New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1917-10-07
Hold Tunnelled for Pas
sageways and Storehouses
-Bombard from Port
holes"
Alps Campaign Has Devel-
oped New Science and Inn
elements -Gunners Use
Dog Sleds
By Hamilton Fyfe

Italian OnlcerS. no" uoeS Jul iio"'
compare with other fronts" told
them that il is impossible to institute
comparisons between objects essential
" dissimilar. "The only major front
which has anything in common with the
Italian is the Carpathians. But the
Carpathians are not mountains like the
Alps. They arc hills.
myself cannot imagine any form OF
warfare more difficult than that which
our Allies are carrying on from the
Adriatic right round to the frontier
which divides Italy from Switzerland.
How can make you understand the
character. the difficulties, Of this war
fare? A friend Of mine in the Tren-
tno said the mountains were each or
ganized for fighting like ships. That
stuck in my mind. II is an apt anal
ogy. Let US see how it works out
came in the heat of the afternoon
to a mountain which lay basking in a
veil of haze. There was nothing TO
distinguish it from the ordinary run
of mountains except that there were q
great many roads and paths cutting
up and across its graygreen sides.
That told me it was fortified noun
tain.
Gunned Like Men-o'-Wsr
Up one Of the new-made roads our
motor car climbs. We pass long lines
Of huts for the men, horse lines, mule
lines, lorrry parks, ammunition dumps,
masses of stores. We are on the back
of the mountain. This is the lower
part of the ship" the forecastle, the
hold. The motor car stops. We get
out and walk up. We enter a tunnel,
blasted in the solid rock. We walk for
several hundred yards. II is like
walking through a mine gallery. We
have acetylene lamps to light our foot
steps, which bring US TO rock cham
Der where there are four square open
ings to the light. Behind each open
ing is a gun. Va have walked right
through the mountain. These openings
face the enemy's. They are just like
the cannon portfolios in an old wood
en- man-o'war.
This mountain and any number OF
other mountains have been turned into
fortresses. They are no longer solid
4 l.
inside them. The compressed air drill
and the dynamite cartridge have done
their work well. Now we will go up
TO the TOP of the mountain and visit
the observation post, the coming
tower.
Caught in Mountain Storm
While we were burrowing storm
has drifted over. We grope among
clouds. Soaking rain blots out the
view. We button our waterproofs
tight round our necks.
at won't last" my oficer-guide
prophesies, and he is right. BY the
time We are on the top the Trentino
mountain-mass lies before US, clear
washed and sparkling. Over there IS
the broad plateau of Asiago. so holly
shattered Arsiero, with its big paper
factory in ruins. The village of Asiago
(Ass-yah-go) was a fayOrte summer
time resort, a peaceful, healthful spot.
Now ruins also. Up there on
u mountain frowning at Us across a
deep gulf are the Austrians in their
ship" All around these anchored
vessels stand and lombard one another.
The way is long and varied. FIRST
we motor up an enhancing valley on a
new made road. narrow for our big
army car and with hairpin turns in II
which bring our back wheels creepily
near the precipice. Then we ascend IN
five "Telefericas," one after the other
The last brings US TO the eternal SHOWS.
1t is comforting 10 warm ones self with
cup OF coffee beside the stove in an
Alpine officers hut. "We mustn't de-
lay, though" he tells US. "The dogs
are ready
Travel by Dog Sled
Short, sharp barks greet US as we
come out. The sleighs with their three
dogs each are waiting on the edge OF
an immense glacier, mostly covered
with snow. OFF we 60 down hill at a
capita. pace. I pHlll Is hHpkhel slolE
The dogs pant and whine. We get out
and walk.
So for an hour and half over the
glacier. II you dropped anything
through one Of its shining blue ere
vases it would fall seven or eight
hundred feet. A man falling through
would be chilled meat" foreper-the
ice would prevent decay. SO hot are
we under the morning sun that the
prospect sounds quite refreshing! We
have left the dogs behind now and are
tramping on. Soon our destination is
before US. IL is thorn" of snow-coy-
cred mountain, steep and high, captured
by Alpine troops in one Of their latest
pushes.
In Sight of Austrian Trenches
Trenches Of ice, tunnels through tho
snow, a long communication "boyau, y