PROGRESS OF THE WAR

Dominion, Volume 10, Issue 3092, 24 May 1917, Page 4

PROGRESS OF THE WAR

Highly interesting developments are astir on tho Italian front. A correspondent at; Rome quotes Austrian prisoners as stating that the Italian offensive now under way on the Isonzo front forestalled and defeated an intended enemy offensive on the southern section of this front, between Monte Santo, north oi Gorizia, and tho Adriatic coast. The recent developments of the campaign mako it tolerably certain that no such plan was ever contemplated by the enemy. The story attributed to prisoners would in any case have been open to doubt since the Isonzo front offers the Ausfcrians no such advantage from the point, of view of a counter-offensive as does the Trentino. If the enemy could break through the narrow belt of mountain and plateau country held by tho Italians on the southeastern frontier of the Trentino and gain the Venetian plain, he would bo posted to cut across their main communications leading up to the Isonzo front. Succeeding in an offensive from the Trentino he would upset the Italian plan of campaign as a whole. On the other band, though at many points he has the advantago of ground on the Isonzo front, a counter-offensive in that quarter would be in the nature of a frontal attack which, in tho present state of Italian preparations, would hold out no obvious prospect of results.

Recent campaign events suggest that the enemy has formed just such plans as he might have been expected to in view of the circumstances in which ho is placed. The pronounced success of the Italians in their attacks upon the mountain positions north of Gorizia and east of- that' city heavily discounts the story that the enemy had concentrated as described for an offensive nn that front and further south. At the same time leports to-day 'show that the Austrian counter-stroke in the Trentino which was referred to briefly yesterday has attained formidable dimensions, though up to the- present it has failed. The Italians have repulsed very heavy and determined attacks on Mount Zugna, Mount Pasubio, and other positions in the Southern Trentino, east of the Adige valley; and an official report shows that enemy attacks have been defeated also on tho Asiago plateau, north-east of tho positions named, and in the Carniu Alps, still further north.

Thk gist of tho news at the moment is that the Italians arc standing firm against tho enemy's assaults in the Treutino, and keeping up the pressure of their offeusivc on tho Isonzo

front. But it is not by any means certain that tho Austrians aro making only a limited effort in tho Trentino. It is at least as likely that they have massed all availableforces with a view to renewing tho attempt to break into the Venetian plain, in which they failed last year. Colonel, Repington is quoted to-day as stating that Austria- has thirtyeix and a half divisions on the Italian front (about three divisions more than she had , up to the beginning of this year), of which possibly sixteen divisions are. on the lsonzo front. If this estimate is near the mark it is probable that a very largo proportion of the divisions not engagod on the Isqnzo front are in the Southern Trentino, , .or handily placed to reinforce that area.

A British correspondent writing from Italian Headquarters in March last threw interesting light upon tho existing state of affairs in the Trentino, and his dispatch is well worth quoting at'this juncture. "What the Austrians have accomplished in the Trentino since their retreat of June 29, 1916," he remarked, "furnishes food for reflection, and is open to more than one interpretation. Since last summer Tihcy have made, or made serviceable for military transport, some 2000 miles of military roads between tho Adige Valley "and Cadore (that is to say, along the eastern face of the Trentino, a, direct distance- of something over 70 miles), and have constructed hundreds of miles of the tremendously important 'wireways - which before the war were • almost unknown in Austria. The effective use made of them by the Italians for military purposes has been imitated by the Austrians on a truly imperial scale. Enormous sums have been expended in their construction, and there are several now in operation having a length of 25 to 40 miles. Besides road-building, the Austrians have been very busy this winter constructing barracks and munition depots, and have laid in huge stores of supplies of all sorts. Whatever may be the purport of these preparations, whether offensive or > defensive, there are certain facts which merit serious attention. First, the Austrians have pinned down on their Trentino front between two and three times as many men as they had there this time last year; and secondly, with their vastly improved communications, they could at very short notice transport men and guns more quickly and in greater numbers than last year. Tho recent visits of Baron Gonhad von HotzenDoitF, General Ludendorff, Marshal von Mackenben, Marshal von Hindenburg, and tho Emperor Charles to.this front may or may not be significant of aggressive intentions, but the .Austrians aro certainly infinitely better prepared to carry out an offensive on a largo scalo in the Trentino than they were last year. Tho Italians have not been idle. What I saw in my two days' visit was most encouraging. Those memorable mountains, which, naked but for tho blood of their defenders, saw tho Austrians come up on one side but ncvor go down on the othor, aro now bristling with great works of defence. Almost more impressive than tho military works was tho spirit of the men constructing them, and who are thero to defend them. Everything is being clone con amore, and tho soldicvß wore convinced that tho onemy would never pass such formidable barriers. 'We only hopo they will try' was tho word I heard everywhere passed along."

At timo of writing there is no official news of any important addition to tho Italian conquests on tho Isonzo front, but in tho region north of Gorizia- the Austrians arc said by a correspondent to bo taking up a new lino passing through the Tcrnova forest, well to tho eastward of Monte Santo. Tho capture- of tho crest of Monte Santo has not yet been officially reported, but tho Italians hold its western slopes almost to tho crest, and have captured important heights on north and south. It is) therefore, very probable that tho enemy is retiring to a new lino. This may bo not less formidable than the range cf defences from which ho has beon dislodgod, but tho Italians have altered the general situation greatly to their advantage. Their success has • given them vastly bettor positions to defend and removes the handicap under which they laboured as a result-of having to hold limited and exposed bridgeheads on tho east bank of tho Isonzo. At the same time it has probably done a great deal to clear tho way for a renewed offensive on the Carso plateau where tho enemy, though strongly placed, has a less pronounced advantago of position than in tho area further- north. The state of affairs existing on tho Isonzo front manifestly emphasises tho fact that it is by. a counterstroke from the Trentino, if a't all, that the enemy must seek to reverse the present trend'of tho campaign.

Messages to-day throw additional light upon the position created in the Western theatre by the unrelenting development of the Allied offensive. Further testimony is borne to the importance of tho British success on tho Arras front as tending to force , an enemy retreat under conditions which Hixdenbubg had hoped to avoid. The latest French achievment in the Champagne also commands attention. It exposes tho enemy to a heavily-increased danger of an effective assault upon tho flank of the great salient formed by his line in France. Detail reports show that tho enemy has striken vainly to recover his lost positions in tho Champagne, and that tho British bombardment on the Arras front has of late been particularly effective. •

Accordjng to Beuter's correspondent at Headquarters tho enemy has employed 150 divisions on the West "front since _ the beginning of the April offensive and nearly a hundred divisions have- been taken out shattered. If each of these divisions had a casualty roll of n'vn thousand it would follow that the enemy had lost half a million men killed, wounded, or taken prisoner since the Battle of Arras opened on April 9. But tho figure of five thousand casualties to each division is much too low, and if the correspondent is accurately informed as to the number of divisions withdrawn, it must be assumed that the enemy's casualties in the period stated have reached a total not Tar short of a million. The action of the Russian Government in camelling the appointment of M. Sazonoff as Ambassador to Great Britain will occasion keen reKi'cfc in British and Allioc! circles. The retiring Ambassador stood definitely opposed to the pro-German clique which formerly held sway in Russia, and his resignation from the

position of Russian Foreign Minister, in the autumn ol last year, occurred at a time when reactionary and pro-German influences wore in the ascendant at Petrograd. His removal from his ambassaubrial office is probably due to his holding much the same views as M. Miuukofk, late Foreign Minister In the Provisional Government, in regard to the aims which llussia should pursue in the war. It was while M. Sazonoff was at the Russian Foreign Office that the Allies agreed that Russia should take possession of Constantinople and the Straits.