TRIESTE TO BE DEFENDED AT ALL COSTS

Evening Post, Volume XCIII, Issue 128, 30 May 1917, Page 7

TRIESTE TO BE DEFENDED AT ALL COSTS

GERMAN ADVICE DISREGARDED . (Received May 30, 11.10 a.m.) ROME, 29th May. The Corriere d'ltalia's correspondent at Zurich states that the Austrian General Staff, in a council .of war at Laibach, decided to defend Trieste at all costs, although Yon Falkenhayn and Yon Ludendorff, considering the situation hopeless, advised its abandonment and a withdrawal to a stronger line of defence. Their advice, for political reasons, was not accepted in Vienna, where bitter anti-German feeling prevails. ENEMY SUSPICIOUS OF RUSSIAN ATTACK ROME, 28th May. The Italians have taken prisoner a total of 25,000 of the enemy, whose casualties between 13th and 24th May are estimated at 80,000. Another account states that the enemy is still strong, especially in heavy artillery and ma-chine guns from the Russian front, but the visit of M. Kerensky (Russian War Minister) to the Russian front has had the effect of preventing the withdrawal of further troops, the enemy fearing a surprise attack by General Brusiloff. x The Austrians delivered repeated counter-attacks, with the object of recapturing Vodice, but' these resulted only in useless carnage. Thousands of Austrian bodies cover the ground. LONDON, 28th May. . Swiss telegrams confirm the reports of the stoppage of movements of Austrian and German troops from the East front.. The German High Command has noted numerous symptoms suggesting a Russian offensive in the near future, extending from the Carpathians to Galicia. AUSTRIAN EMPEROR FURIOUS (Received May 30, 8.20 a.m.) • • ROME, 29th May. It is learned that the Austrian Emperor returned from the Isonzo front in a state of fury and despair at the Austrian failure to resist the offensive. The Emperor ordered the dismissal of the general commanding the Kuk sector (south-of Plava), where the losses totalled 14,000 in a single day.