ATTACKS SMASHED.

Sun (Christchurch), Volume V, Issue 1357, 19 June 1918, Page 5

ATTACKS SMASHED.

ITALIANS HOLD FIRM. BIG ENEMY FAILURE. (A. & N.Z.) LONDON, Juno 17. A British-Italian official report slates:—The artillery battle has died down, and the enemy is reorganising after his severe defeat. Captured maps show that .the enemy's objectives were most ambitious. Our prisoners now total 710, and our booty includes four mountain films, 43 machine-guns, and seven flame-throwers. Considering the severity of the bombardment, and the intensity of the lighting, our casualties were extremely light. Our airmen on Saturday and Sunday dropped over 300 bombs, and tired over 25,000 rounds on troops and transport attempting to cross the Piave.

An Italian official report states: — Following Saturday's heavy losses, the enemy on Sunday limited his action to hindering with intense fire our own'and the Allied counteroffensive. The.latter, however, was able to gain partial successes and rectify our line at several points. The battle proceeded with extreme violence along the Piave. The enemy, heedless of losses, continued his powerful pressure, in order to extend his occupation of Montelio, and thereby open a way to the plains. We strongly engaged the enemy on the line of the Montelio Crest and St. Andrea, holding our positions on the river between St. Andrea and Fossalta, also effectively opposing an advance before the bends of San Dona di Piave.

With our Allies, we have now taken 4500 prisoners, including 2(il taken by the French. Forty-four hostile aeroplanes were brought down in two days.

ENEMY DEMORALISED. ("The Times") LONDON, June 17. Mi- Ward Price writes:—The large number ot Austrians taken prisoner on the Italian sector indicates the energy of the attack and the determination with which it was countered. Most of the ground gained was along the Piaye, where the enemy made three principal crossings and established three bridge heads,.preparatory to blinding the Italian artillery and aeroplanes with vast quantities of smoke shells. Both the river and the trenches were enveloped in a dense black fog. The Austrian patrols hurried forward in boats and rafts and crossed the river under a random lire. They then pulled over reinfocements in pontoons. The most notable crossing occurred in the important Montello sector, where the Piavc leaves the mountains and enters the Venetian Plain. The results on the British sector were better. It is reported that the earlier resistance exhausted the four enemy divisions, whose casualties are estimated at 5000, whilst ours were comparatively trifling. We took 700 prisoners and captured many guns. Our patrols are constantly collecting abandoned war material/ The enemy is thoroughly demoralised,, and his deficiencies in comparison with the British are more evident than ever before. Apparently only 15 fresh divisions are available for a continuance of this disappointing enterprise.

BRITISH SUCCESS. (A. & N.Z.) LONDON, June 18. Mr Ward Price states that the most important attempt by the Austrians to cross the river l'iavc was at the Montello sector, because that point represents a hinge between the mountain and the Piave sectors. The latest reports show that the fighting on the British front was more successful than the first accounts indicated. The enemy has so far engaged 29 divisions out of 50. HIGH ITALIAN MORAL. (Router) LONDON, June 18. Reuter's correspondent learns from an Italian military source that all the past losses of material have been made good, and the munition factories are working magnificently. The troops have been highly trained and reorganised. They are now better fed and have been granted increased pay, and their lives insured in case of death, and provision has been made for reinstating the injured in civil life; consequently the spirit of the army is splendid, and its moral higher than it has ever been. It is believed that the forces of the belligerents are about equal in number. The opposing divisions are about the same, although Austria has larger reserves. Tt is also believed that the present offensive was forced upon Austria by the German High Command owing to pressure from the German people, despite the knowledge of the existence of disaffection in the Austrian army.

AMBITIOUS PLANS. (Router) WASHINGTON, June 17. Diplomatic dispatches from Italy stale that the Austrian plan is to smash the Italian defences in the Brenta region, capture Bassano, and simultaneously cross the Piave and capture the railway junction at Trcviso, and thus trap the Allies between giant pincers. NO SURPRISE. (Bcuter) ROME, June 17. Italian war correspondents slate that the date of the enemy's offensive was fixed for a Week ago, but the Italian command was prepared, for the enemy's movements never escaped observation even in bad weather, though large movements of troops were carried out with the object of diverting attention from the real point of attack. The Italian, French, and British artillery began their counter-pre-paration at midnight, before the enemy's preparation started, and the Allies' artillery fire was so rapid and accurate that the enemy's lines were thrown into confusion. Even the infernal fire of 2000 Austrian guns failed to silence the Allies' artillery.

The enemy's principal effort was entrusted to General Chencheraeil, who was ordered to descend by the Yal Brenta to Bassano, while General Kirchbach's army was ordered to cross the Piave, its aim being TreIviso. The Austrian heavy guns shellled towns and villages far in the rear, |3OO gas shells falling in Treviso. LARGE FORCES.

(Router) LONDON, .Tune 18. An Italian semi-official report states that 71 of Austria's 92 mobilised divisions have already been identified, constituting the whole of Austria-Hungary's efficient troops. The enemy is,employing all his available artillery and aircraft. No fewer than 75(H) guns were in action. Three Austrian and Hungarian armies were engaged under FieldMarshal von Neowna, namely, von Scheutchensmel's Army, between the Astico and the Piave, the ArchDuke Joseph at Montello, and von Wurms on the Lower Piave. Thousands of bodies cover the ground in the mountain sector, and are becoming heaped along the Piave. The Austrian gains after two days' lighting arc very slight compared with the objectives assigned. Captured orders urge the necessity of capturing the fortified area, with a view to reaching the Italian supplies, and also provide instructions for the army- living on the country's resources and for personal pillage. FAILURE IMPORTANT.

(A. & N.Z.) LONDON, June 17. General Maurice writes: —The Ausjtrians' main attack in the mountains was on either side of the Brenta, on a front of 20 miles, with the object of securing the issues to the plains bv way of the Brenta and Astico Valleys. If the attack had been successful the Italians would have been compelled to fall back from the Piave, in most difficult circumstances, for 50 miles, across the Brenta, to a longer and less secure line behind the Astico, involving the abandonment of Venice and Padua; therefore the complete failure of the attack in this sector is of the highest importance. The Austrians' attack across the Piave is less vital. It Hppears to be divided into two parts, the first against the Montello Ridge, and the second against the lower Piave. They crossed the Piave at the foot of Montello, but their progress so far has been insignificant. WELL SATISFIED.

(Router) LONDON, June 17. Renter's correspondent with the British Army in Italy, on June. 1(1, interviewed a high British officer, who expressed himself in every way satisfied with the result of the Austrian attack against the British. Our airmen, he says, on the Piave broke up at least seven bridges, and tired 25,000 rounds! at a low altitude. NAVAL EFFORT. (Reuter) ROME, June 17. The "Giornale d'ltalia" says that the Austrian naval division, which Captain Rizzo broke up when he torpedoed the two Dreadnoughts, was proceeding on a mission to bombard a town on the Adriatic, in conjunction with the land offensive. SOCIALISTS LOYAL. ("The Times") ROME, June 17. An emotional scene took place in the Chamber of Deputies when the Socialist leader, Signor Turati, proclaimed the solidarity of the Chamber in the solemn crisis. "In the face of death, which is knocking at Italy's door, we feel," he said, "that many judgments must be altered, and we oiler the Government the Italian Socialists' assistance." The Deputies rose in a body and cheered wildly at this statement. Signor Bissdlali (Minister of Pensions) embraced Signor Turati.