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Show VICTORY OF IHLy DECISIVE BLOW DEFEAT OF AUSTR I ANS SO CRUSHING THAT THEY ARE f STOPPED FOR WEEKS. Germany's Whole Plan of Offense on the West Front Likely to Be Smashed to Pieces as Result of Rout of Austrians. London. -The view in military circles cir-cles Tuesday night was that the defeat of the Austriaus is so crushing that it will be impossible for the enemy to repeat his offensive on a serious scale for several weeks. One. of the causes for tin; Austrian disaster is said to have been faulty judgment in placing their reserves, by which they failed to be brought up atJhe critical moment to meet the clever strategy of the Italians. Ital-ians. So strongly is the I'iave line now held by the Italians, say mili t:i-y critics, that it will 'be impossible for the disorganized enemy armies to retake re-take it, and there is not the slightest fear that they again will try to cross, the river. .It is said they staked every-thing every-thing on this offensive and threw all . their forces into it. Thirty-seven divisions divi-sions have been identified as being iu the battle. Germany's entire offensive program may have been upset, in the opinion of some officers at Washington, by the crushing defeat of the Austriaus along the I'iave river. ' Official reports reaching Washington Washing-ton bear out the picture of the Austrian disaster given in press accounts from Itay, although the full extent of the Italian success is not yet apparent. It is regarded as certain, however, that the central powers have been dealt a blow that will further shake the morale mo-rale of their people and probably will compel the German high command to make a complete readjustment of its plans in France. Secretary linker showed the significance signif-icance attached here to the defeat of the Austriaus when he disyitched a congratulatory telegram to the American Ameri-can ambassador at Rome for transmission transmis-sion to the Italian minister of war. The defeat of the Austrian armies on the western bank of the I'iave river is complete. Admission is made by the Austrian war office that the troops of Emperor Charles have been forced to evacuate the Montello plateau, plat-eau, over which they had hoped to press their way and gain the Venetian plains and "some sectors" of the positions posi-tions they attained last week on the bank of the river between the plateau and the point where the stream empties into the Adriatic. ' Bad weather and the rising of the Piave under the heavy rainfalls are assigned as the reasons for the withdrawal with-drawal of the Austriaus. But the. Rome war office asserts it was the impetus of the attack of the Italians that brought about the failure of an operation which was started with the intention of crushing the armies of General Diaz and forcing the Italians, like thi Russians, to accept a Teutonic allied peace. All along the river the Italians have pressed back the invaders of their territory ter-ritory until only small units remain on the Western bank, and across the stream King Victor Emmanuel's men are keeping well on the heels of the retreating enemy, who is fleeing "in disorder. dis-order. The losses to the enemy are described de-scribed as enormous, both in men killed, wounded or made prisoner. An official statement from Rome to the Italian embassy in "Washington asserts that the Austriaus have lost 40,000 rieu in prisoners alone. |