HEROIC ITALY.

Taranaki Daily News, 25 September 1915, Page 10

HEROIC ITALY.

STORIES PROM THE ISONZO,DEVOTION OF ITALIAN TROOPS. London, July 30. One of the most interesting articles on the Italian campaign that have appeared in the London newspapers is a message from a correspondent of the Morning Post, which is given below. Better than any other message I have read it reveals the spirit of the Italians as well as the difficulties of tlie campaign. Sagrado, at the foot of the Carso, is the most sorely-tried place of all those hitherto occupied by the Italians (writes the correspondent). The Austrian guns have been hammering at it without intermission and have reduced the once beautiful little town to a heap of blackened and smoking ruins. Sagrado is, on a reduced scale, the Termondc of the zone of the Isonzo. The Austnans are venting their rage against the place without the slightest reason. Although they are short of ammunition for their guns, they bombard it without mercy, as though to revenge themselves on the inliabitants because more than threefourths of them are favorable to Italian national aspirations, that is to say, to the Irredentist agitation. Only a very small number of the houses remain standing. Even- the church) with its boll-tower, is reduced to a mass of rubbish. The Italians have now advanced far beyond Sagrado. They have climbed up in a northerly direction to a distance beyond of about half-a-dozen kilometres, occupying successively the lines of the enemy trenches which divide the slopes of Mont San Michele, a mountain so rich in formidable natural and artificial defences that its capture was equivalent to the taking of/a fortress of the first class. There was, more particularly, a kind of defensive ring which the Italian troops called the trincerone or great trench. It was an interminable line, more than four metres wide, running round the slopes, protected by a roof of very thick reinforced concrete, and defended by an enormous number of machine guns, mortars and quick-firing guns. This trench, which formed a veritable fortress, withstood the fire of the heavy Italian cannon. Its covering, to which natural rocks were super-added, made it stronger than steel. To render themselves masters of it, therefore, the Italians had to display an intrepidity reminiscent of the finest achievements of the Garibaldian campaigns.

A FORMIDABLE TRENCH. \ This trincerone, like nearly all those ' distributed along Uie course of the Isonzo, was, moreover, protected by a formidable mass of barbed wire entanglements. Many of these were charged with a strong current, which the Austrians were able to produce from the electrical plant of the Cargo. It was necessary to select from the Italian army men of supreme daring to undertake to advance under the 'heavy fire of the Austrian and hurl high explosives among the barbed wire and the mines of the enemy, following this up with a bayonet attack on the defenders. It was not difficult to find volunteers. Men contended for the honor of being selected, and among those who particularly distinguished themselves in this respect were (he men belonging to the engineers and cavalry. These men, for some days after the outbreak of war, had remained in enforced idleness in the valley of the Isonzo. ' Cavalry, in fact, were perfectly useless in the rude and mountainous region on the north bank of the river. I came across a number of Lancers and other cavalry regiments at one part of the front, and I found officers and men all complaining of their enforced inactivity. No sooner did they hear that a forlorn hope was asked for than they offered themselves in a body. Officers in Italian cavalry regiments have long had the reputation even in Italy of being young men in fashion who, although fine horsemen, were ill-suited for the fatigues and sacrifices required !n time of war. The war in Libya and the present war have demonstrated that rumo:' did them a cruel injustice. Nothing, in fact, is more wonderful than the way in which these young men, belonging for the most part to distinguished families, rich and accustomed to all the comforts and luxuries of life, spontaneously offered their Hvea—for an undertaking in the higbest degree perilous and arduous. Their advance was made by night, and they projected into the enemy trenches heavy tubes of a special explosive of a formidable character, which is a valuable invention of the Italian artillery. YOUNG ITALIAN HEROES. The explosives, fired from a distance by means of an electric current destroyed simultaneously not only the barbed wire entanglements, but also the side of the trenches. The young 'heroes paid dearly for their daring, for a very heavy proportion, possibly 50 per cent, were killed. The are careful to light up the region with reflectors and artificial lights, and any bombthrowers who are discovered have very little chance of escape. One of them, who bore one of the most distinguished names among the Italian aristocracy, crept up one day to an enemy trench carrying two tubes charged with explosive gelatine. While making towards the barbed-wire entanglements he was discovered, and a murderous fire of machine guns was directed against him. He fell severely wounded. The Austrians thought he was killed, and so did his companions. But the valiant young officer, although extremely weak from loss of blood, actually succeeded in Teaching the entanglements and hurled his tubes into them. When he saw that his mission had been achieved he gathired up all hia remaining strength f 0 shout, "VivaTltalia!" (The Austrians, hearing the cry, used their machine gam more furiously than before, but it vas too late, for the tubes had exci oded with a tremendous noise. The Italians advanced with the bayonet and captured the trench, the way to which had been opened by the explosion. T'le body of the heroic young officer was found rHdled with bullets. With similar bravery the lialiaLs cap. tured the positions they occupy at the present moment on the left bank of the Isonzo. From Caporetto to Monfalcone. in the latter days of June and the first week of July, they made progress wbicli to me appears marvellous. The situation of Gorizia, which is the hejrt of the Austrian defence on the Isonzo, appears to me to be seriously compromised. In fact, during a great part of the Austrian defence of Mont San Michele, on the western spur of the Carso, the Austr ans, in spite of their formidable artillery, arc paralysed by tho Italian advance. STEADY ADVANCE OF ITALIANS. The fierce struggle of the Italians for the conquest of Qetitift ii concentrated

for the present within the triangle Plava-Todgora-Sagrado. As in the first days of this heroic contest, so at the present moment, every metre of ground conquered with the bayonet is gained by the sacrifice of Italian blood. The troops which conquered the trenches at Mont Ban Michele, Podgora, Sabotino and Plava have invariably had but little support from their artillery. This is on account of the Inaccessible character of the ground and the natural protection, oi which the enemy takes advantage. Slowly, however, the Italians conquer new positions in spite of trenches and other defences, and never in any single instance have they retreated by one step from the positions they have taken up along the two hundred kilometres of the line of the Isonzo. The Italian troops, in fact, are fighting with their traditional dash, showing that they have preserved the traditions of the chivalry of the Italian condottieri of former times. Generals, colonels and captains are always in the lines with their men, giving personal examples of courage and enterprise. Many are the colonels and majors who have shared with their troops tho fatigues of an assault on a line of trenches, rifle iu hand, like private soldiers. For this reason the Italian troops follow their officers with blind faith and serene courage in the most dangerous undertakings. When an officer falls dead or wounded under the lire of the enemy his men spring forward to secure his body. In the engagement in front of Tolmmo, where the Italians made substantial pro. gross, a man belonging to an Alpine regiment penetrated three times into the enemy trenches to secure the body of his captain, his lieutenant and his corporal. He actually escaped unharmed, for which reason his comrades christened him the "asbestos soldier" (il soldato di amianto]. The Italian casualties, in spite of these deds of heroism, have not up to the present been very serious, in spite of the heavy losses of those regiments which have volunteered for the most deadly enterprises. The nature of the ground does no"t allow of the use of very considerable numbers of men. Only a fifth part of the soldiers of the first line drawn up at the present moment on the Italian frontier in the East are actually in the firing line.

AUSTRIANS OX THE DEFENSIVE. The irresistible dash of the Italian troops has finally reduced the Austrians to act purely on the defensive. Only occasionally do they make an attempt to pierce the Italian lines with massed formations at a given point, trusting to their excellent military roads to effect a retreat in case of failure, which so far has invariably happened. In a halnd-to-liand %ht with the cold steel the Italian soldier .is far superior to his antagonists, and in this respect the men from Calabria, from Sicily and from Sardinia particularly distinguish themselves. Many of these men when they penetrate into the enemy trenches remove their bayonet? from their rifles, which they throw away and then use the bayonets as swords. The Austrians are' becoming mora and more convinced of the impossibility of their overcoming their enemies in such a struggle, so that immediately the Italians rush a trench the Austrian occupants surrender. This explains how it is that the Italians, in the one sector i of the Isonzo, have already since the beginning of the war, made more than 6000 prisoners. Such a number is really remarkable when it is borne in mind how few men are necessary for the defence of a ti*n:!Ji and how difficult it is to capture it. The Austrians, on the other hand, since the war began, have only captured fifty or sixty Italians, all of whom, without'exception, were wounded and helpless. A colonel of Bersaglicri, a few days ago, in congratulating his men on having captured fifty Austrians, said to them: "Let us rejoice to think that during two montha of warfare not a single Italian soldier has voluntarily s ur. rendered to the enemy." The Austrians, on the other hand, willingly surrender when they can elude the stern viligance of their officers, who generally lie in hiding, revolver in hand, at the egress to the trenches, ready to fire on their soldiers when they attempt to run away in face of the irresistible attacks of the Italians. Deserters from the enemy ranks are generally Bosnians, Roumanians or Italians from the unredeemed provinces.

HUNGARIAN FIGHTERS. The men who fight best in the Austrian ranks are the Hungarians, who have often preferred to die in their trenches rather than surrender. Italian officers and soldiers, for this reason, treat the Hungarians with respect. This was particularly observable after the epic engagement at Monte Nero, when the Alpini had charge of a number of Hungarian prisoners. One of these having died of wounds, he was given a splendid military funeral. The Italians are redoubtable in battle hut chivalrous withal. They do not corneal from themselves the severity of the struggle, but they are convinced that they will eventually triumph.

When Gorizia is conquered the Austrian defensive line of the Isonzo will have lost three-fourths of its value. But Gorizia cannot be conquered as a result of one great battle. It is simply a formidable fortress, the defensive situation of which reminds one of Port Arthur. Like the Japanese, the Italians are destroying the approaches to Gorizia by means of vigorous, persistent, methodical attacks which guns and trenches are powerless to resist. It is neither possible nor permissible that I should, after what I have seen and heard, attempt to estimate how long a time will elapse before the Italians finally conquer Gorizia. But it cannot be long delayed. Already, a. few days ago, advanced patrols belonging to the Italian armv penetrated into the city on a reconnaissance I he fate of Gorizia is sealed.