ITALY'S TERRIBLE TASK.

Bruce Herald, Volume LIII, Issue 72, 13 September 1917, Page 3

ITALY'S TERRIBLE TASK.

■■ r -| TALK WITH CADORNAt PICTURE OF GREAT SOLDIER. ' ' ! The Italians are fighting a distinctive war of their own in a distinctive . way of their own (writes the Sydney 'Sun's' special representative .from Italian Headquarters on May 28). Yo\i emerge from the long railway tunnel and find yourself in Italy. Immediately you find that these dark-eyed, pleasant, musical voting soldiers are different from those of other armies you have;

seen. You go through their cities and up to their firing lines, and all the way you see that the methods, manners, and war problems of the Italian army are distinctive. / It is an immense army, far larger than Sir Douglas Haig's force in France. Get rid of the idea that Italy is not pulling her weight. Figures cannot' he printed, but I may say she lias mobilised several millions of men, and these men are fighting with valor, tenacity, and enthusiasm, and are, moreover, the freshest army in. Western Europe. Perhaps because they are simple in mind, like children, and endure the fortunes of Avar when they come, without asking why. HOW ITALIANS FIGHT.

Italy has not spared its older men. Classes up to the age of 42 have been called out. The exemption system is liberal, containing provision for the return of essential workers during certain months of the year to their,.farms and vineyards. But the slacker is ruthlessly hunted down. Exempted men are so jealously inspected by tlie women of Italy that "to shield them from unjustified obloquy the Government gives them armlets bearing the national colors and an army crest.

So you get in the army zones a de-» mocratically conscripted army. The , principle of equality of sacrifice rules. ' Holding the trenches you see the most j refined products of old Latin civilisa-1 tion standing alongside the raw peasantry, and the only complaint yoji hear 1 about inequalities is that some of the j aristocratic families try to get their sons into the motor services by pre- j senting cars and other subterfuges. That is not peculiar .to Itay. Great j Britain has similar experiences, and its War Office maintains a special board to j tear to pieces the expensive medical j certificates bought by wealthy parents l who do hot want their boys to go to the war. . The Italian army can claim to be as ] democratic as any in Europe. Its men tight for. less than 2d a day, and its officers get very little more. It looks to the State to provide all its needs in clothing and weapons, and to care for its wounded and its dependents. Further than that, it asks for only* these few pence for little personal necessities. It takes no payjfor fighting for its country. """ SHELLS SCATTER STONES. On every section the special hardship of warfare in stones is added to the usual horrors of modern battlefields. I do not say that here the war is a worse ordeal than on the British front. It is saved from being that by comparative shortage of artillery fire. But it is beyond doubt that shells have here a wider percussion radius than elsewhere, and that when they burst they scatter many more deadly missiles, for they send showers of broken stone for many yards around. Until the new quick fuse was introduced on the western, front shells would lose much of their power as they nosed into the soft ground. Here they always explode on v contact with the hard surface, and their deadliness is estimated to be doubled. WORK BEHIND THE LINES They have made about GOOO miles of new road and bits of road—a total the more extraordinary because of engineering diffigculties. They are fair white roads zig-zagging up and down mountains, with many hair-pin turns. Motoring on them is a delight ;■ walking on them is only pleasant exercise, so easy are the gradients. You see everywhere gangs of boys and old men,workin© 1 upon them, always with the übiquitous umbrella by their sides. These are the youngsters not old enough for fighting and the They make from four to six lira at this work, and though it takes them to cold and dreary places, they enjoy it, for -they bring with them the Italian sunny nature. Many are Sicilians, enjoying now ui. : paralleled prosperity. TUNNELLING EXTRAORDINARY. If the road-making has been remarkable here,--the tunnelling, gun-mount- . ing, and motor services must bo called extraordinarv. Tho war hinges upon motor transport. Cadorna has more than once moved an army this Vay—notablv during the Austrian offensive in May last year. You see on every mountainside long strings. ox rut

waggons, and Fiat cars of every do- j scrip tion are met on the roads. Ru important is' tho motor sorvice i.ric that it is organised under high officers. Uno army headquarters I visited lcquired moro than 30 cars for staff uso, Decauville railways go where railwm can, and aerial railways cross ninny ravines and climb mountains. Hut without its cars and waggons the Italian araiy would be definitely at a s:and- ' still. One tunnelling feat I have inspected to-day is a large gallery in a mountain side, which ends in holes blasted through tho rock of the other side. You walk through this dripping gallery without having to bend your head; and you find that large guns aro placed in each hole, and that each battery commands an Austrian position. j , CADORNA. | The man behind the whole organism 'is ■■Oadortia*. He is typical of the Italian army, and the army is typical of him, He belongs to bis soldiers, and his soldiers are truly called "Cadorna's men. j ' Early this'morning ho received ine at • bis headquarters and gavo mo 15 min- : utes of his quick, rushing talk. It was ! a high privilege, accorded because I was, so far as was known, tho first : Australian to como to his front. i Cadormi does not like display. His ! ideal is the quiet usefulness of the ' plain, scientific soldier. Ho asks for " results with a minimum of excitement. , It is said that when Peppino Gari- ! baldi, who is noted for his reckless ' courage, sought a commission in tho 1 Jtaban armv after having served as a volunteer in France, he was recom- ; mended by the poet D'Annunzio as I "one of tho bravest." | "That is bad," said Cadorna. ! "He sings and laughs amid a nail ' of enemy explosives," said D'Annunzio. : "Had,' bad," said Cadorna. : "At the mere sight of him his men become seized with an enthusiasm that leads them to rush joyfully to death in an intoxication of holy ardor," said D'Annunzio. ~',„■, "Worse and worse," replied Cadorna. ! "What qualities, then, are rcqmri ed?" asked D'Annunzio. i "I am of the opinion," answered the ! general, "that he should be taught first 1 of all not to get killed himself, and not 'to expose his men without need. An : officer who is worthy of his position ': does not fear death, but ho does not despise life. . He must be cool, metho- ' dical, and serious."

THE '"GREAT AUSTRALIANS." General Cadorna is never "interviewed." At such a meeting as tins he spends the time questioning his interviewer. He asked in this case many questions about the battle for the Hindenburg line, which I had recently seen, and about my impressions of his own men. He was particularly interested in our Australian army, and on this point alone would he allow his remarks to be quoted. They wero mainly regrets that he had not been able to see the Australians—he had spent only one night with General Haig on the British fronts he explained—and admiration for their prowess, of which he had heard much. The miracles they had Gallipoli especially appealed to the Italian mind, for. Gallipoli warfare was not unlike what was nappqping on parts of the Italian front.