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Show ITALY ACCOMPLISHES GREAT WORK IN WAR Nation Unifies Itself and Places Immense Army in Field. IS HIGHLY EFFICIENT Country in Better Position Than Ever to Cope With Enemies. KpMK, March 17. A comprehensive 6tC of what Italy has been doing to perfect her organization of military, in-; in-; dustrlal and political forces may be gathered from "data given to the Asso-eiated Asso-eiated Press at the ministry of war, where it is declared that Italy is now prepared to enter into a still more vigorous vig-orous prosecution of the war. It is frankly stated that Italy began the war with the feeling that she was a weak nation, poor in money and material ma-terial resources, with an army that was unfitted to oope with that of Austria, which was far superior in artillery and ! which for many years had been planting heavy cannon "in the fastnesses of the high mountains that lie between her and Italy. The Italian general staff, in command . of General Cadorna, has never made a secret of the fact that when Italy's troops were first, in May, 1915, launched against the Austrian frontier, along a 500-mile front, defended by twenty-five divisions (625,000 men) of trained troops, it was with an Italian army of which perhaps a mere 200,000 men might be classed as trained troops, and troops which were lacking in artillery support, even in the very clothes needed to keep them warm in the mountains. Nor has it been a secret that, politically, Italy began the war divided into two parties, one of which was against war with Germany or any kind of war at all. Diplomacy Is Effective. Therefore, internally, one of the big tasks of the general staff and of the government has been to maintain the nation 's morale at the fighting pitch by proving the nation's future progress. Throughout the war, on the one hand. tfSrmy has been kept in tight control ry Cadorna, while in wine, Baron Syd-ney Syd-ney Sonnino, the head of the depart- raent of state, has exercised a much-admired much-admired skill in handling the opponents to the war. By his continual presence Vf the front, save for a total period of tvt weeks' absence in Rome on government gov-ernment business, the king has indicated indicat-ed his position to the nation. The various vari-ous antagonistic, anti-war efforts of the socialists have been overcome by the division di-vision of that party through one of its leaders. Leonida Bfssolatti, being taken i into the present cabinet, and also through the influence of the Vatican, which is notably anti-socialistic. One of the first enemies the Italian general staff bad to conquer, after its first leap into Austria territory, was cold upon the steep mountains, mountains that for two-thirds of its front vary from 7000 to 11,000 feet, in height. This cold is often 6 degrees below r.ero (Fahrenheit). (Fahren-heit). In the first line trenches the soldiers sol-diers had to have the heaviest clothing and boots, while wooden barracks had to be built for those in the second or reserve re-serve line. In addition, extTa large quantities of food and proper cooking utensils had to be carried up to them, and roads had to be built so that wagons or automobiles could reach them rapidly. For a single army corps it was necessary to provide 300,000 board planks, 230,000 woolen blankets, shirts and pairs of socks, 80,000 waterproof capes, 60,000 fur coats, and 10,000 fur sleeptxg sacks. Much Territory Occupied. The Italian frontier trench line has been continually maintained at a length of 1800 miles, counting the second, third and fourth line trenches that have bten dug for reserve purposes. The mw territory occupied beyond the old frontier is no less than 133 communes, com-munes, comprising an area of 3060 square kilometers, with a mountain population popu-lation of 260,000 persons. In order to reach the front through this territory with the enormous quaiiti-vties quaiiti-vties of supplies needed, the combined jSsfces of the army's engineering corps truT that of Italy's department of public pub-lic works were required. These two organizations began working in the early part of the war, and until the present time have built 610 miles of now macadam road and rebuilt, widened and repaired 2445 miles of other roads. Irrespective of the regular state railroad rail-road forces these above-named organizations organiza-tions hnve planned and built upwards of 150 miles of air-line cables for the handling han-dling of freight, 110 bridges and 200 miles of narrow-gauge railroad. There has also been done an immense amount of construction work in the wav of wooden or cement barracks, storehouses, warehouses, hospitals, schools and cemeteries. Great Army Formed. In order to secure the supplies for this new army, beginning perhaps with scarcely a half million men and now estimated es-timated at three million, the nation ha-s put in operation a total of 2179 factories, facto-ries, employing 46S,940 persons, of whom 72,324 are classed as skilled workmen. This total number of factories and plants is subdivided into sixty-six military mili-tary establishments proper, employing 21,645 workmen and 1 2,4 1 4 women; 932 auxiliary factories, employing 344,702 workmen and 55,253 women. Of these latter, ninety-one turn out metal parts, 4S9 Tillies, cannon, aeroplanes, automobiles, automo-biles, projectiles and cartridges, and 352 manufacture explosives, chemical products, prod-ucts, and work over crude ores. There are, further, 1181 minor projectile factories, facto-ries, employing 35,000 persons. To these totals must also be added a countless number of uniform ami clothing factories facto-ries in every part of the land. The war so far has cost ltalv sonic ' $4.nJ.000,00il, of which sum a little r than one-third Iihs been obtained irough war loans subscribed by her owu people. Notwithstanding "these r popular subscriptions and increased taxes I the national savings bank shows a decided de-cided increase of desposits. These deposits July 1, 1915, were slightly more than $300,000,000, and January 1, 1917, they had increased bv $65,000,000, or a total of 2,200,000,000 lire. In addition there are deposits in private banking institutions amounting to one and a quarter billion dollars. While ltalv has officially placed but a single loan of $25,000,000"in the United States, she is buying annually there upward up-ward of $260,000 000 m values! Those war materials she herself cannot, produce come chiefly from the United States, such as cotton and woolen cloth, mineral oils, shoes, iron ore, steel manufactures, coal, wheat and horses, x The military activities of Italy on land have been, primarily, that of continually con-tinually menacing Austria with an invasion inva-sion that might reach Arienna, and thereby there-by forcing her to maintain a big army on this frontier that might have been 'Used against the Russians or the French, of maintaining another army in Albania and thereby connecting with the Anglo-French expedition at Saloniki, and, finally, of blockading the Adriatic ports of Austria, protecting the Anglo-French expeditions to the Dardanelles and to Saloniki, and aiding in tho transportation transporta-tion of troops and material thither. Prevented Rear Attack. Italy has on her northern frontier captured 85,000 Austrian prisoners, not counting possibly double that number of killed and wounded. Italy's army successfully handled the big "drive of the Austrians in tho Trentiuo last May and turned that drive into a severe punishment pun-ishment of the Austrians br the taking in August of Gorizia and other points on the lower line towards the Adriatic, together to-gether with some 40,000 prisoners. The Austrian invasion begun with 400,000 men and 3000 cannon all aimed at one point between the Brenta and Adige rivers. The plan was no less than to so defeat the Italians as to be able to break across to the French frontier and take in the rear the defenders of Verdun. Ver-dun. The attack failed within three weeks. It failed because of the rapidity with which the Italians counter-attacked in large numbers. Within the space of two weeks they threw across the Austrian path an army transported from other sections of the front, using therefor 82.000 railroad cars and 1000 automobiles automo-biles to carry 500,000 men. 73,000 horses 15,000 carts, cannon, rations, ammunition, ammuni-tion, medicines and other material. The difficulty of this movement will be appreciated by the fact that the troops were fighting in waterless mountains moun-tains and each dav to those drr plateaus were carried 450,000 quarts of drinking water for the thirstv men. f. |
