New-York tribune., 1918-12-05
Italians Occupy
Provinces Taken
From Austrians
Flag of Italy Now Flies Over
Trentino and Adige Val.
ley; Redemption Realizes
Old Cherished Dream


WASHINGTON, Dec. 4.-By the
i time the armistice with Austria went
into effect Italian troops had already
pushed far north into the mountains
OF the Trentino. The region west of
the Adige had fallen into Italian hands,
many Austrian strongho DIS had been
yielded up and patrols were creeping
along the river in the direction of
bolzano In word. Italia Irredenta
was virtually won back. When
O'Clock struck on the afternoon of No
vember the Italian army staff was in
headquarters in the city of Trent.
Ihe recapture of this severed portion
OF Italy means the achievement of a
hope which has been cherished by the
Italian people ever since the premature
peace of 1866 left number of Italian
provinces under Austrian domination.
A. also marks the elimination of one
OF the most arduous undertakings ever
attempted in modern warfare.
Trentino Almost Wholly Italian
Trent, surrounded by mountains, is
characteristic Italian city of 10000
inhabitants. The Trentino district is
occupied almost exclusively by Italians.
Even the last official Austrian census
compiled by Vienna admitted that 37O,-
coo of the $4,000 population were
Italians. Riva, on Lake Garda, and
dozen other cities of the region have
Italian populations and are full of ex-
amples of Italian architecture and art
And it is not only the cities that are
Italian. The surrounding valleys and
mountain slopes can scarcely show one
German for every thousand inhabitants.
1t is one of the anomalies Of history
that such a province should have re-
NAMED for over a century under Aus
trian rule, but it has been highly prized
by the Hapsburgs because of it's mill
tary and strategic possibilities. Italy
has bitterly resented the existence of
this mountainous wedge. barbed on all
SIDES with fortresses, projecting into
the midst of the Italian plains. As one
Italian journalist expressed it: "The
possession of the Trentino for the Ger
mans has meant the holding of an enor-
nous foot shod with mountains upon
the neck of Italy"
Austria's sway has been irksome. not
solely because she has mcnaced Italy
IN military way but also because Of
the oppressive fashion in which she has
dealt with her Italian provinces. In
some respects the Dual Monarchy has
been stupidity brutal; in others it has
been rather adroit. From 1866 TO 1917
the regions of the Trentino and the
Julian Veneto have been carefully
watched for evidences of anything that
seemed like the beginning Of revolu-
ton Individuals suspected of being
agltators were imprisoned, banished or,
in number of cases, executed. Schools
were Germanized, newspapers, books
and plays were censored in the strict
est manner, and every expression of
Italian allegiance was stifed.
Austria's Favorite Policy
In addition to these laundering ef-
forts to remake the Italian provncials
into faithful German subjects the vi
ennese authorities must be credited
with a certain degree of cleverness in
stimulating illfeeling between some OF
the subject races in order to avoid the
danger of any union among them
against Austro- Hungarian rule. 1t is
the old Hapsburg game of "divde and
rule" Austria is accused of having
practised this policy extensively among
the Jugo- Slavs and Italian Irredentists.
The result has been a wave of antago-
nism between the provincial Slavs and
Italians, who, by rights, ought to be
allies and friends. The wisest leaders
among these peoples recognize the fu-
tility of chickering's about the Adratic
lands, but the distrust sown largely
by Austria will be hard to uproot.
Italy's campaign in the war has been
attended with serious difficulties. The
exigcncies of mountain warfare have
forced the Italian troops to contend
not only against superior Austrian
forces higher up in the hills, but also
against rocky precipices, ice slopes and
freezing weather. In three years of
continuous, obscure, hand to hand
fighting all along a chain of forbid
dinghy rugged mountains occupied even
to the loftiest peaks the Italians took
from the enemy 4,489 officers and 169,-
engineering feats involved can be
CLEANED from the fact that it was nee
essary to build $500 kilometres of en-
tirely new traffic road and to swing
1900 kilometres of telepheric cables
from cliff to cliff for the transp sportation
Of troops and supplies.
Man Power a Problem, Too
The problem of man power has been
acute. From the beginning of the war,
Italy has called to arms little less
than 5,500,000 men and has suffered a
loss of 100000. In the recent fight
ing on the Austrian front Italy has
had at her disposal only fifty-four di-
visions with which to oppose the
seventy divisions of the enemy. 1t is
also said that the forces sent by Italy
into France, Albania, Macedonia and
Palestine have been greater than the
combined forces sent into Italy by the
Allies. Until the conclusion of the
Austrian armistice there was not a
single existing division Of Italian
troops which was not active in some
one of the theatres of war.
In the matter Of industries and nat
ural resources Italy was not we'll pre-
pared to enter the war. She lacked
coal, for example. In spite of these
various handicaps Italy has fought with
great obstinacy. Among her bravest
fighting men have been soldiers from
the unredeemed provinces of the Aus
trian Tyrol The reoccupation of
these lands merely means that Italy