Thank you for correcting the text in this article. Your corrections improve Papers Past searches for everyone. See the latest corrections.

This article contains searchable text which was automatically generated and may contain errors. Join the community and correct any errors you spot to help us improve Papers Past.

Article image
Article image
Article image
Article image
Article image
Article image
Article image
Article image
Article image
Article image
Article image
Article image
Article image
Article image
Article image
Article image

ITALY.

A CRITICAL BATTLE. ENEMY'S GREAT PREPARATIONS. TO DELIVER A STAGGERING BLOW. AUSTRIA'S FULL FORCE EMPLOYED. BACKED BY GERMANS FROM , RUSSIA. Australian Cable Association. Reecived Oct. 28, 5.5 p.m. London, Oct. 27. Mr. Ward Price wires from Italian headquarters on the Isonzo front: We ' are on the eve of one of those immensely powerful, long planned drives, with which the Austro-Germans seek to crush their adversary with a single staggering blow. A terrible crisis is coming, when each side stakes all upon the throw and millions of men will be strained to the limit of exhaustion. Italy is about to meet single-handed almost the entire Austrian, army, with at least ten German divisions I and new batteries of heavy guns rang- ' ing all along tho front. The fighting is swaying this wav and that. Tho Italians at the first 'oiwct lost some ground, but these were onlv tho first sparring blows. The 'heaviest possible fighting i s going on in the Isonzo triangle,' with Tolmino for its apex, and the enemy is using overwhelming numbers of troops in the effort to thrust us from the Julian plain. An Italian semi-official statement says it is at present impossible to give all,, .the details of the position at the front, where the struggle continues bitter and undecided. The statement admits that the situation i ? grave, but if the Italian troojjs fight «s previously, the enemy is not likely to tread Italian soil for long. GERMANY'S SUPREME EFFORT BRAVELY FACED BY ITALIANS. INITIAL ENEMY SUCCESSES. KEY POSITION RETAKEN BY ITALIANS. Aus. and N.Z. Cable Assoc, and Reuter. Received Oct. 28,, 5.5 p.m. London, Oct. 27. •Mr. Ward Price, telegraphing later from t\e Italian front, says that "300,000 Germans have been added to the Austrian forces in the Isonzo valley, between Plezzo and Tolmino. This vast strength is concentrated on a front of twenty miles, thereby increasing the forty Austrian divisions facing the Italian second army by fifty per cent. There are also certainly reinforcements behind. General Mackensen is directing the offensive. Otto von Buelow is commanding the German contingent. The Italians faced one of Germany's supreme efforts with a singleness of purpose and complete harmony of action. The Germans carried out the task of transporting the huge military organisation, which was no longer ' needed in Russia, to a place where it can be used to the best effect. The transport has been an immense feat. The Germans uprooted whole armies and carried them across Europe. Taking advantage of a thick fog, the Germans suddenly thrust at tho Italian outpost south of Monte Nero, where a German army corps .attacked an Italian brigade, bursting through by sheer weight of numbers and reaching the Isonzo. Favortft by night and rain, the Germans pushed three milee up the valley, seized Caporetto town, and then divided. Part atacked he Italian bastion at Monte Starasbilla, and the rest pushed on to Robec, hoping to turn the whole line of Italian defence. Fortunately, both German ufforta were held up. Meanwhile other Germans made i frontal attacks on the main Isonzo line, while the attacks from the German bridge-heads at Santa Maria and Santa Lucia, south of Tolmino, succeeded by a surprise. The Italians were driven out of Globocak, one of the key positions in the main defence. It being essential to retake Globocak immediately, a brigade of Bersaglieras was sent' forward, with orders to recapture Globocak at all costs. They did so with bomb and bayonet and the line was restored,

EXCELLENT ITALIAN DEFENCE TREMENDOUS BOMBARDMENT OF THE CARSO. Received Oct. 28, 5.15 p.m. London, Oct. 27. Mr. Ward Price continues: The fiercest fighting went on at the Bainsizza pla'teaii) where from an onslaught in greatly superior numbers the Italians fell' back a mile, and as it was difficult to cross the swift river over bridges constantly under fire, they took the precaution to send the heavier material to the right bank, whence the artillery is now supporting the infantry and the lighter guns on the Bainsizza. The excellent quality of the Italian defence is shown in the fact that seven hundred prisoners were taken in counter-attacks at Bainsizza and elsewhere. The Carso is subjected to a tremendous bombardment, the Germans hoping thereby to hold the Italians to the ground.

MORE FRIGHTFULNESS. MUX TORTURE GAS. Australian Cable Association. Received Oct. 28, 5,5 p.m. London, Oct. 27. Tho Germans on the Italian front are using a new torture gas, which produces terrible itching, even through the masks. The inventors are hoping to force tho Italians to remove- their masks and die from gas shells.

THE HOMERIC STRUGGLE. I

DEFILE HEAPED WITH ENEMY DEAD. EFFORT TO SPLIT ITALIAN LINE. GERMANS DASH THROUGH PASS, United Servics. Received Oct. 28, 11.30 p.m. London, Oct. 28. Mr. Jeffries (war correspondent) states ' that an Homeric struggle occurred at the Pass of Pk>zzo. The Italians made a fierce individual resistance and held the heights, heaping the mouth of the defile with the Austrian dead. The Austrians changed their plans, and while clouds of mist hung over the morass mud they made a surprise attack up the valley of the Isonzo. Here the battle was intensely bitter. Their object appears to be to gain access to the delta and the roads beyond Bainßizza, thereby splitting the line and opening the way to Fruile. An entire German army corps debouched into the Isonzo valley, pouring through the pass upon Caporetto, between Monte Nero and Polounik, with terrific speed, the men almost leaping along the valley. An Austrian army cerps made a massed attack on the Plezzo Pass, but the intrepid Alpini on the advanced heights are still making a gallant defence. .

ENEMY EFFORT INCREASING. STRONG THRUSTS REPULSED. Aus. and N.Z. Cable Assoc, and Reuter. Received Oct. 28, 11.10 p.m. - London, Oct. 27. Italian official: After crossing the boundary line between Monte Canin and the head of Judris valley, the enemy attempted to reach an opening on the plains. The hostile effort on the Carso is increasing. We repulsed strong offensive thrusts. FABULOUS GERMAN CLAIMS. Au.s. and N.Z. Cable Assoc, and Reuter. Received Oct. 28, 11.20 p.m. London, Oct. 27. German official: The Austro-Germaris captured the mountain ridge of Stol at Monte Matajur, and are pressing on through the Julian Alps towards the Italian plain. They have now taken CO 000 prisoners and 450 guns. The italinn Isonzo front is shaking as far as Wippac. but the enemy is maintaining his positions on the Carso. PREPARING FOR EVACUATION. •London, Oct. 28. An Italian official despatch states:— Powerful enemy forces continued an offensive against our lift wing on the Julian front. Vfo have withdwrawn our boundary line between Mount Maggiore nnd westward of Auzza, and provided for the evacuation of the Bainsizza Plateau. . FALL OF CABINET. Rome, Oct. 26. The Chamber, by 314 votes to 29, rejected a vote of confidence in the Government. The fall of the Cabinet has been anticipated for some time. Premier Bosrelii is upwards of 80 years of

.ige, and lias lost his vigor. Moreover, there is dissatisfaction over the food question. New party combinations in tiio Chamber rendered the position of the Ministry precarious. The crisis does not imply any weakening concerning the war. FRENCH AND BRITISH REINFORCEMEXTS. Washington, Oct. 25. The Italian Embassy has received official advices that French and British reinforcements are arriving on the Italian front by trains from France, also Jorge quantities of guns and munitions. CABINET RECOXSTRUCTION. Renter Service. Received Oct. 28, 5.5 p.ra. Rome, Oct. 27. The Italian Cabinet has resigned. Times Service. Received Oct. 28/ 5.5 p.m. Rome, Oct. 27. Signor Orlando (Minister of the Interior) succeeds Signor Boselli as Prime Minister.

Permanent link to this item
Hononga pūmau ki tēnei tūemi

https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/TDN19171029.2.28.8

Bibliographic details
Ngā taipitopito pukapuka

Taranaki Daily News, 29 October 1917, Page 5

Word count
Tapeke kupu
1,275

ITALY. Taranaki Daily News, 29 October 1917, Page 5

ITALY. Taranaki Daily News, 29 October 1917, Page 5

Help

Log in or create a Papers Past website account

Use your Papers Past website account to correct newspaper text.

By creating and using this account you agree to our terms of use.

Log in with RealMe®

If you’ve used a RealMe login somewhere else, you can use it here too. If you don’t already have a username and password, just click Log in and you can choose to create one.


Log in again to continue your work

Your session has expired.

Log in again with RealMe®


Alert