THE shadow OF WAR

New Zealand Herald, Volume LII, Issue 15932, 1 June 1915, Page 10

THE shadow OF WAR

GATEWAY OF ITALY.

TROOPS ON THE FRONTIER

SLEJSI'V TOWNS WVAKE

Preparations for war are described by the special correspondent of the Daily Chronicle, who completed a tour along the north-eastern frontier of Italy on April 15. Everywhere, he said, 1 found military preparations very satisfactory. One has only to spend a night in such a. town as Verona to realise it. Indeed, throughout Vcrietia the quiet of the night is broken by the rumbling of gun trains, the- clatter of horse hoofs, and the tramp of men on march. The great movement goes on by night. To-day the town is full of soldiers of certain regiments. To-morrow they are gone, and their places taken by others. Like flocks of migratory birds, troops arrive suddenly by night, rest a few hours. and pass on northwards Throughout Venetia men are marching under the, peach and cherry blossom towards the enow. i If one could fly low in an aeroplane along the mountains dividing Italy from Austria one would see them swarming with little men in grey. Between tho Austro-Swiss frontier and Lake Garda the mountains are so high and the passes so few that the region is not of much military importance. Not a single railway lino crosses the Italian frontier till tho eastern shore of Garda is reached. Here is the narrow Adigc "alley, down which comes the railway from Brenner and Trento to Verona. This is the single entrance from Germany and Austria into Italy in this region, and it is the road by which invaders have frequently come in tho past. At the extreme north-eastern corner of the frontier is another railway line which, coming from Tarvis, crosses the bridge from Pontafel to Pontebba, s-,d so enters Italian territory. This is tho Valley of Fella, also extremely narrow, till it turns west below Chijsaforte and joins tho Tagliamento. ' From there it is an easy run down to Udine. Here at las', one comes to an open plain stretching across the frontier to the River Isonzo, and beyond Udine stands at the junction of tho lines from Vienna, via Pontebba, Venice, and Trieste, and is within ten miles of the frontier. From Udine to the sea the roar) is open into Austria. Udine is a sleepy little town with narrow, porticoed streets, a Piazza Vittoria Emanuele, and an archbishop's palace. It is accustomed to the military, but is rather overwhelmed by the presence of the sixty-four colonels' that it is said at present to contain, not to mention the periodic visits of a generalissimo and bis staff. Every rank and regit ..ent must be represented at Urine. There are blackplumed Bersaglieri, deep-chested men from the south, who never walk, but always advance at the double, lithe Alpini with a single feather stuck into their slouched hats and iron-bound mountain boots, innumerable infantrymen of the line, artillery, Red Cross, and engineers. Now and again one sees tho flashing golden helmet of a dragoon, but for the most part men and officers of every ran'i are in sober green-grey service uniforms. Every day there arrive at iTtJine, Verona, and other frontier towns refugees from Austria, many of them deserters from the army. Since the beginning of the war it is estimated that over four thousand men of military ago have arrived at Verona from Austria. Recently three deserters were brought in, having been discovered half-frozen on the summit of , Monte Baldo. Shepherds constantly find Austrian caps and tunics in the mountains, and it is feared that many have perished in an attempt to reach the free soil of Italy.