The Fargo forum and daily republican. [volume] (Fargo, N.D.) 1894-1957, 1917-10-26
FROM CASTLE IN CITY
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line of the Isonzo river that the
enemy forces were tripled, picked
Brandenburgers. Saxons, Bavarians
and others were added to the Aus
trian forces and the opening stages
of the offensive were developed to-
day.
The city of Gorilla was entered
over a bridge which Italian engineers
had thrown across the Isonzo. The
massive old stone bridge was out of
service, with one of it's stately arches
blown to pieces. The iron railroad
bridge further along had been en-
tirely destroyed by artillery fire. The
big paper mills along the river front
were a mass of ruins and lines of
Jagged walls extended for miles
along the river.
Entering Gorilla, the city present
ed an aspect of ruin and desolation,
with the crash of falling walls every
now and then adding to the area of
destruction. Within five minutes the
correspondent counted five large
cathedral, which had been reduced to
ruins. The high altar of the cathe-
dral could be seen above the tumbling
side walls. The chief hotel of the
city had been blotted out of exist
ence. What is left of one of the
principal buildings is now used for
an emergency fire department.
Gets View of Operations.
Going to the top of the castle
dominating the city, the correspond
ent had a splendid view of the vast
field of the present operations.
Immediately in front was Monte San
Michel. held by the Italians, and to
the left was Monte San Gabrielle,
where the Italians are on one side,
with the Austrians still clinging to
the top of the other side. The divid-
ing lines between the two forces
were clearly discernible from the
terrific crashing of guns on both
fronts.
The artillery action could be seen
dimly, extending over the coveted
plateau of Bainsizza and northward
to Monte Rosso, where IL was later
learned heavy infantry actions fol-
lowed the artillery preparations.
Observations from the top of the
castle were brought to a sudden halt
in the midst of the explanations of
the officer conducting the party. He
had just led his companions past an
observation post to a stone rampant
fronting the castle wall. AS he spoke
there was a deafening roar of a
heavy gun, followed by the whir of a
big missile headed straight for the
rampant. Instinctively everyone re-
cOiled but il was too late. The big
projectile struck not fifteen feet
away, tearing through the stone
walls and wrecking the observation
post which the party had just left.
Buried Under Debris.
All went over like a row of bricks
and lay stunned under mortar dirt
and stone. The projectile had hurled
a mass of small stones like bullets
and one of these made a slight cash
in the face of a member Of the
party.
After the members of the party
had Clambered over tons Of debris
thrown up by the shot. army sur
Eeons dressed the face wound Of the
injured man and pronounced it
merely superficial Thus the
observation of the first stage of the
Austro- German offensive was brought
to a sudden termination which mar
rowly bordered on tragedy for sew
eral well known British and Italian
writer's. The visit had shown, how
ever, the desperate character of this
initial artillery fire and the moment-
GUS nature Of these eliminating
movements in which Germany comes
to aid Austria in overcoming Italy's
decisive success OF the year.
On returning to headquarters to-
night all the impressions gathered
from the observation were confirmed
as information reaching the high
command shows this Is the opening
OF the greatest offensive the Aus
TRANS and Germans have atteunDtaa
against Italy.