ITALY

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LII, Issue 164, 9 July 1918, Page 5

ITALY

ITALIAN " DARE-DEVILS" ASTOUNDING FEATS. (Australian and N.Z. Cable Association.) (Rec. July 9, 10.15 a.m.) LONDON, July 8. Italian Arditi. or "Daa-e-dcvils," performed astounding feats of a-gili'ty in the closing phase of the battle. They adopted a novel method of approaching and silencing machine-guns, which were behind barbed-wire. The "Daredevils" carried long vaulting poles and made a mighty rush and jumped obsstacles, landing in the rear of the bewildered gunners and driving daggers l into their backs. One "Dare-devil" alone stampeded eight Austrian* into the Italian lines under the menace of an uplifted hand-bomb. One Eersaglieri company captured a battery of six 4-inch field mortars. Another/preceded by Ardi'ti, armed w i+> fl-ame throwers, stormed a factory an the face of 40 machine-guns', blew up a munition depot, and prisonered an entire Austrian command.

CAPTURED GROUND CONSOLIDATED

FRENCH MAKE BRILLIANT RAID.

(Australian and N.Z. Cable Association and Reuter.) LOGSTDON, July 7. An Italian official report says : We are ■ consolidating ourselves on the ground j recaptured on the right bank of the new l Piave. There is every indication that | the enemy's losses were much higher I than was foreseen. The French made a brilliant raid at Zocchi, on Asiago Plateau. Three enemy attacks on Cornone, beI tween Frenzela Valley and the were- sanguinarily repulsed. VKNETTAiN PLAIN. CLEARED OF THE ENEMY. (Australian and N.Z. Cable Association and Reuter.) LONDON, July V. i The Daily Chronicle's correspondent on the Italian front states .at the whole of the Venetian Plain to the 1 if ve is clear of the enemy. There is <>ot .-t single Austrian on the west bank of the i river, except for 24,000 prisoners. The enemy had held since November i a triangular?"sector at the mouth of the j Piave to C'ornellazzo, with the apex at j San Dona. The soil being" sodden, they j were unable to dig trenches or operate in j large masses. They had to split into j innumerable small groups, converting I every factory, farmhouse, and cottage i into a fortress,? fixing machine guns in i every suitable ' tree fork, and sowing i them along the banks of the countless canals.

The Italians have taken 300 machine guns, but hundreds of others are buried under demolished buildings or sunk "V the swamp. The Italian artillery cut off supplies from these groups by destroying the largest bridge over the river and keeping three others under constant fire. The defenders, consisting of Bosnians and Herzegovinians, fought stubbornly. Four columns of Italian Bersagleri and infantry carried out the toilsome task of breaking the enemy's defences in cuerilla warfare, fighting continually to the waist in water. Sometimes the combatants, losing their weapons while floundering in the swamps, engaged m hand-to-hand struggles, tearing each other with their teeth.

AUSTRIAN -REPORT. LOSS .OF THE DELTA ADMITTED. (Admiralty per Wireless Press.) LONDON, July 7. The Austrian official message says:— As the delta of the Piave was untenable without heavy sacrifice, we withdrew to the dyke position on the eastern bank of the main branch. The operation was carried out on Friday <ictnt. The enemy felt their way a* mid-day en Saturday as far as the river.