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Show 4000 ME So Total Number of Men Captured in the New Austro-German Offensive Offen-sive on the Northern Front Reaches 15,000, According to Claims Made by Berlin. MONTE SISEMOL TAKEN BY STORM Report From Roman Headquarters Shows That the Main Points of the Line Remain Unbroken; Weather Is Said to Favor the Invaders. In-vaders. BERLIN, Doc. 7, via London. Tour thousand more Italians have been captured in the new Austro-Gcnnan Austro-Gcnnan offensive on the northern front, bringing up the total to 15,-000, 15,-000, according to today's official communication. Monte Sisemol was captured by storm, the statement says. ITALIAN7 HKADQUAKTUUS IN KUKTIJhKN IT AM", Thursday, Dec. 6. (Dy I lie Assoc iated Press.) The big operation which the enemy is attempting attempt-ing in (lie north is virtually a repetition repeti-tion of the turning movement he cxe-ci'1ci cxe-ci'1ci six Avc.oks ao in the great offensive offen-sive above Gori.ia. At that time he broke through the upper eml of the line and thus endangered Hie lower ond. This is exactly the situation which is being repented loduy. II lias been cslnblislird that while Field Mnilinl I'ouiiid yhi Ilnct.eiidoi'tf is diverting Hie movement, Generul nn Kroliutin 's forces also are cooperating. In addition to the superiority in num bers, the Austro-0 mans are t.-il.p.i;; advantage of Hit- wurd sce-'n; are stiiking before no mountain suotl-. inijiedo operations. ! The weather this year happens to be favorable to the enemy. The snow is only a few inches deep, v.horcas u .December .De-cember the snow usually reaches a depth of from four to ten feci, fine such snow tall would be worth di';;inns. orav ;.kies todav indicated snow, oi l the fall was light. Austrian prisoners lakeu in the lnt few davs say that the release of litis sinn prisoners held in Austria begun ten days ago. Austria look the initiative in this without, waiting for Kussin to relcn.se Austrian prisoners. Kach Russian Rus-sian prisoner was schooled earerully in Austria's desire to end the war. and the whole body of these Russian prisoners was returned to h'ussia as a sort of propaganda tor terminating the struu ' gle. Fighting Desperate. The importance of the fighting around Asingo is not underosMmnted. but it is believed the line of resistance on which the Italians have, retired is capable of holding the Fran7.ella and Gadena passes leading into the Urcnta valley ami the open plain some miles below. Tlie fighling has been of the most desperate character, and while the e.nemv has paid dearly for his su.ces. tho Italian losses also have been verv heavy. An eyewitness from the scene of operations gave the cm respondent details de-tails of the extent a.nd hloodv nature of the carnage. Knemv reserves were poured in until the Italians were far outnumbered. Thev continued to struggle strug-gle desperately, however, and in one ca.e a small detachment ot Hersagberi met. the shock of an entire Austrian regiment. Austrian Kaie.j;iegiTs ,i (-(Continued on rase Two.) 1 TAKEN PBISPHEH (Continued from Page One.) p laved unprecedented to roc it v, using ti!i:-t'o wtdl as bayonet in fierce hand to-h;nid lighting. Hut t he greiite:-t single iutaii-e of heroism anil los was in The case of several sev-eral deT-i'-hments ot' Alpini, whieh lild Monte Oisto! somber to against overwhelming over-whelming odds until su rrou uded. Thus en i' in-led tliey nuide repeated charges, but the havy suiTOimding lines held and t he , ep I i re pa rty was tiil on the mountain w hen The remainder of the Italian iine foil ba-k. In another case one brigade of Hi?r?aglieri lost a great number ul officers and men in the same prnt'O rtion. Tlv: extent of the enemy reserves is shown by their concentration in the averagp n mount of a division for every kilometer. The artillery firo also ha.3 been the. heaviest since the new Italian line was formed. Conditions this morning were virtually virtu-ally unchanged. Much depends upon the ability of the Italians to hold the passes to which they have retired, com: manding the Brent a valley and the plains. The latest reports at this hour (7 p. m.) show that detachment? -if -Alpini, surrounded on Jlonte C nstelgomberto, preferred death rather than surrender, and either fell by their own hands or were cut to pieces in the fierce assaults liv the enemy columns which had completely com-pletely surrounded them. It is estimated that the forces employed em-ployed by the enemy were about twice as large as the Italian forces before the Italian line was retired to its present position. |