Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1918-05-24

THREE wears ago Italy declared war
/ on Austria, and the peaks ana slopes OF
the Dolomites and the CarniC Alps. we'll as
the Isonzc Valley. which since 1855 had
heard ortfy the sound Of the peaceful tools or
civilization. began 10 rock under the death-
dealing exchange Of shells by traditional enc
mics " no had jumped again at each other s
throat Three years have elapsed-three
fateful Years in which we have seen the
victorious Italian army climb over the 'fo"i
Of Europe" and then thrown back from 'he
Carso Plateau. hare, desoate and strewn
with dead heroes, toward the plains NJ Lom-
baTdy. Yet Italy is still in the fray with
youthful ardor. with unshaken deter'n,natlon
| to win, with undyine faith in the ultimate
attainmentS Of the ideals of national unity
and democratic government.
TIER soldiers mere hoys Of eighteen, and
| L / men Of forty as well, are fighting and
giving away their lives with the enthusiasm
of three wears ago. after a defeat that seemed
for some time to have completely prOstrated
the army and the nation. to have nearly
worked in Italy the havoc that has oh
liberated Russia as fghtinG unit IN the war,
against the Central Empires and the forces
of autoCraCy. Italy. to he sure, Is Stll a
| powerful fighting partner in the alliance for
| liberty and democracy. and Will stay IN 1t
| till the end. despite all the maneuNers OF the
| Germans in the country and outeide, because
| the great mass Of the Italian people has
| been awakened to the necessity of destroying
| once for all caste and a system which
| APPARENTl.Y Italy has achieved nothing
"A until now if one considers the present
| military situation. 1t might even he Sa id that
| Austria is far from being Frustrated either
| hy her external enemies or by the SlaNs
within her own boundary line. Instead, she
| is bivouacking on Italian soil she has in
vaded the Venetian plains and her batteries
might even shell st. Marks II they chose to
| do so. Yet ltaly's achievements have heen
| hs.s lnGfF Nra6 n
| Austrian divisions. thousands and thousands
Of German troops and finally she has stayed
| an army which the German Kaiser had
| pinned his hope ct putting an end to the
| European war before the United States could
put in the field her great army.
| YET us go briefly over what happened in
| these three years Of Italian war for
| 'meminisse juvabit" When Europe was
| thrown in the claws of the earfulSwar Italy
| did not hesitate to declare her neutrality.
| She had no sympathy for the German and
| Austrian plans of conquest. her people were
| heart and soul for the Allies. The whole
history Of the Italians from time mmemorial
| was filed with battles fought against the
| barbarans who attempted to invade their
soil and they saw in the German Kaiser a
| modern Barba rossa. They saw the German
| sword and the dOuble-headed eagle hover
| again their heads no matter whether In
| the political or economic fields. And Italy
| was already economically almost a vassal
| Of Berlin, whence German millions and COM
| mercial agents had descended as far south
as Sicily. There is no need of saying again
| what Italy's neutrality meant to the Anglo
| French, who had been pushed back almost to
| Paris Perhaps the Marne would not have
been possible without Italys attitude being
clearly defined IN her declaration of neu-
! trality.
V,EN months later Italy started to accom-
| L plish her national unity and bring to the
western Allies the help of her army of mill
lions At the time the European war broke
out her military stores were empty, her
artillery was Rntiquated, her hundred bat
teries of field pieces which had to replace as
many obsolete guns were still in the making.
She had no coal, nothing beyond a modest
reserve of fuel for her ships and her rail-
roads. Her army was almost without rifles
for those that were in the stores had been
used lin Tripoli She had no heavy artillery
which could compete with the modern power.
ful Skodas the Austrians put on the Held
and had even lent TO the Germans in order to
level the forts Of Liege and Antwerp She
had nothing with which to attack such a
powerful enemy as Austria.
| WET, after ten months of intense prepara-
/ tion an Italian army under General
Cadorna launched agaipst the peaks OF
the Alps held by the enemy. A, few bat
teries were often enough to silence the Ital-
ians guns, because the latter were compelled
to fire skyward on powerful works which the
Austrian staff had erected with the object
of supporting a plan OF invasion of Italy
rather than defending the heights against
the Italians, for which purpose few ma
chine guns were thought 10 be suficient
The Italians climbed the heights and crossed
the Isonzo River, conquered glaciers and sass
Trieste only twelve miles away near OBJ
jective for the heroes who had died on the
carso Plateau; but the Russian COLLAPSE