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Show ITALIANS CONTINUE" ADVANCE ON PIAVE WITHDRAWAL OF AUSTRIANS AFTER DEFEAT SOON BECOMES A DISORDERLY ROUT. Under Deluge of Bullets and Shells, Maddened Austrians Leap Into River, Many Who Escaped Bullets of Pursuers Being Drowned. Home. Italian troops on the southern south-ern part of the 1'iave front have not only completely reoccupied the Capo Sile bridgehead, but have extended it and held the gain against Austrian counter-attacks. The extension was effected Wednesday. During the fighting fight-ing nearly 4000 prisoners were taken. On the remainder of the front the fighting was confined to artillery duels and patrol actions. Under the fire of Italian machine guns and artillery, which were brought up rapidly, the Austrian withdrawal across the Piave soon became a disorderly dis-orderly rout. It is estimated the Austrian Aus-trian losses total more than 200,000. It was a terrible sight as the maddened mad-dened Austrians tied under the deluge ' of Italian bullets and shells. They leaped into the 'fcver and grabbed pieces of wood or anything that would aid them ; they tied themselves to mules and horses, but their efforts were in vain, for as the enemy troops reached the opposite bank they were again caught by the lire of the Italian guns, which had been trained accurately accur-ately on the eastern bank for some days. -On the Montello the slaughter was terrific. Bodies of the Austrian troops were mowed down almost in their entirety. en-tirety. At the crossing at Nervesa both banks of the river were strewn with dead and dying, while hundreds of bodies were carried down in the current to the sea. At one place the correspondent counted 300 bodies while walking a distance dis-tance of half a mile. One regiment of covering troops, which originally was composed of more than 2000 men, had left Monday but 88 men to the company, and these were prisoners. Along the lower Piave the Austrians found themselves, if possible, in a worse position and sustained heavier losses. |