Untitled

Otago Witness, Issue 3197, 23 June 1915, Page 61

FIRST SUBMARINE DUEL.

ROME, June 18. An official naval message says: An enemy submarine torpedoed our submarine Medusa. One officer and four

of the crew were rescued and taken prisoner. CONTINUED PROGRESS. ON THE ADIGE AND ISONZO. ROME, June 18. Official : We are progressing on both sides of the Adige. We dismounted some Austrian guns at Carnia and seriously damaged the fortress at Malborghett. In the Monte Nero region we took MO prisoners, including 30 officers, and captured many rifles and two machine guns. We annihilated a Hungarian battalion which violently attacked the positions north-eastward of Monte Nero. Our offensive on the Isonzo is progressing, and troops are debouching towards Plava. We conquered, after a sanguinary action, the surrounding heights, and repxdsed repeated obstinate counter-attacks. Our artillery fire partly destroyed the railway station at Gorizia. Naval official: Our airships bombed the important railway junction of Divaca. Great damage was done. The airships returned unharmed. AN ITALIAN CAPTURE. ROME, June 18. The Italians at Plava cut the transAlpine railway, capturing in a tunnel a train containing cannon, machine guns, and a quantity of ammunition. IMPORTANCE OF TOLMINO. ROME, June 19. With a garrison averaging 30,000 and powerful natural and artificial defences multiplying the possibilities of resistance, Tolmino is gradually becoming for Italy what Przemysl has been for Russia. Tolmino being the key to the Isonzo Valley, its early capture with a view to ensuring the safety of Friuli, is indispensable. The Austrians have been reinforced and more taken off without result for use against the Italians encamped at Brentonico, on the slope of the Altissimo mountain, at Serravalle, in the Langarino Valley; • also in the Arsa Valley. AUSTRIAN REVERSE AT MONTE NERO. ROME, June 19. The Hungarian battalion .that was annihilated at Monte Nero climbed the Viata mountain, hoping to outflank the Italian position, but the Alpini, creeping through the undergrowth, withheld their fire till the enemy were close, and then poured a rain of bullets and sprang forward with their bayonets. The enemy, terrified and confused, tried to escape, but found the Alpini on every side. The entire battalion was either killed or taken prisoner. POLICING THE ADRIATIC. PARIS, June 18. Official : The Italian fleet is co-operating with the British and French in the Mediterranean by policing the Adriatic, with the object of seeking out the petrol depots whence the German submarines are obtaining their supplies. ( ROME, June 18. An Austrian cruiser and four destroyers bombarded Fano, on the Adriatic coast, but the damage done was insignificant. Official : Austrian air scouts and destroyers bombarded the completely undefended towns of Perario and Rioini, damaging only a few houses. Three civilians at Rioini were slightly wounded. Official : Our artillery continued to bombard Malorghetto, which attempted to reply, but was silenced. On the night of the 17th our airships bombarded positions at Monte Santo and trenches near Gradisca, partially destroying the railway station at Ovcia Draga, on the GoriziaDornberg line. The Medusa was reported to be the fastest submarine in the world. The two submarines were under the water, each being ignorant of the other’s nearness. The Medusa was the first to come to the surface, when the enemy sighted her through the periscope and promptly torpedoed the Medusa. June 19. Naval official : The Austrian fleet bombarded thp lighthouse at the mouth of the Tagliamento. Our destroyer flotilla repulsed an attack afterwards bombarding Tannario and the Austrian lighthouse at Salvare. An Austrian destroyer bombarded Monopoll, and unsuccessfully attempted to ignite a naphtha depot. We bombarded a munition armament factory near Trieste. An enemy destroyer torpedoed the small steamer Maria Gruzin. The crew were landed. FIGHT FOR ISONZO HEIGHT. IMPORTANT RESULTS ACHIEVED. ROME, June 20. Official : Details of the battle for the height on the left bank of the Isonzo, commanding Plava, which is at the bottom of a pass shut in by steep wooded slopes, with a swift, deep river between, show that our troops, by great and courageous efforts, threw pontoons across at night and attacked at dawn on June 16, in the face of terrible difficulties, including deep netVvVJi.lvo Ul iSt'U Ll 1/ OcUi IJC*a WliU iCi.IIi.UJL LCU. VVILII iron bars, and (jommanded by numerous hidden heavy gnus. The Italians, after repeated assaults with the cold steel, debouched in the evening on the border of the first position. All Austrian counter-attacks were driven back. We carried the heights on June 17, but the enemy concentrated a violent artil-

lery and machine-gun fire, and repeatedly sent in fresh troops. These were decimated, and finally were repulsed with the bayonet. Our losses were serious, but the results achieved were important. The delta of the Isonzo is impracticable for warships owing to its shallowness, and our naval gunners silenced the batteries at Duino by means of floating batteries similar to those used at Alexandria in 1882. FINE WORK BY ALPINI. ROME, June 20. Details of the Alpini’s attack- on the northern slopes of Monte Nero, where the Austrians are being constantly reinforced, state that the ground is so difficult that the Italian staff decided to advance at night in absolute silence. They hoped, by climbing almost perpendicular rocks, to attack the enemy from two sides. The Alpini were armed with rifles and bombs. Some of them took off their boots and wrapped their feet iu rags in order to climb up the crags quietly. By dawn one column was operating on the Vrata Counterscarp, and another was operating north-west of Monta Potoce. Meanwhile the Alpini got within two metres of the enemy before being detected. They leaped into the trenches, and a furious hand-to-hand fight with the bayonet and the butt ensued. The Italians then took the second line of trenches. The incident of the Hungarian attack (reported yesterday) followed, and was repulsed. Simultaneously two Italian columns by night attacked the Monte Kozlink front, and got within 20 yards of the Austrian trenches without being detected. The Alpini, without a moment’s hesitation, dashed in and forced the astonished Austrians to retreat, and pursued them with a hail of stones and hand grenades, while the second column struck at the Austrian rear and cut off the retreat. Six hundred Austrians were taken prisoner, and 300 were left on the field wounded. The Italian losses were slight. STIRRING UP THE SENUSSI. PARIS, June 20. A communique states : A French destroyer captured between Cape Matapan and Crete a small Greek vessel with forged papers. A number of Turkish officers were aboard voyaging to Tripoli, and conveying Enver Pasha’s presents to the Senussi. THE ATTACK UPON TOLMINO. LONDON, June 20. An official message from Rome states that the Austrians have delivered manifestoes to Italian soldiers by means of balloons, promising the men rewards for every rifle. Five hundred machine guns, 2000 (?) cannon, and an aeroplane were surrendered when the Italians crossed the Isonzo. In tire attack on Tolmino the Bersaglieri were just across the river when an Austrian shell destroyed the bridge. The Bersaglieri were confronted by an apparently impregnable first line of trenches. These they had decided to assault aud sell their lives dearly, when the Alpini signalled from a mountain crest that the Austrian trenches were only imitations lined with puppets dressed as Austrians and armed with wooden guns.