The Madison daily leader. [volume] (Madison, S.D.) 1890-current, 1917-09-21
ITALIAN LEADER
GREAT GENERAL
Intimate Sketch of the Man Who
Has Beaten His Enemy's
Military Machine.
LUIGI CAD0RNA'S Big RECORD
He Has Nodded an Army That Drives
Austrians Out OF Alps Mountains
In Hardest Campaign OF World
Conflict During Summer.

Rome.-It Is said In the little Italian
water town of Pallanza on the border
of the Lago Maggiore, away up toward
the swiss Alps. where Lombardy and
Piedmont meet, that some years ago
a learned German with a particular In
terest In heraldry paused at some
length before a weather-beaten crest
embossed in a quaint old-fashioned
doorway. and observed to those I'm his
company:
Remarkable - most remarkable.
The composition of this coat Of arms
points TO "A line of fate running In the
same family from father to son, and
to tremendous achievements to crown
the family tree. / wouldn't care to be
pitted against the star OF that fam
n.y."
And he marched himself of. growl-
ing:
Remarkable, most remarkable 7"
But II never occurred to him TO ask the
name of the family who had once gone
through the deserted gateway. nor, at
tit iiiits htu HIS ItuttAiOu Stflht Ills
Italian host as anything but a freak
Of "kultur."
Time has proved that the German
was right for once. The star and the
oak tree and what not that had struck
his fancy so are the crest OF the Ca
dorna. who come from poor but un-
sullied provincial nobility, with two
chief ideals running In the family:
Faith IN God and devotion to Italy.
The present General Cadorna's grand
father was minister to King Carlo Al
berto, who led the movement for Ital-
lar independence. granted the constitu-
lion to his kingdom (then restricted to
Piedmont and Sardinia), abdicated in
favor of his son when he thought that
such a course of action would help the
formation Of new Italy. and died an
exile at Oporto. General Cadorna's ia
Their. Gen. Count Raffaele Cadorna. led
In 1866 the Italian advance on the
IsonZo, which was cut short by diplo-
matte interference and the subsequent
granting TO Austria of the Italian lands
beyond that same Isonzo and the Adri-
attic: an unjust and therefore unwise
move which ultimately resulted I'm the
wal of today.
The "line of fate running In the fam
Nv from father to son" Is evident now,
when Gen. Count Luigi Cadorna takes
up the reshaping of history left I'M
finished by his father. as all Italy Of
today takes up the strand of fate Ill
swined and distorted by the unfortun-
ate events of 1906.
Luigi Cadorna himself was born in
Pallanza on September A., 1850. and
he was barely rs years old when he
entered the military academy, gradu-
ating therefrom as a ~full-fiedged lieu
tenant in 1870. and receiving his cap
tain's commission I'm 1875 In an artil-
lery regiment. Opportunity for expert
ence i'm infantry work was afforded
him by his appointment as a major I'm
the ~Sixty-second infantry regiment In
1888; but since 1892, when he got his
~.olonelcy. he has been identified with
the Bersaglieri. the "wideawakes' of
the italian army.
All these years were spent by him
in active study of general military
problems. as well as of Itaiy's partic-
1lar characteristics In the military
Inc. To this day his essay on the
Franco-German war OF 1870 and his
pamphlet about tactics and the proper
use of infantry in legitimate warfare
are consulted by the experts TO advan-
.age. as are his studies on the Italian
boundary lands. These he knows to
perfection, so that he hardly ever
needs TO resort to charts and maps for
his plans: he has 1t all mapped out I'm
ais head, and the facility with which
ne draws from his memory the names
and positions of intricate passes, val
Ieys, mule paths and roads Is nothing
short of marvellous.
When he took command of the Tenth
regiment of the Bersaglieri. he started
to work on ii after his own mind. and
brought 1t out in the grand maneuvers
Of 1896 In splendid form. practicing,
in fact, on the adversary forces that
same type of o%utfianking and sur
rounding move that works so capitally
on the Carso today. Again, in 1911,
The had attained his generalship then
since some years), he led In the
sgrandes maneuvers,' the Blue party
against the Red, with all the strategic
odds against his party, and astonished
all experts by the working out of q
capital plan first and when this fell
through on unforeseen circumstances,
by the promptness with which he sized
up the new situation and turned 1t
once more to his advantage.
But nothing then seemed to point
out the magnificent heights to which
he was called. In fact, the breaking
out of the European war in 1914 still
found him a general on the list for the
command of an army In case of war.
And the Italian chief of staff was Gen.
eral Polio, who, by the way, was
blessed with an Austrian wife. His
timely death was a good turn of fate
FOR Italy, for the king appointed Gen.
praI Cadorna TO his place..