THE SINGING ARMIES.

Taranaki Daily News, 4 December 1917, Page 2

THE SINGING ARMIES.

TOMMIES CHEER DEPRESSED ITALIANS. "HORRAY YOU ENGLISH FELLER." London, Nov. 15. Mr. Ward Price, official representative in Italy, writes:— "I have seen the most cheerful sights in the last two days in Northern Italy. The roads are thick with British khaki and ■blue-clad Frenchmen with their regimental bands, 'putting now heart into the Itr.lian soldiers and anxious civilians."

"Last night I saw an English battalion plugging steadily onward through the mud, the band playing a brisk march. The men's cheery confidence filled the narrow street with a tumult of lively optimism. The villagers stood outside their doors cheering, gesticulating, and waving their handkerchiefs so wildly under the street lamps that a colonel's horse curvetted with excitement.

"Each day Allied reinforcements reach Italy in greater numbers. Some French crossed the Alps through the passes, which are already snow-covered, the railways heing congested, thug repeating Napoleon's achievement, but in order to save, not to conquer, Italy, These already have been sent to the appointed place in the Italian defences. During the laab two days I kept pace with long columns, complete, from regimental colors to baggage wagons. The men arc delighted to be here. The change of 9ccne, the unfamiliar surroundings, the delicate golden sunshine of Italian autumn, are all to their taste. Our men are fit to jump out of their skins in their new joy of adventure, although when they were ordered to start for Italy some of them had just come- out of the line for a long rest. WINDING UP WATCH ON RHINE. "Last night I-saw an English troop train at a station. The confused roar of phoruses heralded its arrival. The men were boisterously chanting, despite a four or five days' and nights' journey, "There's a Long, Long' Road Awaiting," "Oh! Oh! I am Surprised At You," "When We've Wound Up The Watch On The Rhine," and other songs. The roar and the high spirits made you think that the troops were entering on a ready-made victory, instead of a desperate'effort to help retrieve defeat. Their demonstrative cheerfulness greatly surprised the Italians, whose troops do not sing much at any time, and now are less disposed to sing than ever. Tha Tommies' cheerful spirits are infectious. Soon all the Italians were smiling, and those. /with a smattering of English were shouting 'Hooray, you English feller.'"

The towns where the Tommies arc quartered arc arranging entertainments of Mr. Wu aDd the Bing Boys "in honor of our English guests." The kilts are 'most popular, as is inevitable in every new country. Ris a wonderful speotacle, these Kilties, surmounted with Tam-o'-Shanters, wandering in the quaint old mediaeval town, sieht-seeing with Characteristic Scotch solemnity, regardless of the close survev of hundreds of curious eyes. The Allies' troops are marching forward to their line on roads which wind round foothills whereon stand terracotta castles and walled towns, which fought each other in the Middle Ages. 0* THE GOLDEN PLAIN. ' Elsewhere we are advancing on a rich plain, golden with countless rows of autumn-tinted mulberry trees, the fertile soil planted with .wheat which is showing green, trailing vines stretched across intensely-cultivated ground To the northward, where the anow-ooterect crests of the lower Alps glea.m in the sunset the enemy pushes on towards the fair plain. As the men rest at the roadside they hear plainly the solemn mutter of the guns of their new foe. Mr. Jeffries, the Times correspondent at Italian headquarters, states that the enemy is desperately attacking in the Trentino and adjacent mountains, where by the upper waters of the Brenta and the Piave the fortunes of the Italian army are at stake. The Italians are resisting doggedly where they fought their groat defensive battles in 19.16 in the midst of the last resting places of their comrades in that struggle. The Alpini and the other troops are determined not to yield these tombs, and not to allow the enemy to force an, entrance to the plains. Their password is 'Diqua pasea" ("they shall not get through"). They will certainly defend the posts to the end. BULWARKS ARE FIRM. They have great difficulties to overcome. The same troops are fighting day after day. The Ninth Regiment of Infantry has been incessantly attacked for five days at Mont Ciston, the enemy using fresh reserves, and not giving the i defenders a respite. Nevertheless he •necta undiminished resistance. The Italians almost annihilated massed attacks at Mont Zonso, throwing back an entire division. Monts For ad Castle Gombcrto, the main bulwarks of the defence, remain firm. Presumably it will not be long before the influence of the Allied help will he apparent.

Venice is rapidly emptying, and only 20,000 now remaip out of a population of upwards of 150,000. All the removable works of art have gone. The ducal palace has been stripped and boarded tip. Moat of the shops are closed, and the remainder are selling off. Gondolas have taken flight", transporting numerous families and effects through the lagoons to coastal towns. The noble shuttered palaces on the Grand Canal recall the days when Roman senators sat on their thrones awaiting the inrush of the Goths. The inhabitants are remaining cheerful and confident, headed by, the Mayor, the Oonte Grimani, a descendant of the Doges.