The Dominion. WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 31, 1917. ITALY'S HEAVY BLOW

Dominion, Volume 11, Issue 31, 31 October 1917, Page 4

The Dominion. WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 31, 1917. ITALY'S HEAVY BLOW

An American military authority is quoted to-day as saying that fcho Italian situation is the worst for the Allies since the Battle of the llarjie. Whether this is an exaggerated estimate or not the events of the near fitturo will show, but the disaster on the Isonzo front, is in any case a grim reminder not only to Italy, but to all the nations fighting the Central Empires, that the task of /Overthrowing Prussian militarism is still formidable, and that there can be no slackening of effort on the part of the Allies if progress is to be maintained towards the common goal at which the Aliles aim. A stern warning has been given of the. danger of entertaining a- sense of false security or harbouring the delusion that there is vn easy or assured path to victory. The force and character of the warning are best realised by considering, as far as available information will permit, what has been lost by tho Italians in four or five disastrous days of battle and retreat. The leading facts stand out only too plainly from the news'., Little more than a week ago the position of the Italian armies attacking the Austrian defensive line beyond the Isonzo might fairly have been described as commanding. A defeat made possible by treachery in their own ranks has deprived them of all that they gained on their main offensive front in two and a half years of laborious and-heroic effort, and they are now striving to make head against an invasion .of their own territory. To look at the facts a little more in detail is to realise that Italy is entitled not only to ungrudging assistance from her Allies, but to their whole-hearted sympathy. All who have followed the progress of her campaigns will applaud tho doclaration credited to-day to General Smuts, that the Allies will stand by her to tho bitter end. A flaw has been found in her national and military organisation, and the results are for the time being disastrous, but this should not for a moment be allowed to cloud our appreciation of the; fact that Italy has played a part in the war which could only have been played by a bravo and resolute nation. When Italy entered the war in May, 1915, the enemy was at the height of his offensive power, and held an almost undisputed initiative, and the Allies were on the defensive. Italy did not wait to see which way tho wind would blow before assorting her national rights and joining the nations pledged lo

free the world from the oppression and menace of German hegemony. In 19M the expenses of a recent African war had emptied her treasury; her Army, though well organised, was small and had little artillery; and she was wholly dependent on other countries for coal, iron, steel, and a. proportion of her foodstuffs. Yet in nine? months she had as far as possible remedied deficiencies and thrown in her lot with the Allies. Her immediate task was to take over five hundred miles of biiUlcfront, over a great part of which the enemy had. the advantage of. dominating mounDain strongholds, and in the first stage of her campaign her comparatively untried armies were pitted against twentyfivo divisions of seasoned Austrian troops. It was not the least of her handicaps that hundreds of thousands of soldiers from Southern Italy, where snow is unknown, had to be hardened to Alpine campaigning. By the end of 1915 the Italians had for'ood their way at many points into Austrian territory, driving tho enemy to the east bank of tho Isonzo along a great part of its length, and in tho north pushing into Garnia and Cadorc, so as to dominate the road to the Dolomites. In March, 1916, while winter still reigned in the Alps, tho Italians developed increased pressure on tho whole battlefront, and opened a, series of partial offensives in orchr to prevent the transfer of Austrian troops to swell tho forces arrayed against Verdun. In May tho Austrians concontrated 400,000 men and 2000 guns in the Trentino, and announced their intension of punishing Italy. 'Splendidly handlod by General Oadohna, the Italian armies held the enemy drive on the mountain frontier and stemmed and broke it within a fortnight from the day on which it was launched. They were assisted to some extent by the diversion afforded by the Russian offensive which opened in June, but tho gonhis of the Italian Generalissimo and the quality of his armies appears in the fact that they not only inflicted local defeat oh the enemy, but rapidly followed up this achievement by a powerful oftcnsiTO thrust on the Isonzo which gained them Gorizia and a formidable range of defences on the Oarso Plateau. All who have followed the campaign are familiar with the brilliant fashion in which these conquests were extended during tho present year, until the- Italians were far advanced on the road to Trieste and closely threatened the strongholds constituting the key of tho enemy's defensive system in the Julian Alps. The advance to the lino which has now been lost demanded not only fine leadership and splendid valour and hardihood in tho troops engaged, but a mighty achievement on the part of tho Italian engineers. The most cursory survey of what was accomplished Jjy the Italians at the height of thenoffensive emphasises tho gravity of the disaster that has now overtaken them, but it also strengthens tho hone that the- disaster may bo retiicved. Both Gexbhai. Oadohna and the troops he commands have ■riven splendid proofs of their quality in verv recent days, and our present information is that it was the treachery and failure> of the troops on a comparatively short section ol front that made the disaster as a whole possible. It is of little use meantime to speculate about the probable extent of the disaster. From the purelj military point of view the result will lie hiavily felt by Italy and her Allies, but there are other factors to betaken into account. The ultimately decisive lactor .is the moral resolution of the warring nations and the qualities upon winch it is based. It is above a 1 as an attempt to break the moral resolution of the Knienle and weaken its bonds that the Austro-German attack on Italy commands attention and demands a defiant retort lhe Lt falls first, and foremost on Italv, and it is plain that she has internal as well as external toes to combat. To what extent treachery and counsels of weakness have gained ground in Italy it is at presentimpossible to say, but it is significant that Siosor Gioutti a man who may fairly be regarded as the evil genius of Italy, has of late shown an-inclination to resume the prominent part in public lite which he was compelled to resign when she declared war. In the years before the war he exercised the powers of a virtual-dictator in Italian pcditeU life, and though he was not m office when the issue of peace or war arose he exerted all his influence to procure a decision favourable toJhe Central Empires As Times correspondent at Milan oberved recently, Biokor Giohtti's name has stood rightly or wrongly for continual hostility to the war and the Allies. Comments by tho Mm Jfttzionale upon his renewed bid for power are typical of tno tone taken by other leading Italian newspapers, and have an apparent bearing on late events. ';Sigm,p. Gioutti," it observed, "wishes to give to Italy and history a new document concerning his alliance with tho nation's enemies, -ratticitin- the honour of the nation yesterday with foreigners and to-day with tho Official Socialist Party." A glimpse is here given of forces whim have wrought more harm to Italy than tho enemy's suns and assau ting troops, and which it may ho hoped the now Government, strengthened by the lesson of the recent disaster, will ruthlessly root out and destroy.