Richmond times-dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1914-current, 1917-04-22
OLD ROMAN ROADS
0UTDONE IN ITALY
Caesars Famous Highways Can
not Compare With Modern
Net of Thoroughfares.
FINE ENGINEERING CORPS
War Has Forced Nation to Over
haul System Of Trans
portaton.

! RoME: March % Cby maiD The
Italian general s,ar has just made
+ public Il number Of reports concern
! ing the work done ~ the front and in
the back lines by til" engineering
corps, and tho facts disclosed afford
a now and convincing proof that Italy.
besides not contemplating n war If
! aggression against Au'tria. was even
unprcpared L" r"pcI AN invasion
| Tho most convincing OF these proofs
| is tho fact that the Aus,ro- Italian
( border lacked good roads such as would
| permit q rapid advance OF the troops
and the transportation OF heavy artil-
! lcry pieces aud ammunition wagons
/ rho idea "c The Italian general staff
| was to render the passage Of large
! Austrian armies almost impossible or.
at worst, delay their advance until the
| Italians had had sufficient time TO con
central" their forces along The Pc
/ River and around the once famous hut
now obsolete. uuadrilater:l comprising.
among others. the fortreSscs Of We
/ roma and pcschiera.
I LACK or GOOD
ROADS PROVES HANDICAP
good roads proved a great handicap
: to Tho operations OF the italian troops
aud greatly hampered their move
! ineu;s.
Besides. tho engineering corps was
/ anything hut adequate to remedy the
/ situation. and this explains in part
( why much was not ACCOMPLISHED in.
I tho first SIX months Of the war
! The first thing General cadorua did
was TO increase the number OF en-i-
ncering units By calling under the
colors thousrJdS of civil engineers and
engineering students The result was
/ THAT within four months from The be.
ginning Of the hostiljtics the engineer
/ ing corps Of the army vas more than
/ doubled
During the first year Of the war
! "oo0 old roads OH the Trcntin. Cadorc
and Julian front whosed combine
/ length was over 5000 Iiilomc,crs. were
either wiaeucd or transformed from
mule p"ths into good wagon roads
on" thousand additional roads ira
/ vcrsinr hundreds Of small towns and
connecting strategic positions, were
! ,percd 10 t"afi".
], MANY OF. those roads have hce,, ru,
/ in the sides Of mountains and rcarn
I reaks AMI pnSSes that uscd 10 l." he
( goal az the most daring mou"tn!r
/ cli"'''"rs Where once the deer rorrleI
/ u"A srurbcd. I'll" horn Of the moor
GER j. nov heard.
/ rho maintenance OF these roads 20.
quircs an army of more than 2o"co
7 laborcrs.
/ After the war is over. the provinces
OF Verona. Cdine. EeIluno Venice and
! 1rcviso will find themselves endowed
with the best telecraphc and telephone
/ system of the whole kingdom. TO the
/ old telegraph lines. agrregating nearly
! ;6.on0 kilometcrs of wire. 10000 kilo-
meters have been added in order 10
/ connect thousands OF military com
mands. AS to telephones, 60,00o kilo-
| meters OF wire have been strung
ENGINEERS BUILD MANY
NEW BRIDGES IN ITALY
! The army engineers have also built
over rivers. brooks and torrents 100
new bridges. many Of which are per-
manent works. On the 1sonzo. for in
stance. three reinforced concrete struc-
! lures have been built.
! The transportation OF munitions the
| removal of dead and wounded and
| the revictualinG of hundreds OF .d-
Nanccd posts perched on peaks whose
| heights vary between leo and $500
! meters. presented :; number of prob
| lens which were all solved by the con
| struction of 600 so called wire ways"
over which electric propelled ears
1 travel at fast speed.
These wire ways" some of which
are nearly ten kiiometers long. consist
I Of solid steel cable strung between
! Two mountain peaks or between a peak
and Il point in the valley below. The
/ cables carry every twenty -four hours
more than 1000 tons Of materials and
! some oil them are under the FIR. of AUS
! trian artillery Shooting wire way
| car in motion seems to he a favorite
pastime with the Austrian sharnshoot-
| ers.
| y number of standard and narrow
| Guage railroads have also been built
| for the speedy transportation Of troons
| from one point to another of the 500
| mile front These railroads will all
| remain and will prove n blessing. Dur
| inc: the winter of i9l5-I6. the army en-
| gincers also prepared tho winter camps.
| and 10000 barracks were erected in or
der to house 10000 men. This year
| tho number Of camps has been con-
siderably increased