OCR Text |
Show PROGRESS OF THE WAR. In a race for the Piave river the Italians Ital-ians have won a, safe line for at least temporary opera t ions in conjunction with the British and" "French reinforcements. reinforce-ments. How lonr they will be able to ! hold the line depends upon the offensive offen-sive which the Teutons have beun in the Trentino district. Already the Italians Ital-ians have lo.-t the town of Asiago in street t'ihtinir, and have retired into the Jiiils aud gorges. Between Asiago and the Venetian plain are eleven miles of difficult mountain country, but should the enemy be able to drive through the mountains he would be in the rear of the Piave line and the allies would be compelled to fall back again, j probably to the line of the Brenta. On j the banks of this stream they would be more or less free from the peril of being be-ing outflanked by way of the Trentino region. It has been assumed in the dispatches from Rome, Paris and London that the allies would make the Piave line their front for a decisive battle, but it is patent pat-ent that they cannot do this if they are outflanked. Once before, however, the Teutons captured Asiago and were unable to make further progress. That was when the Italian main army was ! far to the eastward of the Piave river j in fact, on Austrian soil and when ' a successful advance by the Teutons from Asiago into the plain would have ; meant ruin for Cadorna "s forces in the ; east. Xow the Roman forces are not so far-flung, and even should the Teutons fight their way through the canyons from Asiago they cannot cause irretrievable irre-trievable disaster to the alii1?, for a successful retreat could bo conducted to the Brenta river. It is probable, of course, that the Italian lines in the Trentino have been reinforced with men and guns in the last few days, and thpt Asiago may soon be retaken or the enemy ene-my held in che'k. The Austro-Uungarian armies have ; made rapid proeres despite the ddav- ing tactics of the Italians. In Ics than three weeks they have battled t h i r way 1 sixty miles f mm the old line in tiie Isonzo region to the Piavp river. Th-y have overcome the greatest obtar-I'. In retreat the Italians burned towns and villages, destroy nd supplier and blew up bridi"1.-. XcverTheI. , the Teutons Teu-tons who at rived at the Tagliamen? o less than ten days ago cro-sM it along iN entire course in a fpw days, hurried to the Livenza river, vld-h is a shallow stream, pnd made thfir iv.iv aero- without with-out miii'h opposition. M.anTiniM ;h-v-had captured, during the -n t i r1 operation opera-tion beginning two w rfor ji',-u!v 250.000 prisoners and about gun-. In their rear guard actiorn the Iai;nn-. suffered heavilv. for at onf plnr-e several sev-eral divisions were surroiin and rap-tured. rap-tured. ! -lieyond ) h- Li ven za ri vt I lie I ia 1 1.1 n eavalry and infantry 1. ;jan to k--i-' ! more stubbornly. The in vadern found j every mile more fliff!,-i,It to i-ow-r and I their looses lf'gan to be erifu-?. At' one point they ,jrronrid"d a rear guard eonting.-ntt but in thi.i infan-e the i : . I -inr.n fought their ;vav ti.rongli ai.d rejoined tiio main army. Hy .airda'' f h Italians )r n J v. ifhdra vri aj-ro-- thu rtvr and )U,'A n up all the bridge... it is mi(.po4d 1h.it hnti.-h and Kr m f, armies have arrived at the piave. At all even 1 1 there ban been a f wee pi n -j eh.'jnf; in the inilitiiry com ma ft d. An inter-alli d corriiiiitf'e l,aj b.cM pointed U, (af;c -dtar.y of th" op-ra t joi. C'tT.fTSi ' adoma. th" Italian eorn mandrr i n chief, ha been d"posfi but will "'rvi! rtii the committer. The oMht members are fir-rif-ral l-'o-di, r'-jir - en t ing )he t r-ih, and General Wil-nn, repr-e-nting tl.o Criti-h. f,..(.r;t In.iA lia.H br,;n ina'ie rofiuna nder (f Jhf Italian Ital-ian force-:. While the Teuton? I.av.- b'-en a-lvan-' ing in Malv the I ir i r j h have hw .,,(. vaneing in M"-tof.otaina. and Palestine, (n the former region they tool; the town of 'Jekrit fin the Tigri-, more than fi''t milen ri'iftli of I'.agdad, capturing hi v end hnmlr'd Turks and Korne gum. Tljej r rno''t not a iih- vie I ,rv r;;m in I 'a I etine along the ( , a za lieerlnd.a. front, fia.a i'i about two rn i I froia the -ea ''.X and I'.eer diabe about t h n t v milet Koutfieant, of fiaa. The '.r,At front, at the eomriieur. ,.,,.( ,,( ( (, lo'rt'.e, ran from itorthvw;.! to i , ' i i : i -1 . -7. U, ; P.eer-dieba, oil their Midi f ; flank . the I'.n t i di .mvung to tin 'north. Meantime they atlnr(rd at. ati'l 1 near i,u:i. In a fiiijo.;-, ,;,tti the P.iiti-h artillery b-wled the r(.,y firriehe.- v.hth. i-,ar-.iii.T ponre, B,,.u upon the tliuu. fori i I M'a i ion 4 ami info1 liie e,f v itHell". 'Che Turk-: wcrn unable to Wlth'taml the fierce ehingi-n of l.e infantry an-l al ent'h )'ave I'.nv, fall ; my ba' l. from .oint to potul. f-'.o Ihor ' OUfhlv dr feated Vine they if, the al fighlin that they -vnn a. central re treat, hara-' by cd.'dht from the v. a 1 diip and bv Uiulu and bulb-! from airrh,n. ,. 'I Mo km.-. ;,m return over (i,e to'Aaid II,.. ,1,'iH'n n .-I. iailroti'1, n I ,uu rung from Dm- eon t to t, .,-. ' pt !rad- A ahm, ; : I I , I I ,, r, , miles north of C-iaza, has been taken by the British, who are only five or ten miles south of the Jerusalem line. Although Al-though the Holy City is off to the eastward, east-ward, it will be in the line of march of I the British east wing, and probably will figuro in military operations within a few days. I In the V pres sec' or the Canadians i have made two attacks along Passehen-dael Passehen-dael ridge. J n tho 'first attack they captured the town of that name and forced their way beyond. Jn a second j attack, just delivered, they have ascend-j ascend-j cd almost .to the crest of the ridge along j a front of a mile and a half. A further i advance will put the foe on the downhill ! slope to the east. j A raid in which 200 Germans took I part' was directed against a salient in j which there were a few American troops j aided by Frenchmen. The Germans first I cut off retreat by means of a barrage 1 fire. Then they hurled themselves in vastly superior numbers upon the little garrison ami overwhelmed it. They killed three Americans, wounded five and captured seventeen. The political changes iu Russia which have placed the Leninites iu charge, have given the Germans an opportunity to extend their naval operations. They are reported to have seized most of the Aland islands on the coast of Finland, and the latest report is that they have captured 1 lelsiugt ors, a naval base on the Gulf of Finland and the capital of Finland. The U-boats made a prior showing in the last week of record. They sank only eight British boats of more than IdOU tons, several small Italian boats and a few French vessels, none of them large. An American converted ya-Iit which was being used as a patrol boat in British waters hunting submarined, was torpedoed an-l Mink bv a U-bnat. |