ITALIAN LEADER.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 11482, 2 September 1915, Page 5

ITALIAN LEADER.

♦ - CADORNO'S MILITARY GENIUS. KNOW EVERY INCH OF FRONTIER; The son of a famous soldier, General Raphael Cadorno, who fought for his country in her great struggles of 18481849 and earned the reputation of being one of Italy's military leaders, General Luigi Cadorno, Commander of the First Italian Army, has proved bimseU a military genius in every sense or tne term. For he is not only a great soldier, but is a recognised authority on the wars of the past four decades, and a fine strategist and tactician, his war treatises and manuals being the gniae books of every Italian officer. + v n + The are well aware max, they have fighting against them a man who knows every inch of the north and north-cast frontiers of Italy, a»d one whose lightning strategy is proverbial in military circles throughout Euiope. General Cadorno',s thoroughness is illustrated by tho fact that for six years he tramped tho passes of the Carmtliiaii and Tyrolese Alps, notebook in hand, marking a vnaitage point here and a death-trap there. And it the knowledge thus gained which enabled him at ultimate nntnanivros to oatgeueral everybody and led to rapid piomotion. It is related that m the maiwuvres of 1911 he set himself to play the part of a defeated general. Orders miscarried, reinforcements canic late, general confusion set in, and Cadorno s troops were surrounded. Then he f>et himself to extricate them, and carried out a retreat which was the marvel ot the Italian tacticians. One great advantage General Cadorno possesses is his prodigious memory. He never wants a map, and there is scarcely a path oi village, however small, on the Italian frontier with which he is unacquainted. Since, he was a. boy of ton—he is now sixty-five years of age—General Cadorno has been learning soldiering, and ho is rather fond of saying that he has scarcely passed the elementary stages. A silent martinet, he never forgives incompetence in his officers. At the same Liirie ho is the friend of every man, tor he loves them all, and is ever j considerate of their welfare. In 1881 General Cadorno married, and has a. sort and three daughters, two of whom are nuns.