ITALY.

Taranaki Daily News, 17 December 1917, Page 5

ITALY.

RAID ON TRIESTE INDESCRIBABLE CQNFU6I6H. \ Borne, Dec. 14. Details of the sinking of the Austrian battloßliip Wien show that two torpedo boats cut the eight cables which pro- ' tected the entrance to Trieste harbor, removed the mines, and found the Wien unprotected by nets. The Austrian searchlights iaikd to pick up the forpedo boata, which launched torpedoes against the Wjiett and another battleship. Indeaaribable conftttion followed among the Austrian ship* in the harbor, and the torpedo boats escaped amidst violent fire from the *nore batteries. , GREAT ENEMY PRESSURE. TO FORCE THE LIMBS.; > ITALIANS' STUBBORN RESIST^NCI* ffradaMta-M. . Reuter's correspondent quartera states that it is 150,000 Austro-Germana hare tees lost since the beginning of the offensive in the Trentino; nevertheless the enjsay is renewing his desperate efforts tor-enter (the plain, employing whole drfiaiosK in each attack. Apparently Generals Coarad-von Loetzendorff and von Bellow, are determined to pass the Alpine bulwark before the severe winter seta in. Italian seoutß have ascertained that the enenfy has concentrated 2SOO gnns on a front of less than ten miles' between the Brenta and the Piave. Judging by the present action the enemy has reverted to his original Jftea that entry into the plain if- only possible by the capture of the Monte Grappa Pass. Hitherto he has encountered jedoubtable resistance, whole battaHona of Italians allowing themselves to be destroyed in preference to yielding. No/v tnfe Anglo-French Allies are beaida nnd behind the Italians. Their intervention has saved the day, giving welldeserved rest and breathing space to toe Italians, who have, endured the unparali leiod strain of five weeks' unremitting fighting. IMMENSE ENEMY LOSSES. EXACTED FOR SHORT SECTION 1 0? GROUND. Received Dec. 10, 6.5 pjn. London, Dee. 15. Italian official: Our firm resistant* compelled the enemy to suspend his infantry attack on Ooleaprile and CoUof la Berretta. Aeroplanes shelled his c«fi> centrated troops. The enemy launched dense masses tit ; an encircling movement against the sailent of Monte Solarokv Infantry aided . ■_ the Italian and French batteries and re.' i poised the enemy, yielding only a short section of ground after inflieting. immense losses. THE TftAWOOi T«A6fiOY, ACCUSED COMMITTM) POR TRIAL Auatralian-NJZ. Cable AmnoiattM, * Received Dec. W» 96 pa. Melbourne, Dec. I*. Arthur Oldring has been ooHsmtttK for trial for murdering Mm. lepkr *B/i her step-daughter. -The police produced a statement in which accused admitted. bis name waa Blunderfield, and that he had served two long sentences in Westratia, where he broke out of gaol He and Mrs. Taylor passed as ™"«rtH wife. He drove her and her step-daughter to Tramwool on tho night of the tragedy, but remembered nothing that hammed' afterwards. He suffered from pais in his head and loss of memory as 'the result of a previous accident. (A cable on November 27 stated that a mysterious tragedy occurred at'Trawool on the 10th. A cabman drove Mrs. Taylor and her twelve-year-old stepdaughter to Trawool, where the woman stated she was going to nurse her sister. Subsequently their bodies with their heads smashed were found in the Goulbum river. The woman had £152 sewn into her underclothing and a photograph of a soldier, Arthur Oldring, was dis- ,• covered amongst hcv belongings. He was recognised as a man missing from Sey-. mour Camp. He was seen in the vicinity of the tragedy, and was arrested. As a sequel to the Trawool tragedy, Mrs. Jessie Brown, sister of Oldring, poisoned herself'and died in hospital.)