY DRIVEN BACK. AN ITALIAN SUCCESS Received 8.45. LONDON, Jan 2. Italian official; Owing to our energetic pressure since the 27th the enemy has abandoned the bridgehead at Zenson, and crossed to the left bank of the Piave, suffering heavy loss. We now hold the whole Zenson bend.. . /U/ The enemy bombed during the' night Vicentia, Bassano Castle, and Franco Triviso. Thirteen were killed and forty-four nijured. GREAT ENEMY OFFENSIVE COMING. WASHINGTON, Jan 2. An official cable from Rome states that all tillable land has been requisitioned and will be distributed among the people. The Government will defray the cost of cultivation and utilise the produce for war. The civil population has been mobilised for war industries. The continued concentration of Austro-Germans and the massing of artillery behind th© Brenta and Piave presages a great offensive. BRAVERY OF THE ITALIANS. GENERAL DIAZ’S PRAISE. Received noon. ROME, Jan 2 General Diaz, in an interview, expressed great satisfaction at the discipline and bravery of the..ltalians in the recent retreat. During the recent furious fighting they in some places fell back five hundred yards, but soon were fighting on new lines. He praised the concord of the Italian and Allied troops, and said if the Italian troops accepted similar discipline victory would not be lacking. AERIAL ATROCITIES. THE POPE PROTESTS. Received 12.45 . ROME, Janary 2 The Ossarvatori Romano states tho Pope has called the Central Powers’ attention to the uselessness of the aerial bomarding of Padua and similar ',massa)crcs, and -hrgee tjhcm |to abandon such actions. CONFIDENCE IN GOVERNMENT CARRIED. Received 12.45. ** I ROME, January 2

The Senate has unanimously voted confidence in the Government. The Premier, referring to the Brest Litovsk Conference, said, although desiring peace, ‘the Allies would \on!y accept a.peace reconcileablo with the liberties of the people. The Allied Governments had not been consulted with regard to the Russo-German overtures.