Tulsa daily world. [volume] (Tulsa, Indian Territory [Okla.]) 1905-1919, 1916-07-18
Italian Forces Fighting on
Highest Peak in His
tory Of War.
UNDER DIFFICULTIES
Even Professional Noun
tain Climber Never At
tempted the Peak.

| Correspondence of The Associated Press)
HEADQUARTERS or THE ITAL-
IAN ARMY. June 20.-Adamello.
which Virgil crowned king OF the
Italian Alps. is the most elevated
spot in the world where war has ever
been waged.
Through tho courtesy of the Italian
| general staff. which is destrous that
the world outside OF Italy should
know the hardships of this unprece-
| dented campaign, the correspondent
| of the Associated Press was the first
civilian allowed to witness the fight
ing on this colossal mountain, which
| Is eleven thousand and five hundred
feet high and covered with eternal
SHOWS.
The correspondent saw the noun
| tain swarming with thousands OF
white-clad Alpine soldiers, singing,
alert. eager, crossing glaciers, chal-
lenging avalanches, charging the en-
| emy with fixed bayonets-all above
the clouds
There the correspondent witnessed
the action of heavy artillery. a bat
terry of which fired from the highest
point in the world where artillery has
| ever been placed or from which 1t
had ever been fired. 1t seemed al
most a miracle that such big guns
could have been transported in two
mCnths OF hard labor from a distance
| Of l5 miles in one of the valleys be-
low. over two hundred men had been
| required for the dragging of single
one of the pieces, and at one stage
of the work an avalanche had
! swOoped down from the mountain
sides and swallowed up the cannon
and devoured forty of the men.
Climbers Don't Dare.
The professional mountain climber
| never attempted 20 reach the top oil
Ada mello. bat in summer the view
OF the surrounding Alps with Mont
Blanc. the Jungfrau and Monte Rosa
| in the distance is considered the best
in Europe. Winter and summer the
fighting there is under conditions that
prevail only in the Arctic regions
There Austrians and Italians meet IN
silent death grip, their deaths anC
their deeds all but unrecorded save
in dry army annals, given but a brie1
lire in the tcrse bulletins of Genera
Cadorna.
While the Austrian and Italian can
non rumbled lazily, exchanging rud'
courtesies. or seeking to dislodg'
avalanches to better destroy ant
hamper the enemy, awakening echoe
and down the abrupt peaks, tn
genial Italian colonel accompa nyinj
the correspondent remarked that IL
no other war had such fighting eve
been, that neither the armies OF Han
| nlbal. nor Caesar, nor Napoleon eve
dared engage in such work, that thci
armies. which did go over mountain
, not half the height, were baTdl,
, larger than a regiment of Alpln
, troops as today organized, that abov
all they did not winter in the noun
} tains nor deal with heavy artillery
nor drag up to these Businesses poun'
, by pound. plank by plank, piece b,
: piece, their food, their supplies ant
) the guns and ammunition.
These conditions are not limited t.
the Adlmello region, but repea
, themselves On w3-thirds of tn
Italian front, or over 4 line OF "a
miles OF mountain chains going from
the Swiss frontier down to the hank
Of the Isonzo river, from which cal
, be seen the bitter" blue of the Ad
riatic, as the poet d'Annunzio de
scribed It, Along this line titani
struggles take place daily of whicl
the outside world never hears. |
took five days for the correspondent
to slowly climb the Adamello crest
and in this period the Italians sue
cccded in blowing off the top Of an
other mountain called Coidi Lana
which suddcrly burst into the al
with its defenders, who were on thei
side trying to explode mine whicl
would blow to pieces the Italian
troops.