The Washington herald., 1916-07-23

signed to each of the archduke's seven
corps. Instead OF the normal twelve reg
ular 4-inch howitzers to a division.
thirty-six were supplied.
The heavy 6-inch corps howitzer was
furnished eighteen instead of six to each
corps, and. finally. forty Pinch mobile
howitzers. movable over roads with cater
piller engines. were attached TO the army
group. Eight still more monstrous guns.
four 15-inch and four l7-inch howitzers,
fired from the neighborhood OF Trent
from concrete foUndations, but no method
of transporting these super-cannon eX-
cepting on specially constructed railway
trucks has yet been worked out, SO the
eight big fellows could not move forward
excepting along the two railways running
down the Adige and Brenta valleys,
which the Austrians were not able TO
force
The total gun supply Of the three Tren-
tino armies was composed OF 64s- 3-inch
field pieces, 252 Of the new mountain baby
howitzers, s4s normal 4-inch howitzers,
i6S 6-inch howitzers, 40 l2-inch howitEers
and I howitzers each OF Is and II inches,
the latter the improved edition of the ia
nous 42-centimeter gun. These 1.T64 guns,
POO field pieces and SCI howitzers opened
ire on May II along a front Of exactly
thirty miles! No troops in the world
could have held positions against them
1000 she'll. for Each Gun.
When the battle opened each gun, ex-
cept the monsters, had 1000 shells wait
ing for it at its battery. The attack was
especially delayed by order from the high
command until this provision had been
approximately fulhlled, and this figure
does not take into account the reserve
ammunition in the rear. II in the nrst
few days each gun fred It's allotment OF
shell for the first attack, about 1.764,o0o
shells big and little were hurled against
the Alpine soldiers of Italy.
In getting these guns into position in
the Alps, the Austrians performed a mar
velous. historic feat no less than a prodi-
gious blunder. For the attempt to break
through into Italy failed, and, once in
the mountains, It has been impossible to
get the guns or even the crack troops
out again to meet the Russian attack
which has resulted in disaster for the
Dual Monarchy. The whole concentration
Of guns, munitions. food and men was
carried out over two railways. One of
these comes from Munich and Innsbruck
over the Brenner pass. the other from
the main Austrian railway systems to
the east. but both come together at the
junction Of FranZensfeste. fifty miles
north OF Trent From here to Trent there
is only one double-tracked line, which
has borne all this tremendous traffic
through the Alps. For many miles, Ital-
ian airmen have reported. a little branch
railway, that runs up one Of the Alpine
valleys from Botzen station on this main
line, Is literally blocked solid with thou
sands upon thousands OF freight cars
laden with stores for the men and guns.
At Trent, the main railway branches
again, one line running down the valley
of the Adige to Verona and the other
down the Brenta to Treviso and Venice,
but the Italians held both these valleys
against the most desperate Austrian at
tacks
Eighty trains are required to transport
one division, and the impossibiIity Of
moving even men over the single line
between Trent and Franzensfeste, and
then 500 miles TO the threatened front
in sufficient. quantities to counter the
Russian attacks within the time availa BILE
is at once evident Moving heavy guns
Is much more difficult operations than
moving troops. and I am informed II
will take several months to get the howit-
zers in use in the Alps back to the east
ern front even II work is begun at once
They must be hauled up and down
mountain sides for many miles before
they reach the railway; their present
positions are the result Of the labor Of
months.
To digress for a moment to Verdun
The official and accurate, because secret
figures I have given on the Austrian
concentration OF guns and shells might
be merely doubled to serve for figures
on the Verdun offensive were the trans
portation conditions the same, since in
stead Of the eighteen divisions which at
tackled in the Trentino the crown prince
moved forward on the Meuse heights with
thirty-siX divisions But instead Of one
railway to serve all the armies. as in the
Alps, the Germans have twelve new and
old lines running from Metz and their
great Rhine bases direct to their rail
heads just outside the fire zone. If the
Austrians were able to get 1.764 guns
into position under incredibly difficult cir
cumstances. with 1000 shells a gun at the
the opening Of the offensive. the Germans
with greater resources in every way and
no mountains to hamper them, may we'll
have brought up the 5000 cannon, 1000
OF them heavy guns Of 5-inch caliber or
more. with which they are credited at
French general headquarters. The fig
ure, for Verdun, is avowedly an esti-
mate. and has been scoffed at by military
men. who Judge conditions today by those
Of year ago and have not been on the
ground.
Six Weeks Attack Fails.
or SIX weeks the armies OF the arch
duke attacked before they admitted their
inability to break through and retreated
from positions which had all along been
untenable, from which a speedy advance
or retirement was imperative. They were
compelled TO win the railway lines in
either the Adige or Brenta valleys The
territory In the right angle formed by
these valleys, with its point at Trent. is
tangle Of mountains with only three
bad roads, utterly insufficient to supply
the men or guns of a vast host. Never
theless the Austrians pushed through
the center. hoping. after they had failed
to break through the valleys, to turn
one or both of them. Mount Cogni Zugna
in the Adige Valley, the CasteInuova po-
sitions in the Brenta Valley, held firm
against the most violent assaults
One army consisting Of eight divisions
Of $4,000 men, was held In reserve at
Trent, it will be remembered while the
other two attacked and drove the Ital-
ians from their first positions. Two of
these reserve divisions were hurried
forward in the first week down the
Adige Valley, when the italians stopped
the advance, and by the middle Of June
two more had been brought into the
front line. OF the remaining four, some
units appeared two weeks ago in a final
effort before the retreat commenced.
while the equivalent of two divisions. II