BACKS TO PRECIPICES.

Taranaki Daily News, 31 August 1916, Page 5

BACKS TO PRECIPICES.

ITALIANS' HEROIC STAND Rejoicing over the Italian victory (which hurled the Austrian offensive pn the Asiago back) was novvJlierc more MUcerc than at the battle front, where the soldiery had for weeks accurately realis- " ed the perilous situation, and'had,grim- ; ly held their ground against the sue- ■ cossive waves: of the Austrian onsets, - yielding only after obstinate and almost superhuman' resistance. The task of this defensive army, which I am assured amounted at one time hardly to two divisions (says'the IMily Telegraph's Milan correspondent) was to hold thß> enemy in check until a powerful army of oll'enee could lie concentrated at their back. The ground thus lieroicajly, contested was a tortuous line of Alpine peaks, the chief of which, after- the faipous Monte. Pajjubio, were the summits' of Form Alti, Monte Albi, Monte Nove< gna, Monte Pan, Monte Magiabosclii, Cinia Echar, and M6nte Lisser. , A young officer who was at Monte ' Lisser ortly a few days ago gave me a graphic account of these positions. The retreating battle had been fought furiously almost night and day fot 40 days. The enemy was already gttining glimpses over the mountain passes of the smiling plains of Vicer.za below. The Italian soldiers were fighting with their backs to a l<Jng line of precipices, 9ver which the furious and incessant onslaught of the desperate enemy, whose numbers seemed inexhaustible, threatens ed to hurl tliem. j • FEELINGS OF BELIEF. Suddenly there came a feeling of ffr lief. Sledge-hammer blows were being dealt to the Austrian* on the extreme right and left wings. The enemy's attack 111 the centre instantly became less resolute, and the Italian troops, who had hitherto been retreating, found to their joy that they were backed by huge lines of impregnable prepared during tliose forty days and- ' masses of troops and artillery were eager to come forward and take the ' places of the brave heroes who had so lone defended the danger line. . iHours passed in eager expectation. The last scene in the preparation •was the arrival of, the guns. They were \ towed up the mule patlvs l dragged' up ' by sheer work of hand tq. seemingly inacessible summits. Ammunition train# stood thickly behind waiting to unload. . Thousands upon thousands of troops were swarming up the mountain slopes, New roads sprang into existence where none had been before. Batteries stood where only eagles had built their, nests, , and the last desperate skirmish on Monte Lemerle and Magnaboschi had scarcely subsided, when hundreds of- ; Italian guns opened lire with an infernal chorus. Shells flew thick and heavy from the lines between Monte Pau and Monte Stremel across the valley of Asiago and word came that the Austriaiis were yielding and falling back,

PURSUIT OF THE ENEMY. , The Italian infantry immediately took lip tlie pursuit They rushed down the mountain, slopes raising their war-cry of "Savoyl" and occupied Secuma and (iallio. Thence they spread along the ' roads of the entire valley, re-entered , Asiago, and continued the pursuit of the ■ enemy on Monte Cegnio to the south, and everywhere the Austrians Tfer* found in full retreat or offering only * weak" resistance. : FIERY LITTLE WARRIORS The Au&trians are brave enough, <m& ' on the average they are bigger art 4 heavier men than their opponents (sa/a a British correspondent with the Italian army). But they cannot face them with the bayonet. Contrary to wh»fc 0110 might have expected tlicj/ dread tho Neapolitan and the Sicilian more than the hardier Piedinontese. Theso litlie wiry sunburnt swift-footed child* • ren of the south and east sprint into the charge with wild shouts aud eyes that flash like their own knives. They; - have. done terrible work 011 the Isonzo, and often enough the turbid waters of that languid streaiji have swam red with their own and the enemy's blood.' Only a few days ago they rushed aflrst line trench at Monfalcone, and came back with a crowd of prisontrs 'and a fine booty in bomb-throwers and mat chine guns. None of the motley cub-: tingents of Austrians, Germans, Slov« aks, Ccoats, Magyars, or Tyrolese ha« any appetite for a point-to-point strugv gle with these fiery little wavigy» ~