ITALY.

Taranaki Daily News, 5 July 1918, Page 6

ITALY.

the Austrian commands, sweeping changes. Zurich, July 3. A telegram from Vienna reports sweeping changes in the Austrian commands owing to the defeat on the Italian front. Field-Marshal von Kowehs replaces General Conrad, and General Krauss. who is Prince Eugene's Chief of Staff, becomes Chief of the General Staff, replacing General von Aix The German von Below has been given supreme command on the Italian front. Telegrams from military circlas in Vienna attribute the chief blame of the Piave defeat to the Hungarian strike, which crippled the output of munitions. When the attack began it was found that only seven days' ammunition was on hand. The offensive also was hurried, because the politicians hoped for a success to relieve the political situation.—Aus. N.Z. Cable Assoc.

BRILLIANT ITALIAN WORK. CRUSHING AUSTRIAN DEFEAT. London, July 3. Mr. Jeffries states that the capture J of the Col del Rosso and Monte-val-! Bella were great operations, carried out with brilliant dash. The defeated divisions included the Emperor Karl's favorite Edelweiss troops under General Scheuehenstwel, the most trusted Austrian commander. The Austrian losses greatly exceeded 1500, as reported on July 1. Two fresh regiments entered the fight in the morning, and by the evening neither existed. All had been killed or captured. The Czechs fought with fierce courage, charging desperately and flinging the enemy with, his guns down the mountain side. The Austrian defeat was largely due to the failure to maintain communications, resulting in confusion. Mr. Ward Price says the Italian losses were small beyond all expectations. All the crack Austrian divisions badly need repairs.—Times. A VAST DRY DOCK. Rome, July 3. The Government is cutting a canal connecting Lake Avernus with the sea and transforming the lake into a vast dry dock—Aus. N.Z. Cable Assoc. (Lake Avernus, ten miles from Naples, is the crater of an extinct volcano, where the ancients placed the entrance to the infernal regions. Agrippa, at the command of Augustus, connected the lake with the sea and constructed a naval port, which existed until 1538, when the volcanic eruption of Mount Nuovo completely destroyed it and altered the face of the surrounding country. The lake is 210 feet deep, but not more than a few feet above sea level, and is two miles in circumference.)