TROOPS REVOLT

Northern Advocate, 10 January 1936, Page 4

TROOPS REVOLT

No undue significance should be placed upon the mutiny of a regiment from South Tyrol, called up for service with the Italian armies in Abyssinia. It is not a case of regular troops, pervaded with the

national fervour, which apparently still permeates Italy, but of the disinclination of levies to answer the call of compulsion and serve a country which they regard as foreign, and a dictator whose actions have been anathema to them. The people of South Tyrol are definitely Austro-Ger-man in sympathy and association, and have little in common with the Latin race to which they are now subject. The ceding of this district, for centuries either part of Bavaria or portion of the Habsburg Empire to Italy by the Treaty of St. Germain (1919), created one of the numerous danger spots which the post-war redrafting of the map scattered throughout Europe. The award of South Tyrol to Italy by the victorious Allies, was actuated principally for reasons of defence. Within the territory lies the all-important Brenner Pass, the gateway to Rome, through which, in the event of a similar alignment of the Teutonic forces against the Allies, the invader would have to make his way. In possession of this cardinal strategical post, the Italians have • carried out farreaching fortification works, while keeping this portion of their new frontier heavily guarded. Another consideration was that Italy, from the point of view of spoils to the victor, was not treated so well as her other Allies, a matter which still rankles deep in her national conscience. Before she entered the Great War, vague promises of territorial expansion in Asiatic Turkey, Africa and on the Dalmatian Coast were made to her. It was a source of great chagrin to the Italians that the Dalmatian Coast, possession of which, they imagined, would have strengthened their supremacy in the Eastern Mediterranean, was not placed in their hands. However, where racial minorities have been put in subservience to a conquering Power, weakness, not strength, to the invader, has more often than not been the result. The loss in morale divulged by the recent happenings at Merano, will not assist the Italians, either internally or in their dealings with world opinion. Since they came into occupation of South Tyrol, they have endeavoured in every way to Italianise the people, even 'going so far as to practically ban the teaching of the German language, which for centuries has been the speech of the inhabitants. That they have failed in their attempt to make indifferent Italians out of good, Germans is proved by thedisinclination of the men of South Tyrol to shed Teutonic blood for a Latin adventure in Abyssinia. That, and that only, is the import of the incident.