SYDNEY SUN MESSAGES.

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume LXIX, Issue LXIX, 24 May 1915, Page 5

SYDNEY SUN MESSAGES.

ITALY'S DECISION

REVOLT FROM SUBTLE THRALDOM TO GERMANY. « BRITAIN'S WELCOME TO A SISTER IN ARMS. THE WESTERN OPERATIONS. APRIL-MAY FIGHTING SUMMARISED. THE RESULT VERY SATISFACTORY. Times— Sydney Sun Special Cables. (Received May 24. 8.30 a.m.) LONDON, May 23. The Times,, in a leader, says that the vote of the Italian Chamber bears no other interpretation than that the people of Italy, who last week revolted against treasonous intrigues, recognise that the hour of destiny has struck and they cannot be deaf to the call which summons them to put forth their might on hehalf of liberty. They will not only fight for Europe/ but for the right to* develop according to their native genius, so rich in tradition, and to escape from the subtle thraldom of Germanism, which has begun to enslave and benumb Italy's noblest faculties. The British nation watched with sympathy the birth of a new Italy, and gave asylum to her persecuted sons and received Garibaldi as one of the heroes of humanity. Britain welcomes Italy as a sister in arms, and we will seal the pact of alliance with the proud pledge that our hand shall not be stayed nor our ardor abated until with Italian help a lasting victory has crowned the allied cause. A French official note, reviewing the fighting from April 24th to May 18th, states that the operations resulted in the complete driving back of the enemy by the evening of the 17th. Our offensive, by continual pressure, established a definite mastery over the enemy, whose losses were truly formidable. Ours consisted more of wounded than killed, and it can be asserted that before this decisive engagement we obtained a moral ascendency. Summing up a series of violent actions, we carried by storm three villages, four lines of fortifications, three powerful redoubts, killed a thousand Germans, destroyed at least three regiments, and caivsed the abandonment of advanced positions at singularly expensive cost to Germany.