Norwich bulletin., 1916-03-01
Stories of the War

striking them are defected upward and outward. Back of this front runs railroad, capable of doing great service.
 The enemy is fortifying the ter rain, has established concrete founda- tions for heavy guns, is assembling batteries of heavy artillery, builds un derground shelters for his auto trucks and auto trains, and magazines for ammunition, foodstuffs and forage.
 "The enemy's front is liberaIIy pro- vided with machine-guns-for each 20 to 25 yards two of these have been in stalled while there are also mechanical rifles which fire ten loading. Out of every part of a trench 25 yards long, 4S0, 900 projectiles may be fired in twenty-four hours, or 20,- 900 in an hour. One must bear in mind, in addition to this, the barbed- wire entanglementS, and then try to obtain an estimate of what it would be like to break this wall of steel.' The article in question is remarkable 1 for the fact that it was evidently written by a person of none or little the Russian military censors. While the German -Austro- -Hungar- | ian troops have thoroughly utilized the | long spell of inaction in Russia to for | tify their lines to an unheard-Of de- | gree, the AustroHungarian troops have I OOno lhGWlS0 on the Italian front Tn l the face of an almost continual on ! slaught by the Italian forces. When | the war with Italy broke out, the pres ent Austro- Hungarian front, contrary | to what has been said, was not pre- | pared for the position war which result of this was, that, owing to the rock surface of the terrain which | had to be chosen, and because of the | Italian artillery superiority, the Aus | TF~SN rr,-ir,, Ir,-
 of it. It was impossible to dig | trenches and bomb proofs with the pick and spade. Rock drills and dynamite | had to be used.
 But today the Austro- -Hungarians are declared to be well entrenched and l housed along the entire front. Where
 water was hard to get reservoirs and | ducts were established. Everywhere | field railroads were laid out-in one 1 1sonzo sector over 125 miles alone.
 of cable railroads. Summits have been
 made accessible by the building of
 elevators. Up to December l, 1915,
 227 bridges had been built. What
 has been done to make the trops com
 fortable is shown by the use of 200
 month last fall.
 Meanwhile, barbed-wire entangle-
 and other Instructions have been laid out on an unprecedented scale. Land
 mines have been laid. In fact noth- | ing tending to give the Austro- Hun garian troops technical superiority over the Italians has been left un- done.
 Though the Serbs fought well, they
 succumbed rapidly to the technical
 superiority of the Central Powers troops. At first it was artillery su- periority which harrassed the Serbian troops and prevented them from inter
 fering with the crossing of the Dan ube. Incident to this was the effici- ency of the Austro- Hungarian and
 German pioneer and engineer troops. Any one of the four pontOOn bridges thrown across the Danube would have taxed the capacity of the best en- glneer troops. To meet this task fo' 1 times, and during a season of hIEl
 winds and flood stage in the river j formance even in German-Austro Hungarian army circles where th fairly good" and even the decidedI.
 good. job, have failed to bring nor,
 than recognition that those respons. ble for it have merely done their duty The rapid reconstruction of the pei
 manent Semlin- Belgrade railrOe.:
 bridge, a masonry and steel structurs
 which has just been completed bl German -Austro- Hungarian engineeI
 troops must also be looked upon as
 very creditable performance, thougl
 neither shot nor shell molested the
 builders.
 With the Serbs driven from thei1
 main positions in the North and East
 they fell prey to the technical super
 fority of German, Austro-Hungarian and Bulgarian leadership. A series or 7 brilliant, "old-style," open field man } oeuvres, inaugurated against them
 drove the Serbs from one position tC } another, and finally into Albanian , and Greece without even the scant