| OCR Text |
Show WILL ITALY v I PECIPINGFAd 311' YrSr i&8jSL 3 8 B IH II VU yfrT f I (Full Force of the Great Italian Army Is Not f Yet Felt In Titanic Struggle Like Germany, Italy Has Been Prepared by an Elaborate and Efficient System and When Her Well -Trained f Forces Are In mm S Complete Op- JL ; '"" I eration the War L, A M fk 4 I to an End by Bflfe?, l Jm flL- . Ir 4 v. JH -i x Svv2s 'T'r' JHHMHtKC !?J?4Kjl.'-iGL' 5?i&ft5J&0'i,W l'At?:i'v riE-bl I tee Jnrepooder- Ar : 4tPPJ mm 1 clOCc Ul tilt: , ;,. v,.,;' ,.:v - - v-52Ifc8 r jls NL ItaKansAn glgfe: sC'"? I Describes the f mfeWteflSI I Situation (fiisfes&swfe I Italy May Hold Balance of Power j a j Italy is about to become ono of the determining factors in. am tho present great war. She has for years been preparing for the '', & struggle. She has more ammunition and better guns than any !; m of the allies, She has better trained troops and her cavalry ' Wl and her mountaineers are the most skilled soldiers In the world, 1 not even excepting the Cossacks of the Russian army. II 1 ,; If Italy entrenches her forces in the Alps when the cruel ! II 3, ,; winter makes war impossible, she will be able to throw her J I ! men into the fight in the Dardanelles and may give to the allies ;j II i; the impetus necessary to carry them through that great nat- ' II ural barrier and allow tbim to conquer the Turks. ;! If Does Italy hold the deciding hand in the present great war? Will she eventually through her own power B of arms lead the allies to victory? This is the question that the great f powers are asking themselves now, jj and it seems to be the general opin- ion that the Italian nation will cast f into the balanco the weight that will I incline the scales toward the allies' 1 victory. Successful in driving back the invading Austrians and keeping them checked on her frontier iu the S Alps, Italy now may turn her at-5? at-5? tention to the Dardanelles and may ' be the wedge thatlwill drive through 1 this great natural fortification. Again, if she were to declare war J on Germany or Vice versa, Itily could send an army into France that I would succeed in accomplishing ( Avhat the combined forces of France and England have failed to do. The power of Italy in the present conflict is based solely upon her t foresight in being prepared. She alii al-ii ways has had a large standing army if and at her beck and call a lorce of ti trained troops. Her factories have been biiBy for years making muni-tf muni-tf tions that might be needed. bi Italy considered the matter of pve-k; pve-k; paredncss from a ljropcr angle. Her militarj graining 'was compulsory, ; but it was thorough and every man I who became a reservist loft tho army with a thorough knowledge of ;t war and every man in the Italian r! army knows how to fight. X Italy kept her munition factories v going day and night for years when PjffJ nothing but continued peace was in iM S sight and no one even dreamed of fSi war. Sg Italy realized that to the north of -JL l her was a heramed-in nation that tjjj- Ki had wrested from her its important iJS H seaports and that might at some fu- j?5 f turc day attempt more conquests. dp I She felt" deeply the sting of the jiu- tj I strinn invasions of many years ago JS? 1 and prepared herself to forever re- jS at the encroachments of any other j'tJr nation for her territory, fijj ? Italy was fortunate in having a Eg ,' war spirit of the most intensive type. riSS ;; The warm-blooded Italian loves his IS 'i country and ho loves war when It is & for the sake of his country. There S i arc two great objects in the mind of M 1 the Italian to support his parents I and to support his country. When 5&m ? war comes his parents and family jrfgB - arc forgotten in tho rush to go to &5M the country's defense. Italian pa- LgJ rents raise their children with iwo lW& L . iHL objects in mind to make them producers pro-ducers for the home and protectors of their parents when old age overtakes over-takes the latter and to fight for tho country. SACRIFICE OF PATIENTS. When war conies the aged paronts yield their sons' support to the nation na-tion and are content to live in poverty pov-erty and face starvation as long as they have a representative at the front " In fact, the entrance of the Italian into battle is accompanied by a peculiar pe-culiar fatalism that one might think would be unknown to that race. The majority of Italians are Catholic and have a deep religious devotion. They arc taught to "lovo ono another" and that war is wrong, yet they enter en-ter into battle with the most daring disregard of their own lives and with an animus that is terrible. Religion is almost forgotten in the fight and the Italians from tho time of Caesar have relished war. It scorns that the peculiar fatalism that possessed his great armies seizes the Italians of modern time's when they enter battle. That this race should yield to fatalism in wail's wai-l's unusual. Italians have been an educated race for many centuries. In fact, they have led the nations of Europe, proper, in civilization and culture. They have never degenerated de-generated from the grand accomplishments accom-plishments that were theirs when Rome was the greatest empire of the world. Tho Italians havo known no barbarism that would make them yield to the principles of fatalism the belief that death in battle led one directly to eternal reward, that nothing could be greater or more upright up-right than to die in tho fight. It seems to be this self-same culture cul-ture and education, backed up by centuries of prowess in the field, that leads to the assumption of such a doctrine. Tho Turks and even tho Russians go into battle with tUe fatalistic fa-talistic idea that they will e taken to eternal glory if thry Jte in battle. The same idea affects the Indians who arc fighting for England and makes thorn terrible and reckless in battle. RECKLESS IX JUTTEE. The Italians display this same recklessness and daring in the field and it seems that they inherit their war spirit from the time of Julius Caoaar, when the latter was the con queror of tho Franks, the Belgao and the subjugator of tho ' Isle of brit-tanla brit-tanla itself. Tueso Roman soldiers fought with the fatalistic idea that nothing would please the gods more than for a man to be killed in battle. bat-tle. In fact, they believed that there was a special and more attractive attrac-tive plane reserved to those who died in an engagement. The Romans Ro-mans wore a military race. They were well armed and always, prepared. pre-pared. Indeed, real military tactics and science in battle were unknown to the "world until Julius Caesar introduced in-troduced them. Before his time battles were hand-to-hand encounters. Two armies were thrown together and fought until un-til one was vanquished. It was a mere question of superiority in numbers. num-bers. Ho introduced to the world the simple thing known as strategy. He overcame foes that didn't know the meaning of that word. . ?iM riir&f it? "t-i-itr irar-r . . e W- Ci 1 . a 3y . - Llt ITALIAN RLUEIJACWETS R-&ADV trO ACTIVE SER VICE From his time on military preparedness pre-paredness has been a by-word in Italy. At tho present date this country coun-try has the greatest cavalry in tho world, not even excoptiug tho Russian Rus-sian Cossacks. Tho Italian cavalry performs unusual feats on horses that excel the daring riding of the Cossacks. Their horses arc trained to descend or ascend 75 per cent grades and the cavalrymen accomplish accom-plish these feats with unusual grace. While this may seem to be useful only for exhibition it stands them in good stead, particularly if it is considered con-sidered that the work for which they have been preparing for so many years is all In the north, in tho mountainous and almost impassible regions of the Alps, where they long have been expecting their foes, the Austrians. . 3I0UATAJX . , I-'IGHTLXG. Tucir'mbuntain forces arc the best trained soldiers in the world, and many tales have come ot tuolr prow- . ess in the present war. It was reported re-ported that a dozen of these daring Alpine climbers ascended a slue')) . cliff and captured an entire Austrian company. Whether this is true or not tho ability aud courage of these fighters cannot be doubted. They have engaged in many battles of the clouds in which they almost have excelled the agility of mountain goats in their ability to climb or to descend perilous mountain heights. But the cold winter of the Alps now approaches. In that region far above sea level, where snow is constant con-stant on the mountain peaks all jear round, the winter is terrible in its severity. Men die in drifts, they succumb to exposure, they yield to exhaustion. The troops themselves are trained io a life under such disadvantages dis-advantages but even they must yield to the cruel and deadly onslaught of winter a winter that leaves them with frozen handstand feet- The bravest of men mnst yield to this operpowering influence of nature na-ture that overtakes even the bravest and leaves them numb and cold in death. So there Is nothing more for the Austrian and Italian soldiers engaged en-gaged in the fight in the Alps to do than to entrench and mako such preparations that Will make them comfortable in the long siege of winter. win-ter. This will permit the government govern-ment to withdraw largo forces of thorn Into action in Turkey. With Italy's large aud efficient, navy, with her number of trained men it Is possible for her to give that weight to the allies that av'IH impel tbcm through the Dardanelles and win for I hem tho greatest victory against the greatest natural fortifications the world dver lias Known. The Italians, too may send forces into Greece or Scrvia lo'aid in repelling re-pelling the present drive toward Constantinople. Should the forces 'jCT AN ARMOPEO H 5 MOTOe CAW J oi Italy enter that campaign it ia M conceded that the drive. could be MJ checked. 81 GREAT ARMY iH IX FIELD. Italy can throw more trained men J into cither field than can France or j England and she has a great fleet of M warships and submarines to back fl up her land fleet She also has a groat- H cr supply of big guns and ammu- M cltion than either of her two big al- M lies. Italy was prepared. She knew jJ that sonic day sho would have to M protect her standing in Europe. She fl realized that with the great nations H struggling for commercial suprem- M acy that peace could not last al- H ways. Her natural foe to tho north H was gaining In financial prosperity. H That meant that some day Austria H might BCek more territory so Italy M kept its ammunition plants busy H night and day and stored up ammu- H nition needed to defend herself. IH When the call to arms came M Italy's troops were mobilized with M all that speed and thoroughness that so splendidly characterized the Ger- M man army when it received its first H call. One word from the government 1 and the entire army was gathered M and ready to proceed to the front M The troops had their own equipment H from the days of their former serv- M ice and in a few hours after the call M reported at their military barracks. M When the German call to arms M came the men reported with the same M speed to their barracks. They found J everything in readiness for them. M Each man had his own locker in the M barracks and In it everything was M awaiting, even to the uniform made M to his exact measurement He found M his gun carefully oiled and his can- :M teen filled with fresh water. From M th.e day he left tho service until he 1 returned that canteen had been pmp- J tied and filled with fresh water daily M and once a week his gun had bten H oiled. On the floor of his locker whs a M piece of oiled paper with a bit of H string beneath it. so arranged that M ho placed the civilian clothes in this M paper and then secured the string. H The government even arranged Uiat H in the case of the soldier's death his B clothing be sent to his family while M in the event he survived his gar- M ments would be awaiting him on M his return from battle. H This is an illustration of the ex- H cellent preparedness of Germany H which won the admiration of tne on- H tire world when that nation sent its M troops toward Paris even before clh- M er nations could prepare themselves M for the combat. M The allies, it is generally conccd- M ed, have lost their fighting strength. M England is struggling in vain to put H a large army in the field and both it M aud France arc laboring under the M difficulty of being short of ammuni- M r' tion. However, Italy is supplied with H ' both and before the war ends, it is !H conceded, will have a decided vole? H and arm in settling the situation. H |
