ITALY’S POWER.

Rangitikei Advocate and Manawatu Argus, Volume XL, Issue 1130, 14 July 1915, Page 7

ITALY’S POWER.

TIME -FIGHTING FORCE ON LAND AND SEA. SEW BUNS FROM RfiUPPS. ["‘Evening Standard” ;Special.] Those who -have been privileged to witness the army of Italy at work on manoeuvres during the past tew year's are unanimous in their opinion that the force is one of the most highly trained and best equipped to be found throughout Europe xhere is a flexibility of movement and a o-eneral ability to carry out the unexpected that will make it a sore thorn in the side of the Austrian army, with its’Stiff, Prussianised, text book methods. At the present time Italy has some one and three-quarter million men under arms, and this, without culling upon a large proportion of its trained men. She was taiight hexlesson during the lighting in Tripoli, and has learnt it both quickly and i thoroughly. The Bersaglieri are 1 unmatched as light infantry by any similar force, and for some years { past there has been a general tendency on the part of those to whom 1 the training anti organisation ot the \ army of Italy has been entrusted to mould the greater part ot the mfantry of the line in much the.same : fashion. , .... j The war in northern Africa tindouhtely revealed many weak points in the Italian army, just as may with truth be said of our own experiences in South Africa. 11 artillery, for instance, it was shown conclusively that Italy was very far behind what was required by an army in the field fighting under modern conditions..;-/ ~ STBENGTH_AEEOAT._::^. This' that was qni ckly set to rights and a hundred batteries of field guns and many siege guns were obtained from Krupps. It has to bo borne in mind that Italy has had nine mouths to study the trend of the war and virtually the : whole of her trained army has been constantly under instruction smce * August last , • - Much the same, too, can oe said s of her navy. Its organisation and : administration is frankly modelled ‘ upon our own fleet, while the latest ; types of both battleships and de- : stroyers leave largely 7 been ixifluI enced by British designs. Ihe ! Italian super- Dreadnoughts are conI sfcructed with double turrets, accord- | mg to the type of the Queen ElizaI the commencement of the war ! itulv had four submarines ot largo type completed, and eight more under construction. There is good reason to believe that the wnole of these are now in commission, and that others, probably a considerable number, have recently been obtained, principally from the Umteu States. Autsria had, at the commencement of the war, only' six submarines, all of them ot a comparativelv old type, and it is ce - tain that the French have sunk at ; least one. | BETTER THAN ZEPPELINS. I In the air, Italy is . stronger than lis o-enerallv imagined, and she pos- ! sesses at least iSO monoplanes and biplanes, the former largely predominating Twelve mouths ago she had three “air battlesuips, as they were officially described, | These were of ueramn manufacture, with ay-bach enignes, and since i that time she has been building I others on similar lines in her own i factories and engined from liance. ; Then she is the possessor of cue ! Forlanini airships that many exploits i prefer to the much-vaunted Zeppelins, inasmuch as they are so cou- ■ structod us to do away with the ng- | .fln<r that connects the cars and i machinery with the gas envelope. : Tills rigging has proved to be a very i vulnerable spot, as a successful : shrapnel shot that carries away one or two stavs leaves the gumt airship ’ absolutely helpless. She .has been ! building these night and day since i the commencement of the war. ! Thus both the Italian army ; aid ’ navy arc eminently m a position to . ; take the Held at the present time, : and the nation is stronger on both : 1 sea and land -she has been at any : period in her history. While both : her army and her_ fleet are now organised on those lines that experience has shown to be the best, she has lost nothing of the tire and dash ' that is the pride of her nation. A FIGHTING- RAGE. Taken as a whole, the Italian race is essentially a lighting one, and in this direction is in direct opposition to the Latin races of the Iberian Peninsula. The Triple Alliance lias at least clone Italy this much good—it has trained her to keep pace with military thought and military development. At the same time her army and her navy have not become Prussianised, as has been the case in Austria. She has taken the best from liermauy, and has modelled herself closely to France and Great Britain at the same time. Never, too, was Italy stronger m military and naval leaders than is now the case. The operations in Tripoli, if they wrecked some reputations, as every campaign is almost bound to do, at least made many more, so that Italy stands on the brink secure in the knowledge that she has an ample supply of trained and experienced leaders upon which to draw. The same cannot quite be said for tho Italian Navy, since she has had no opportunity, to test her fleet in war time. I There is, however, no reason to | believe that her training and organisation here is anything oehincl that i of her army, and the results that ! have been achieved during the naval I manoeuvres of the past few years | have been extremely satisfactory. I Italy may lay proud claim to be reI garded as essentially a maritime i nation, and love of tho sea is deeply ! ingrained in her national character, j CertainJJit is that the gunnery of the i fleet bas wonderfully improved ot I recent years, while the constant | additions to her fleet have given her j a power such as she has not previously possessed. Therefore, Italy may be said to take the field fully ■ armed at all points.