The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1917-11-16

Northern woods.
people were hastily gathering their
belongings and the women and chill
dren seemed terrified as they hurried
away from the sound of the guns
The party passed groups Of "arditi, .
which indicated that the fighting
ground was getting very near. Arditi
is the Italian word for ardent, and
they are men whoe volunteer to risk
everything and to push to the extreme
front. Their shirt fronts were open
although it was a cold autumn day,
and they looked the daredevils they
are known to be.
Houses all along the road had
been transformed into temporary
field hospitals and were marked with
improvised signs. Soldiers near one
house were carrying flowers, which
looked like gaiety, but other soldiers
who followed with a funeral wreath
made it look more like death. There
were ambulances along the road, but
no sign of wounded. At one village
regiments of Alpin were waiting tc
go forward. Batteries and field guns
were also moving down to the river
guns The whole western bank OF
the Piave is lined with beautiful villas
and extensive parks filed with sta
tuary.
The party had now reached a village
three miles from the Pave line and
the Smelling was continuous. AS the
army automobile came up the road to
the railroad station a shell burst
squarely in the road 100 yards ahead.
"They are Smelling the road,''f said
the escort as he wheeled the automo-
bile behind the station, where groups
of soldiers were crouching in the
doorways. One of the fragmen of
this shell came whizzing toward the
station and buried itself in TIE wall.
A soldier led the way through a
thicket up the side of a hill, where an
Italian observation post had been es-
tablished, and from this point of van
tage the correspondent looked out on
the long lines on both banks of the
river. The town of Vfdor, now held
by Gen. Won Bellows German troops,
was just across the river from the
point of observation, and a big Ger
man sausage balloon was insolently
hanging over the town, observing the
work of Italian batteries. The cam
pile of Vidor was distinctly visible. The
advantage the Germans had at this
point was evident, as the hills back of
the town gave them a screen for their
batteries which played down on the
Italians in the plain on the eastern
side of the river
Again the route turned southwark
along the river. At one point the
party passed one of those heroic reg
iments of cavalry which acted as a
rear guard while the main Italian
army retired to the western bank of
the Pave. The cavalry horses had
been tethered in a vineyard. All tho
vineyards, haystacks and gathered
crops are being sacrificed in the pres.
ent emergency.
Nearing the river the roads were
full of frightened people who were
hurrying away with their pitifuI fam
lies on the top Of household goods
carried on carts and wagons.
The actual river bank was now
near, and the escort gave a. special
warning of rifle and machine gun fire
In addition to shrapnel from the bat
ter1es. The town of Nervsa, on the
rivers edge, was deserted completely,
and as the party passed down to the
wharves the silent town had a sepu1-
chral aspect.
The roar of artillery was now sup
plemented by the rattle of coffee
mills" as the soldiers call the machine
guns, and the crack of rife fire.
officers led the way, creeping in
single file into an old warehouse
standing on the edge of the Piave
river. It already had been a target
and the side toward the river was
sieved with machine gun fire. There
were two huge shell holes. The great
wine watts of the warehouse, still full,
had been abandoned in the hasty
flight of the villagers. The river at
this point is extremely narrow, with a
long shoa1 through the middle, Of
fering the enemy handy means Of get
ting half way over. The escorting
officer said both channels measured
a total of 500 metres. or about half a
mile, but the little stream lying a,
the feet of the observers appeared
trifing as a military barrier, even
with the best Italian support.
From the upper window of the
warehouse a long view. up and down
the river could be had. The Italian
front line ran just below the window
and the men could be seen crouching
back of the defenses, with rifles ready
for the enemy just across this narrow
belt of water. The wrecked Priola
bridge lay off to the right. 1t was a
link in the main highway running
east and west across Venetia and was
a stately structure OF masonry and
concrete. The spans on both river
banks are still good, but the two mid
die arches are heaps of ruins which
showed above the level of the river
Directly in front was the castle OF
Count Callini, an Austrian noblemar