The Auckland Star: WITH WHICH ARE INCORPORATED The Evening News, Morning News and The Echo. TUESDAY, JUNE 25, 1918. THE ITALIAN VICTORY.

Auckland Star, Volume XLIX, Issue 150, 25 June 1918, Page 4

The Auckland Star: WITH WHICH ARE INCORPORATED The Evening News, Morning News and The Echo.

TUESDAY, JUNE 25, 1918. THE ITALIAN VICTORY.

For the cause that Jacks assistance, For the wrong that needs resistance, For the future in the distance, Ami the good that toe can do.

! To-day's news of the Italian victory i ' on the Piave is the best we have had for j ' a long time. The halting of the German j offensive on the Western front may , have been a more important military i' event, but for an Allied offensive success ' of the same magnitude as this Italian. victory one has to go much further back ;' than last April. Indeed, the operations' of the past week, beginning with an ; enemy offensive and ending in the defeat. and pursuit of the enemy, carry one back to the Austrian invasion of Serbia in the first six months of the war. Then ; the Austrians penetrated far into Serbia,' but were overwhelmed by superior strategy and fighting power, and thrown: right back into their own territory. The: present operations have not involved the same movement, for the Austrian j advance on the Piave before the counter- 1 stroke involved the army in ruin, was | slight, but in the sudden reversal of. fortune there is a resemblance between . the two battles. It is interesting to . note that in both cases the Austrians were fighting without German help; it was not until the Germans came to their I aid that the Austrian were able to avenge their humiliating defeat at the , hands of the Serbians. The success of this Italian counter-stroke comes as a refreshing change in a long series of operations in which the enemy, though unable to reach his final objectives, has been able to hold ground gained. At Verdun the Germans were prevented from doing what they set out to do, but for months they held the ground, they won. So on the Somme and at Yp.-es the Germans checked us, but could not win back their lost ground; even at Cambrai, where the enemy struck back hard and successfully, the end of the battle saw us in possession of some new ground. But on the Piave a counterstroke has swiftly turned an enemy attack into an enemy defeat, and not only won back the ground taken by tho enemy, hut carried the battle behind his original linehow far behind the next few days or weeks will show. The Austrian defeat may develop into one of the greatest disasters of the war. So faT it is sufficiently impressive. The Austrians, after fighting for days and incurring heavy losses, succeeded only in getting a narrow foothold at certain places on the west bank of the Piave, while their attacks in the hills yielded them nothing. Behind them was a river with a wide bed and narrow channel or channels when the 6tream was normal, . but liable to sudden flooding river like some of the streams on the eastern side of our South Island. The Italian artillery and aeroplanes destroyed 3ome 1 bridges, and a flood carried others away, [ to the acute embarrassment of the Austrians that had crossed the river. As we explained the other day, a river line ; is not so easy to defend as it was, but behind a beaten army it may still spell disaster. The aeroplane has made it even more dangerous than it used to be. i Some of our readers may remember that striking story of "Ole-Luk-OieV (the pen-name of Colonel Swinton, one of the i inventors of the "tanks") called "The Joint in the Harness," in which, writing when aviation was in its infancy, he toll i dramatically how an army depending ' for its supplies on a railway line crossl ing a river was mortally wounded by an aeroplane attack on the bridge that the army's engineers were building against time. The Italian Commander-in-Chief seems to have handled his reserves in a masterly manner. Holding the enemy i by defence and counter-attacks, he - waited until the Austrians were weak- [ ened by losses and interrupted communi- ! cations across the river, and then strnck . hard. He compelled the Austrians to i try to retreat to the eastern side, and • with the bridges either already de- ' stroyed or under constant fire only part - of the army succeeded in getting across. Of the 75,000 men who had crossed to r the western side 45,000' have already been captured, and the amount of J material taken must be very large. But - this.is by no means all. The Italians themselves have crossed the river., and

their cavalry' is pursuing the Austrians in the. flat country between the Piave and the Livenza. That the Italians should have co quickly crossed the river in pursuit, and set their cavalry to work on the eastern side, is the best indication of the severity of the Austrian defeat. How far the pursuit will be carried depends upon the reserves that each side can throw into the battle nnd

upon the moral of the defeated army.

The military and political results of this defeat may be far-reaching. Tho Austrians evidently hoped for such further successes against the Italians as would still political and economic clamour at home. As the Central Powers have done so often, they underrated their opponents. Their commanders would not be blind to the risk of crossing the Piavc in the face of a strong and resolute enemy, but they counted upon the Italians being weak and irresolute. Their plan was a swift advance on Treviso and Venice, which would have given them room to deploy their armies on the western side of the Piavc and put the bridges some distance behind the battle lino. Circumstances suggest that the offensive was launched by order of Germany; certainly it was late in coming, and there had been sharp criticism in the German Tress of the inaction of the Austrians. It is curious, in view of the notorious inability of the Austrians to win decisive victories when left to themselves, that the German Staff should have allowed them to launch this offensive without German support. Was this due to the unwillingness or the inability of the Germans to detach troops from the Western front, or was it the result of German over-confidence in the ability of the Austrians to defeat the despised "mandolin players" of the South? At any rate, Germany now knows what a serious mistake has been made, for it is reported to-day that the German Staff is rushing troops from the Western front to Italy. This will react on the power of the GoTman offensive in the West which the Allies are awaiting. ! Had the Austrians compelled the Ita- ■ lians to abandon further large districts ;of Northern Italy, considerable rein- ' forcements might have been available to help the Germans in France, but the I operations have had just the opposite i result Germany has to weaken her ! Western front to help Austria. Moreover, at the very moment that Italian armies arc defeating the Austrians in Italy, Italian troops are in action against j tho Germans in France. The political i possibilities of the Austrian defeat . hardly need mention in view of the messages we publish about the condition of , 'Austria. It should be borne in mind ■ that in such a situation political cannot L ' he separated from military results, for I each reacts on the other. To the Italian ; nation the victory, coming after the terrible disaster of last year and the long months of recovery and preparation for another onslaught, will come as a mighty ,! relief and an inspiring encouragement. . It is most fitting that the victory on the . j Piavc should have happened about the : time of the anniversary (.Tune 22) of the , birth of Mazzini, the soul of the move- . ment that made Italy a free and united nation.