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Show AMERICANS ON j ITALIAN FIELD Military Men in Close Work With High Command Officers Of-ficers Well Received. HEADQUARTERS ITALIAN ARMY,' May 81, (Correspondence of the Associated As-sociated Press.) The American military mil-itary mission is now one of the permanent per-manent establishments at Italian headquarters, with extensive offices and a considerable force of officers and i men, in close communication with the It.ilian high command and with the; various sections of the front Thus far the work has been one of I organization and observation, but soon there will be the active service along the mountain and Plave fronts of some I I.'.imi otfieers and men of the regular! army medical service, with thirty ambulance am-bulance sections of ten or twelve ambulances am-bulances to the section, and later on there is the possibility, much discuss- j ed. of American troops in the fighting, line. Already the American uniform is much In eidence along the streets, and there is a distant sentiment of cordiality toward the troopers in the broad brimmed sombrero. Major General Kben Sw ift, a cav- j airy officer of long service, is at the head of tbe American mission He was ! for a time in France in conference with 1 General Pershing, and then came with bis Btafl to Rome and to headquarters, j With him as chief of staff is Colonel I John McA. Palmer of the general staff I corps, who was on the general staff at Washington when the constructive I work on the new army was being done, I land later was one ojf General Pershing's Persh-ing's chief staff officers In France. Other officers of the mission are I Lieutenant-Colonel R. U. Patterson of i the army medical corps; Major Paules, engineei corps; Major Burgln. ordinance; ord-inance; Captain E. O. Hunter, McKln-1 I ney and Morgan, aides-decamp to) j General Swift; Captain Wlnthropl Chanler and Lieutenant E. C. Pomcroy lot the intelligence branch; Horace Digelow. secretary, and some eight or ten enlisted men for the clerical work Officers Well Received. The American officers have been well received and made to feel al home. They hare the mess with tho j oilier foreign military missions, which Includes a large number of British French. Belgian. Japanese Serbian and other officers As liaison officer! keeping the Americans in close touch with the Italian military authorities, the government designated Prince Co-lona, Co-lona, mayor of Rome. They are In close contact also with many of the other well-known military, figures including General Del ma Rad-I ehtfe. head of the British mission, the count of Turin, commander of the Italian Ital-ian cavalry, and the many officers of high rank who center at headquarters The American headquarters Is established es-tablished In one of the famous old palaces pal-aces of the region, now taken over for war uses. There are extensive officers offi-cers for the various branches engaged in observation and report, with a rattle rat-tle of typewriters and activity that sounds like the corridors of the war department at Washington. The old palace has extensive gardens in th rear which run back to one of the most monumenta! church edifices in Italy, with its interior adorned by the frescoes of Titian and Giotto and many of the masterpieces of Donatell as well as the catafalgue in which repose re-pose the remains of one of the world's great saints. General Swift Visits Front. General Swift and the several staff officers are making constant visits to various sections of the front, observing observ-ing general conditions and making studies on many special lines. General Swift is thus brought in frequent contact con-tact with General Diaz at the headquarters head-quarters of the Italian supreme command. com-mand. General the Duke of Aosta, commander of the third army which guards the Piave line, and he has also I had the advantagw of being received md entertained by King Victor at tho royal establishment near the front. But the general has not confined himself to official visits, and has made many trips along the fighting front, going into the forward trenches, talking talk-ing with the officers and men on ihe firing line and examining their equipment, equip-ment, and the provision of guns, munitions mu-nitions and material. The general has alo made -a -tour of the factories turning turn-ing out the supplies of guns and ammunition. am-munition. Colonel Palmer and the other officers offi-cers are also constantly engaged on visits of inspection to the various points of the front Colonel Palmer and Lieutenant Pomeroy are preparing for a trip to Albania, which is a part of the Italian tront, and where the Italians have an army stretching from the Adriatic to Macedonia, where it forms a link with the army of Salon -ica. |