Northern Wisconsin advertiser. [volume] (Wabeno, Wis.) 1898-1925, 1916-12-29
TERRIBLE LOSSES
IN CARSO BATTLE
War Correspondent Gives Thrill
ing Description of the
Fight.
HERogM ON BOTH SIDES
Surpassed All Horrors Winter HAD
Seen in Nine Months With Aus
tro-Hungarian Forces-FieId
Is Strewn With Dead.

! Zurich.-A thrilling description OF
the recent terrific battle on the Carso
| plateau from the pen of Joseph Po-
gany. war correspondent who viewed
the gigantic struggle from the most
advanced Anstro-Hungarian positions,
has Just been published here.
1.-The eighth battle on the isonzo
was the elimination of the Italian
campaign" says Pogany. II have
spent nine months on this front and
witnessed the awful struggles around
DOberdO and Gorilla. but the hell on
the Carso plateau surpassed all hor-
| rOrS i had seen before. The Italian
attacks in this latest and greatest bat
tie were of almost incredible ferOcity
and the heroism displayed by both
sides will live forever in history.
1.-THE new Italian offensive was well
planned and carried out with great
skill and energy. On the compara-
lively short front of six miles Gen.
Count Cadorna threw no less than 26O.-
600 men into battle, or 100000 men
more than he used in his September
drive on front of ten miles. Two
full corps of infantry, the Fourteenth
and the Twenty-fourth, attacked on a
front of only three and one-half miles,
together with corps of dismounted
cavalry, while at the same time eight
regiments stormed forward against
Hill 144.
Follows Joffre's Methods.
"In his great effort to break the
Austro- Hungarian lines, General Ca
dOrna used the methods Of JOffre and
BrussilOff. He prepared the storming
attacks by drum fire of his heaviest
artillery and when, after terrible
bombardment of 200 hours, the Aus
trian positions seemed to be pulver-
lied, or at least badly shaken. he or
dered a general attack. His infantry,
with admirable dash and courage, adj
vanced in formations twenty lines
deep under a whitening fire from the
heights.
1.-THE Italians concentrated their eff
forts on the short front between
Grace di Merna and NOvavaS and Hills
LA and 2OS. From two sides the ltal-
ian waves rolled forward until they
reached Jamiano. The Austrians
soon found themselves fianked from
two directions and their retreat was
impossible, as the Italians had pene-
trated q full mile to their rear and
threatened to cut them off completely.
"When the situation became ex-
tremely critical for the Austrians two
Tyrolean regiments launched furl-
GUS counter-attack. The Italians were
caught in the flank and fell in rows
under the hail of Austrian shells and
bullets. Nearly fifteen hundred men
were cut off and had to surrender.
During the night the battle around
Hills IA and 2O8 ard Novavas ragged
necessarily. Italian re-enforcements
arrived continually and when the
morning came the eight flank Of the
defenders hung in the air and the
ruins of NOvavaS We're in the hands or
the Italians. A counter-attack of Ty-
rolean regiments and Hungarian troops
re-established the Austrian line, but 1t
was bent back three-quarters of a mile
on front of about two miles.
"This was the whole result of AZ
hours of the most bloody fighting of
the present war. All during the next
day and the following night the ltal-
ians continued their storming attacks
without a moments pause. Their re-
serves seemed to be inexhaustible, but
they made no further Roadway.
ION the morning of the fourth day
they gave up their efforts to break the
Austro- Hungarian front. Only in the
southern part of the Carso plateau
they attacked II hours longer.
in their latest attempt to reach
Trieste the Italians sacrificed at least
100, 1000 men. l am positive that 10000
of their officers and soldiers were
killed. wounded or taken prisoners In
the sector between Lokvica and Hill
IA alone, but the losses of the Aus
TRANS were also very heavy. When
the battle ceased the field was covered
with dead. They are all holy, friend
and foe, an Austrian general said to
me, pointing to heaps of corpses. Let
rs kneel down and pray for them.