HOW CADORNA WON.

Greymouth Evening Star, 25 September 1917, Page 3

HOW CADORNA WON.

SWIFT. HARD BLOWS

LONDON September 2. Mr MeClure (Times correspondent at the Italian front) writes:—

At length the part the Second Italian

army played in the conquest of the Baiusiz/.a, Plateau may be revealed. The Isonzo was crossed in the face of strong machine-gun redoubts. The. pontoons were let down the. precipitous banks by meaflls of ropes, and by dawn 14 bridges were thrown across the river, aided by a smoke curtain and strong searchlights, which blinded the enemy. The first rush took the Italians through the battered remnants of the enemy trenches. The next difficulty was a line of cavern* •»•»•' steep slopes manned with machine guns The attacke,rs made quick progress north of Canale, 'the Bersngliori scaling the steep slones in the centre. The Italians were held up by the, important Jelcnik Ridge, the enemy defending if with the utmost desperation. The Rersagberi, capturing (he heights called Fretta Seminer, threatened Jelcnik' from me north. Tw.i days biter the line \v«* wmietr i*»w> the southward, and the ridge fell.

"The capture of Monte Santo, winch was Pikcn in reverse, resulted in its caverns yielding much booty nnr? prisoners. Monte Santo fell like, a'ripe pear. The manoeuvre, northward effected what months of frontal hammering failed to effect. By the following day a battery of Italian mountain guns was already emplaced. The battle became one of movement, which resulted in the Italian reserves pouring into the breach, spreading fanwise. and- advancing for six miles. Water was the uroat difficulty, but it was overcome by (he transports working 72

Correspondents furnish gruesome accounts of ;i, visit i<> the battlefield at Rein, whore the Ttalians have slicei! most deeplv into tho heart of the Austrian resistance. Mr l'ercival Gibbons (Pailv Chronicle) telegraphs: "Italy is not playing at war. She pays the price of,, her victories. The currency with which she pays lies tinder a vehement r,nn swollen hideously and awaiting burial. But -.within Selo itself was bloody massacre. The air was poisoned, with the stench of heaps of dull grey corpses of Auslrians slaughtered by the Italian bombers. The Italians had to face a veritable maze of machine gun positions, which would have been impregnable without the preparatory bombardment. The British puna alone fired 15.000 shells on the first- day. The booty at Selo is incalculable. It includes numerous howitzers, and an Austrian brigade headquarters underground, which was fitted up with every luxury." Router's correspondent has reported that the Austrian Emperor Karl personally witnessed the retreat from Monte Santo. A visit to the captured position enables one to grasp the terrible task with which Cadorrta was faced, for each mound afforded protection for the Austrians whose machine gun muzzles only showed over the crest. Once these were rushed, every cavern, clump of bushe*-. and bit of shattered trench became the scene of a bloody hand-to-hand struggle for a few yards of the mountain side.