Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1915-10-16
ITALIAN OFFENSIVE UNBROKEN;
CADORNA CONTINUES ADVANCE
Commander Maintains Early Initiative and is Pusng
Forward His Troops in Enveoping Maneuver
Against Austrian Strongholds
By BERTo DI BRAHALLA
UNA MORSA FATALE VA
AVVOLGENDO G0RIZIA

There Is a widespread belief among
foreign, and particularly American, OBJ
servers of tie war In Europe, that the
Italian offensive against Austria, which
was so swift and successful in the first
stage Of the campaign, has come to a
deadlock. Some critics go even as far as
to assert that Il has been broken alto
gether. This belief Is quite wrong, as
IL Is based on an incomplete and very
superficial knowledge OF the geographi-
cal and Typographical aspect OF the ccun-
try over which the Italians are still car
rying on their offensive movements,
despite the enormous and little known OBJ
stacles they are compelled TO overcome
before being able to drag their heavy
guns within range of the enemy's forts.
A campaign in a region OF high noun
tains is quite different from one I'm plains,
where swift moves, action of great masses
of artillery and deployment OF big armies
are comparatively an easy matter. In
high mountains, where there are few or
no roads viable enough for the transpor-
tation OF heavy pieces, where Held de-
fenses complete the permanent works Of
fertilization, forming an almost un-
broken line Of trenches and forts, 1t is
possible to operate only with very linn
tied number of guns, with small detach-
ments OF infantry and Alpine troops,
without space to deploy even a brigade,
hence the attacking commander is COM
PEELED to proceed with caution " he Is
to avoid the danger of destruction Of his
men through the numberless perils inn
posed by nature and by the defenders.
Take for instance the campaign against
Gorilla, which has been going on for four
months and is not yet concluded. Gorilla,
or rather the fortress of Gorilla stands
II.
n small depression at the point where
the Isonzo River comes out of a deep and
rough gorge. This crown of mountains is
open on one side only, for less than four
miles, and the opening is also defended
by a formidable bridgehead protected by
the batteries posted on the SUBMITS of
hills and mountains around the city and
by the spur of Podgora, with steep
slopes This, however, has been already
taken by the Italians.
In order to avoid destruction he had
to resort to the only way left, the en-
velopment of the fortress from the PLAYA
region, on the north, and from the Carso
plateau, on the south. But the Carso is n
fortress by itself, natural fortress,
which must be conquered slowly, by de-
stroying one by one all the batteries con-
cealed i'm the crevices and caverns which
break the surface of the plateau. There
the Italians have gained a strong foot
hold and continue their necessarily slow
work Of crushing the Gorilla forts be-
tween the jaws Of the wise which is
closing i'm from PLAYA and the Carso.
But the offensive is far from broken.
General Cadorna still has the initiative
on every sector of the front from the
Stelvio to the sea, and nowhere have the
Austrians succeeded in taking it from
him. He has not only closed all the easy
accesses to the Italian plains from the
Tyrol and Trentino, but his troops are
pushing forward in their offensive move
ment against the Austrian strongholds.