New Britain herald., 1917-11-19
Italians MOW Down. Foe Preventing Them From Hold ng Point Along the Piave
KILLED AND WOUNDED
 LINE RIVERS SHORE

Enemy, Crossing Piave Above Ze1con,
 Drowned, Bayonetted, Killed or
 Captured in Historic Charge In-
 Spircd by Love of Home and
 Comtry-Bayoncts, Hand Gre
 nades and Knives Used. N.
 Italian Headquarters in Northern Italy, Sunday Nov. IS. (By the AsAo- s ciated Press. J-The Austrians who forced their way across the Piaveas river above Benson have been thrown into the river drowned, bayonetted. x killed or captured, until now not an 7 enemy remains on the west bank at {. that most threatened point. They fight was one of the most fearfuE chapters of the war and one of the ( most glorious. ~ s Details of the fight have been gathered from eye witnesses who saw < the fearful carnage through Friday night and yesterday, and who stayed until the whole west bank was cleared except for the corpses on the shore and in the foreground.
 The wounded were so numerous that many have not yet receivedt l succor. The enemy had staked { ] everything on getting to the west bank of the river and the Italians1 staked everything on keeping him on , the eastern bank. This nerved both to desperation. The Austrians made the first move Friday in two separAt0g
 crossings a short distance above Zen-g
 son. First at the village of Fagarea
 and then an old mill called the Sega mill near Follina. H-" s During Heavy Mist.
 Several circumstances enabled them
 to pass. They chose a. place wherasa
 sand bar ran in mid-stream givingl
 them a landing and dividing the main
 stream into two small shallow cur-
 rents. Also there was a heavy mist screening their movements. They
 carried material for an improvised'
 bridge with uprights and iron plates | for flooring. ! This was about , o'clock in the
 morning in the mist at that early houEg they got across the second na arrows channel to the west bank. The last ten feet the men Waded across in water above their waists. In their first surprise rush they swept past ] four Italian machine gun batteriaS ! capturing their guns and driving the i Italians back into the village of l Fagare. s
 Here the real fight began, as the l Italians had now recovered from the : surprise and they fought like demons tn- f1 fch
 the streets of the town with no place for artillery or machine guns, and the Italians using bayonets, hand gre-
 nades, knives and gelatine, torpedoes.
 The Austrians held part of the town
 near the bank with the Italians on
 the land side. The Austrians tried to throw a line around the town and : succeeded in part on one side until / the Italian batteries to the north got i the range of the line outside the shelter of the streets This line was the first to be dem olished and then ; the Italians on this side of the town
 advanced cheering, hewing their way. 2 The enemy held at first, then began to
 seek cover and finally broke as the E i Italians plunged into the water and 1 sought to get to the sand bar. All ! ] the machine guns were abandoned. No Living Austrians. e' ] Most of the enemy fell along t1Ns waters edge and an observer who AElNss the gruesome sight says the bodies 0da the river bank and in the water re~ minded him of heaps of seaweed after l the tide had gone out.
 Further up the river at the Sega mill the other crossing has brought on another bloody fight which lasted until late yesterday when the whole shore was cleared of living Austrians. i, But it was lined with dead. The movement here began late Friday night and reached it's culminations about Il o'clock Saturday morning. Friday night several Austrian bat talions got across under the cover of darkness. They chose narrow cham nels and some of the Austrian officers rode across on horse back. They took a position near the town ceme- tery and opened on the Italians during the night with machine guns. The Austrians carried two searchlights, which they played on the Italian posi- ! tion, while the Italians were without searchlights. It was only by the flashes of the Austrian machine guns that the Italians could direct their fire.
 At daylight yesterday. the enemy still held his position at the cemetery. The situation began to look serious and for time 1t appeared as though { the Italians would have to fall back