Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1915-05-21
WHAT CAN ITALY DO
IN THE GREAT WAR
Nation Faces Colossal Task in At
tacking Fortified and Mountain
protected Frontier - Army Has
Reputation to Make.
BY FRANK H. s1MoNDs

| to dispose or certain obvious mlSapprenen-
! slons. First of all, Italy will not be able to
take up the road to Vienna or Budapest
with the opening of hostilites. On the con-
trary she will have for many weeks to con-
slider the defense of Verona, of Milan and
of her Venetian province.
Look at any map of Northern Italy and
1t will be seen that the Austrian Tyrol pro-
jedss into italian territory like q gigantic
peninsula. 1t is more than this It Is, in
fact, fortified and mountain protected fun
nell down which in the valley of the Adge
run railroad and a highway from the
north to the very heart of northern Italy
Down this funnel flank and rear protected
by the fortified mountain, not Austria alone,
but Germany can pour their masses.
In the Napoeonic times. In the war of
liberation waged by the French and Ital-
ians In the last century, Austrian defense
took It's stand behind the Mincio and the
Po the former issuing from the Lago di
Garda. Half century ago the Quadrilat-
eral, made UP Of Verona Peschiera, Man
tua and Legnago, was familiar in the
mind of the world as Liege verdun or
Antwerp today Holding these four for
tresses, the Austrians, their road home
through the Tyrol protected, long domi-
mated northern Italy.
Country Favors Austrians
Today all four of these towns are Ital-
lam Verona is strongly fortified: the 20
miles between the city and the Austrian
frontier are covered by modern forts. But
the nature of the country is against the
Italians. Austria has kept her hand on the
slopes and hills which in fact command the
gates of Italy For precisely the same rea-
son that the Russians could not begin the
war on the Posen frontier Italy cannot push
a great army far to the east of Verona on
the Isonzo while the Austrian Tyro is un-
taken.
On the other hand, could the Germans
drawing from Galica some of the victori-
Gus corps now pursuing the fleeing Rus
slams, concentrating their heavy artillery,
burst out Of the Adige Valley into the plain,
take Verona and the northern bank of the
Mincio, they could stretch their front east
to the Adratic, bottle up all Italian troops
in Venetia, occupy a line infinitely stronger
than they hold in northern France, and
leave 1t to the Italians to themselves
out fighting on their own, not Austrian, soil.
More than this, by crossing corner of
the territory of Switzerland on the upper
EngadIne they might pour troops into the
plains about Milan. For the moment Rus
sia has been disposed Of 1t will be weeks
before she can recover herself for a new
offensive. German military theory calls for
opening a with a crushing blow. She
has the troops, and the italian situation
calls for vigorous thrust.
Italy's Colossal Task
But If Germany and Austria remain on
the defensive Italy's task will still be
colossal. Every point of military value in
the broad circle of mountains from Lago
di Garda through the Dolemites and the
Julian Alps to Fiume has been heavily
fortified in recent years. Remembering the
in Belgium and France, where |
the country is almost a uniform plain, 1t is |
easy to understand what expenditure of
time and effort will be necessary to clear
roads and hack through mountains 5000 feet |
high.
On the north Italy is, presumably con- |
demned to the defensive or to slow and |
offensive Nor can her fleet, ad-
mirable as 1t is, be expected to accomplish |
much in the Adriatic, where the Austrian
fleet lies behind the forts of Pola and Aus
tran submarines are active. Until these
are removed the possibility of landing a
large expeditionary army in Istra or Dali
malta seems slight
1t may be assumed that Italian troops
will be sent to the Dardanelles. 1t is clear
that reinforcements are badly needed by the
Allies Conceivably an army landed at Enos
will be sent against Adrianople in an effort
TO draw Turkish troops from the Galipoli
peninsula and to cut the Orient Railway
he sole connection between Constantinople
md the capitals of her allies. Nowhere can
italy serve her new friends better than in
Turkey. Unquestionably she will
llso send troops to the mainland of Asia
Minor east of Rhodes, where she has al
'eady marked out a sphere of interest.
More serious for the Austro- German for
une in the immediate present Is the prob
lbility that Rumania will follow the Italian
example and declare war A Rumanian in
'ason of Pennsylvania, joining hands with
he Russians now in Bukowina. would do
much to nullify the recent Galician victories.
Million Men Ready
A great deal of guessing has been done
bout numbers. Presumably Italy will put
n the field about "a army corps-that is.
approximately, 100000 men. They should
'e well equipped and we'll trained. Italian
ligh command has had all the experience
IT the great war to guide it, If 1t Is weak
n any branch 1t will probably prove to be
artillery. The Italian fleet is strong in
and generally held much
more efficiently administered than the arny
'ut 1t will bring little help actually needed
" the Allies.
The Italian army enters the conflict with
reputation to make. In Abyssinia and
'ripoli it did little to win the respect OF
he soldiers of the world. 1t is an unknown
uantity held in low esteem by both Ger
mans and Austrians. But similar notions
4 the Serb and the Greek proved erroneous