FIGHTING AMID THE SNOWS.

Waipawa Mail, Volume XXXVI, Issue 7711, 22 April 1916, Page 4

FIGHTING AMID THE SNOWS.

DIFFICULTIES OF THE ITALIAN CAMPAIGN. Some interesting information is given in a letter written from Italy by a New Zealander to a friend in Auckland. Talking of Lieutenant Dellacrocc, the writer says:—“One could not help feeling sad to hear such a fine young lieutenant say that he was awfully glad to get two weeks’ vacation, so that he could see Milan once more and visit his friends, as there was not the faintest hope of him being able to return after a few months more in the trenches at an elevation of 6000 ft and higher. He said that the lieutenants in the infantry had only the ghost of a chance of avoiding for a few months the hail of projectiles that was showered about in all directions.”

In the Italian, English, and French armies the number of officers hit was always very large, for the simple reason that it was their duty (and they were always ready to do it) to lead their men, whereas the Germans and the Austrians were always behind their men with their revolvers out. The lieutenant gave some remarkable examples of the courage and endurance of both Italian officers and men. He said that amongst the prisoners taken it was most rare to find an officer. As with the Allies on the other battle fronts, the Italians had learned that they were fighting with neither a chivalrous nor a humane foe, and they had had to change their tactics accordingly. He mentions as an absolute fact that, when the ambulance men and a priest carrying a huge red cross attempted to get in the wounded, they were fired on by the Austrians. The trenches are only 50yds to 60yds apart, so there was no question of not being able to distinguish the fact that the men belonged to the Red Cross. The Austrians did not seem to bother much about their own wounded, and Italians had been picked off while attempting to crawl out and bring in wounded Austrians who had been calling out for help for ever so long. The writer pays a high tribute to the pluck of the famous Alpini, and says that some of them have been known to need new rides because their old ones were quite bent through being used as clubs. As soon as the Alpini jumped into the trendies of the enemy, the latter dropped their rifles, threw up their hands, and cried for mercy.

The Germans and the Austrians make the Russian prisoners do all their trench work, and the Russians frequently mad<? attempts to get over to the Italian lines, running and calling out “We are Russians,” but not 10 per cent succeeded in escaping, ns they were shot down by the fire of the Austrians. It was a treat to see the way the Russians devoured the bread and chocolate given them by the Italians. Many of the prisoners taken by the Italians still -wore the Bavarian uniform, and were found to be in possession of discharges from the German Army, and transfers to the Austrian Army.