Show I Italy Joins the Big Push By FRANK H. H SIMONDS Copyright 1916 by the New York Tribune T THE HE victory of the Italians at Gorizia is not merely the most important achievement of their troops in the war it does not merely imperil the great Austrian port of Triest give Italy the crossings of the Isonzo and compel Austria to retire to a new position it also gives notice to the world once more moree that the central central central cen cen- powers are on the defensive on another front is the third step in the development of f the g general concentric offensive i f vr 1 r of of- allies r. r H i fV- fV i J It It t the lir first t w ek of J md that f Russia R struck and the f fol following following fol- fol 01 I lowing weeks were filled with the reports of great Russian successes advances captures Barely a month later the blow at the Somme marked the passing of the offensive to the British and the French now in the first week of August the Italians have struck The Russian Russian Russian Rus Rus- sian success was very great and continues as the latest battle r report port I from the region near Stanislau indicates The French Anglo-French success I was far le less s considerable but it still continues the Italian success has been een to judge from the first reports quite striking and had led I to the usual Austrian surrenders I ALLIES' ALLIES TIME HAS COME I We Ve see then the time arrived for which the allies have been I preparing for nearly two years For a year and half their ope operations operations opera opera- a- a on the several fronts were not coordinated bore no relation to each other Germany was able to strike first at France Francc then Russia and then France again at Verdun She was able to go to the I Balkans and thanks to her interior lines she was able to move her troops from one front to the other and parry blows All this is familiar to the American student of the civil war I I It is what the South was able to do for the years from Bull Run to toI I the opening of the Wilderness campaign But Grant reckoned that the South with fewer men with failing resources could not stand equal pressure presure on all fronts The allies have made the same lation Continued on page 6 6 ITAlY JOINS THE TE BI BIG PUSH Continued from page a 1 Take the sequence of events Germany Germany Ger Ger- many moved troops from the tho east east to strike at Verdun Austria followed suit to attack Italy in the The eastern line was weakened and Russia struck Thereupon the central powers powers recalled their troops from the Italian front nn and turned their reserves and some few of their western troops to toward toward to- to toward ward tho the east Thereupon the British and Fren French French struck Austria continued to draw her troops to the east from the Italian front an and now Italy has struck k There Is left only the Balkan front and we may expect action there too with no long delay i What hat we are arc seeing unfold before us is the first c comprehensive and coordinated co action on the part of all the ene- ene mi mis miOs s of the central powers And on all aJl fronts we are seeing Germans and Austrians recoiling The toll of Austrian Austrian Aus Aus- trian and German prisoners captured b by Russia in two months passes that of the French and British ap approaches approaches ap- ap approaches the reports from the Isonzo front indicate that the Italian capture Is ver very large Austrians Held Gat Gateway way Now turning to the Isonzo front it itself it- it self eif the situation is very simple to grasp Just west of the old Austro- Austro Italian frontier the tho Julian Alps come within about sixty miles of the Adriatic coast Actually the Austrians have been holding a fortified line between tho the mountains and the sea the only real gateway from the Italian plain into Austria At the point where this line touched tho mountains it rested upon Monte Sabotino at the point where it approached the sea It rested upon San Michels l which is only a high point Inthe in inthe inthe the Carso plateau Just west of Sabotino that is be behind behind be- be hind bInd the Austrian line the river river-Isonzo emerges from the mountains and flows II south first straight and then bending west where it touches the foot of the Carso plateau Half way between the mountains and the sea is the cit city of Gorizia which lie lies in the Isonzo and in I front of it is the hill of Podgora which is west of it The Austrian position on actually rested one flank upon Sabotino Sabo Sabo- I tino one on the Carso Cargo and th the hill of Podgora covered Gorizia and constituted constituted constituted its center Gorizia the tho Key The Tho Italians had hall managed to get across the Isonzo north of Sabotino in inthe inthe inthe the mountains but they could not get further cast east They had had also got across to the south of Gorizia and amI clambered Up the first slopes of the tho Carso plateau only to be stopped by the San l Michele Michelo helo peninsula As long as the Austrians were able ahlo to hold Gorizia the tho Italians who nho ho were less than twenty miles from Trieste were unable to advance from l i on the first slopes of the Cargo Carso because their flank and rear were exposed to attack from Gorizia Their true objective was Trieste their road lay south of Gorizia and along the I coast but it was necessary to burst open the whole gate from the mountains mountains moun moun- to the thC sea before they could get on Last September when the Russians were in straits the Italians made a desperate attempt to get started they beat against the Gorizia gateway for days and suf suffered ered the most sanguinary losses but they did not get the three i I main posts of the gateway Sabotino I Michele or Podgora Gorizia which lies in a valley between the Julian Alps an and the Carso plateau they shelled to ruins but were unable to take because it lay behind the Austrian line Italian Rear in Danger I Now It Is necessary also to recall I first the progress of recent events In Inthe Inthe Inthe the spring Austria sent a great force down the Adige valley and attempted to enter the Venetian plain She mado made real progress and was approaching success when the Russian victories stayed her hand Since Juno the Italians have been steadily regaining lost grounds and closing the gaps by which Austria struck south Until this was done no step could be taken at the Isonzo because the Austrian blow in inthe inthe inthe the Trentino menaced the rear and the communications of the Isonzo and Alpine Alpine Al Al- pine forces to the east east But for nearly two months the ItalIans Italians Ital Ital- I ians inns have been steadily retaking their lost positions between the Adige and the Brenta in the Trentino district i Apparently the they now feel that their I rear and their rail communications by and Verona are safe from an attack from th the Trentino Accordingly I they have resumed their thrust at the Isonzo given over last fall fail have stormed Sabotino and San Michele both and thus have forced the Gorizia gateway g The Austi Austrians lans on Podgora have had to clear dear out and ami the tho Italians report that they aro are shelling Gorizia before storming it Apparently there is still open to tho the Austrians Austrian the line of retreat along the railroad that connects Gorizia with Trieste and runs first east and then south But nut the Italians who have I taken th the Carso Carao position of Monte San Michele l are arc actually nearer Trieste and if the Austrians are routed may be beable beable beable able to come south along along- the shore which Is skirted by tho main Trieste- Trieste Venice railroad and cut off oft the Austrians Austrians Aus Aus- from Trieste All Ali of is unlikely Presumably the Austrians have other positions prepared prepared pre pre- pared on the Carso peninsula and the Italians will presently be held up But they have now buest the great barrier balTier they have pushed through the chief Austrian defense which tho the Austrians have successfully defended for more than a year they have captured more prisoners than in any previous engagement engagement engagement engage engage- ment and they have taken pay for their reverses in the Trentino two months ago Everything that has happened since the allied offensive began has indicated that the central powers are holding lines too long for their present numbers num num- I bers hers Apparently the Austrians were I caught off their guard In the Gorizia line as they were taken unawares in and GalIcia by the Russians Apparently they had reduced their troops on the Isonzo beyond the safety point to reinforce their troops In the ast as they had previously reduced their eastern armies too far to penn permit it i them to make their drive In the Tren Tren- tino tInD It is too soon to estimate the extent of the Gorizia victory but it is not too soon to emphasize its relation to the whole allied plan and Its new revelation of the decline in German Austro-German strength as the first week of the third year of the war ends |