davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
New-York tribune., 1918-06-30
A Great Event
In Military History

1t is interesting to perceive the con-
trast between the Italian and the Rus
sian events. Defeats in Russia led to
the destruct on of a nation little per-
meated with any national sentiment and
still collection of races rather than a
great people bound by common ideals and
a common unity. In the case of Italy,
on the contrary, although italian unity
had been achieved only a few decades
ago, the essential unity of the nation
manifested itself in adversely, exactly as
French unity and national spirit had
famed up after the early defeats which
preceded the Battle of the Marne in 1914.
The Battle Of the Piave is great
event in the military history of the World
War. It is an enormous contribution 70
the common cause at critical hour and
in critical campaign. Its effect politi-
cally must be beyond it's military effect.
It's moral effect can hardly be exagger-
ated. But it is worth while recalling
also that it is likely to be an enduring
incident in the history of the Italian
people. It is one more landmark in the
brilliant history of the Italian people.-a
history in which military defeats have
been frequent but patriotic devotion I'M
failing. Now, after terrible defeat
and long suffering Italy has emerged
victorious in a contest with far greater
nation, possessing larger human re-
sources in numbers and aided by Ger
man material and German strategy.
Italy has won her Verdun on the Piaye.
1t is hardly less important to the Allied
cause than that French victory along
the Meuse which held the line until Brit
ain could arrive.
New-York tribune., 1918-06-30
From, Caporetto
To the Piave

Of these divisions "A good many seem
to have been put out of action for the
rest of the campaign; the stubbornness
of the fighting indicates high losses and
losses which in the case of the assailant
must have been far greater than for the
Italians. Moreover, the Austrian retreat
must have cost the Hapsburg army
vast store of material in addition to
guns, which had been moved across the
river while the advance was unchecked
and before the gains in the mountains
caused the river to leave it's banks.
There remains the great question of
what explains the transformation of the
Italian army in period much shorter
than a year. Many elements must be
involved in the answer. First of all, it
is well to remember that only one Italian
New-York tribune., 1918-06-30

alton of all Austrian positions west of
the river was officially reported and the
word rout was being used in battle ac-
counts.
Such, in brief, is the story of the Bat
tie of the Piave. It's main circumstance,
from the point of view of Austrian
strategy, was the seizure of Montello
and the menacing both of the line of the
river and of the Grappa positions by
the threat to the rear of both lines from
the Montello heights. The other attacks
seem to have been subsidiary, and they
certainly lost Importance when Montello
was evacuated.
New-York tribune., 1918-06-30
Main Austrian Effort
Against Montello Heights

In this great effort there were three
distinct operations. On the north be-
tween the Adige and the Piave the Aus
trians attempted to crowd the Italians
down off the Arsiero, Asiago and Grappa
highlands into the plain, cut the roads
and railways which run along the foot of
the hills and thus intercept the Italians
along the sPiave, whose sole line of re-
treat was these roads. The successful
strategy of Caporetto was invoked again.
Had it prevailed the Italians along the
Piave would have suddenly found them
selves threatened with development, as
did their comrades on the Bainsizza pla-
teau last year, after the collapse at Capo-
retto.
At the same time there was tremen-
dous push west at the point where the
Piave emerges from the hills and enters
the plain. Here the Italian, line makes
an almost complete right angle and
thenceforth follows the west bank of the
river southwark to the sea. At this
point there is on the west bank con-
siderable isolated plateau, from which,
were it in enemy hands, Austrian guns
could rake the rear, both of the Italian
troops on Monte Grappa between the
Piave and the Brenta and behind the
Piave from Nervesa southwark.
Montello heights, to give this plateau
it's familiar name, is the key alike to
the crossings of the Piave for many
miles southwark, to the highways sup
plying the front of the Piave and
to a vital portion of the front on che
hills. The push at Montello was the
main Austrian effort and not until the
Austrians had been driven from this high
ground toward the end of the battle was
the Italian victory assured. Most but
not quite all of Montello was ]at one
time in Austrian hands, portion was
held until the closing hours Of the often
sive, and at this point the Austrians
came within an ace of scoring a decisive
triumph.
New-York tribune., 1918-06-30
Battle a Triumph
For Italy

No reports suggest that the Austrians
did not put up stiff fight or that the
Italians had an immediate and easy tri-
umpE The first days of fighting were
exceedingly severe and the Austrians
seem to have shown unusual contempt
for losses and unexpected tenacity. They
were beaten only because Italian morale
was even higher, Italian High Command
fully prepared and Italian numbers
equal to all demands. There was no
submerging of any sector, such as has
become familiar in German attacks in
France. Italian reserves were ready to
intervene before the forwards haG been
abolished. The familiar trench war con-
ditions seem to have prevailed, and there
was nothing approximating a break.
through, even at Montello, where the
Austrians were most successful.
Much was said of the work of British
contingents and something Of the service
of French units. But it may be doubted
if more than one British division was
present, and there was no great French
force involved. The Battle Of the Piave
was in the main an Italian triumph and
to the Italians belong the great credit.
In less than year Italy had remade her
army, and with the army the civilians
behind the line had been reorpanized.
All things considered, the blow was far
heavier than that which produced the
Caporetto disaster. Seventy-one divisions
were used, and these divisions were the
pick of the Austrian army, which had
been reconstructed for this effort.
New-York tribune., 1918-06-30
A Great Victory
for Allies and
for a United
Italy
Copyright, 1918 - The Tribune
Association

army was responsible for the Caporetto
disaster and that was an army made up
of second line troops, assigned to quiet
sector where no serious operation was
expected.
At the moment Of Caporetto the mass
of the Italian army had crossed the
Isonzo and on the Bainsizza plateau was
making magnificent fight. The valor,
the endurance and the tenacity Of the
Italian troops fighting on the lower
Isonzo last year remain a splendid page
in Italian military history.
A Nation United
In Its Defence
On the other hand, inferior troops on
a quiet sector were unquestionably un-
dermined by enemy propaganda and did
desert post of danger under an attack
which was not in the least comparable
with the present attack, although in view
Of the German successes in France this
year there must be tendency to revise
views as to the efficacy of the German
attack at Caporetto.
In any event, the rally Of the main
Italian forces was prompt, a great dis
aster was avoided, and Italy stood at
the Piave last year even before she was
effectively aided by Allied arms. The
consequences of the defeat were imme-
diately shown in revival of Italian de-
termination.
We may say that the sight of half of
Venetia occupied by the enemy, the
knowledge of what Italian women and
children were suffering, of what Italian
towns were enduring in the invaded dis
tricts, served to rouse the Italians as
dreams Of conquest along the Dalmatian
coast or on the road to Vienna did not
and could not. However Italy may have
been divided over the question of an of
fensive war for grandiose objectives
she was united in a determination to
preserve her unity, won at so great sac
rifces in the previous century, and the
presence Of the Austrian invader in We
netia served to consolidate the nation and
reanimate the soldier.
New-York tribune., 1918-06-30

Grouchy was expected by Napoleon to
deal with BlUcher in the Waterloo cam
paign. Austria's failure seems as great
as that of Napoleon's general, and at the
critical moment on the Western front,
when Germany Is preparing to make her
final and heaviest thrust, her attention
and her resources are drawn to a new
liability in another quarter. Not only
is there no longer the smallest chance of
the transfer of Austrian troops to the
Western front, but we are already in
formed that German DIVISIONS have been
drawn down to the Trentno and the
Venetian plain.
New-York tribune., 1918-06-30

having reorganized her armies under
German direction and having struck
final blow with every ounce of power left
to her, has met one of the great defeats
of the war.
This is the news which now comes to
the starving millions who were to be fed
upon the cheering if unsubstantial food
supplied by authentic reports of great
victory. Victory might not have salts
fled the hunger of the suffering masses,
but what can defeat do toward silencing
the protest and quieting the unrest?
How long can Austria now escape the
undermining influences which destroyed
Russia one short year ago, while Rus
sian armies were still victorious and be-
fore Slav divisions fled from the scene
of an unmistakable triumph along the
Gnila Lipa and the Dniester?
On the eve Of battle the commanders
Va Vic <AuotIldlI armies addressed Cnelr
troops in words recalling the famous ap-
'peals of Napoleon to equally famished
soldiers nearly century and quarter
ago. They promised their divisions that
they were to find food and plunder in the
cities and fields which fed the Napo-
leonic veterans of the earlier period. The
very hope of finding food was the strong
est incentive of the advancing Austrians,
but what must be the feelings of the sur
vivors, for whom Italian booty is no long
er even a remote hope? For whom hum
ger is now assured without the relief
promised victory held out?
New-York tribune., 1918-06-30
Aushia's Failure
Strikes at Germany


Now, just as the Austrian offensive
mad two different phases, the military
snd the political, the Austrian defeat
must have dual consequences also. Its
snect must be felt on the Western front
snnost as much as in Venetia, and its po-
M'cai consequences must produce pro.
found reactions in Berlin as well as in
Vienna. Not only has Italy given her
sliies splendid assistance at critical
moment, new and solid cause for con-
aoence, but she has struck at the very
asaft OF the enemy at moment when
ssefy reverse, however small, was bound
= count enormously.
q German calculations the mission of
Anstria was to dispose Of Italy as
New-York tribune., 1918-06-30
Defeat Become.
A Rout

Fortunately, the Italians possessed
the interior lines. They could concen-
trate their reserves and artillery on any
danger point with the briefest delay, and
by the third day the counter attacks at
Montello were proceeding and bit by
fore the end of the first week of battle
the Austrian gain had been turned into
nothing more serious than huge bridge
head, and thereafter, the food in the
Piave played into Italian hands and de-
prived the Austrians, who had crossed on
various military bridges, of all communi-
cations with their rear.
1t would be unfair to ascribe the Ital-
ian victory to the foods. The Austrian
advance had been checked and thrown
back before the water rose, but it was
the food which settled the question of
whether the Austrians would be able to
retain something Of their gains west of
the river. BY Saturday, June 90, the
Italian Prime Minister was able to an
nounce that the battle was already be-
come an undisputed triumph; by Sum
day Austrian bulletins were talking
about the floods and manifestly prepar-
ing the Austrian public for the an
nouncement of a defeat. BY Monday
Washington bulletins were supplement
ing Rome accounts of victory with the
announcement Of $4,000 prisoners and
innumerable captured guns. The evacu-
New-York tribune., 1918-06-30
Boche Stopped From
Alps to the Sea

The world has been too frequently in
past months promised an Austrian COL
lapse to be easily convinced now that the
Italian victory will be followed by q
prompt overrun in the Dual Monarchy.
We shall look rather to the benefits
which cannot be doubted, the gain in
morale in Western Europe, the quick
rise in Allied hopes and expectations,
the restoration to Italy of a confidence
cruelty shaken at the Isonzo by the Capo-
retto disaster, rather than to the re-
moter possibilities of profit. One of the
great dangers Of the year has been re-
moved, one of the causes of apprehen-
sion has been eliminated; we do not have
to hold the West front while the Vene-
tian line still worries us. The Boche is
stopped from the Alps to the sea-this is
the immediate conclusion to be drawn
and its Importance is immense. Half
way through the campaign of 1918 the
issue on one front is disposed of, while
the prospects on the main front are
hourly improving.
On the military side the story of the
New-York tribune., 1918-06-30

river, but their main thrust was almost
at the edge of the marshes, where the
river divides into several channels. Here
they came nearest to Venice and at one
moment were less than twelve miles from
the City Of the Doges, but fortunately
the marshy nature Of the ground pre-
vented any use Of heavy artillery and
Venice escaped the fate which Rheims
and Amiens are enduring.
Of the three attacks that in the north
was the least severe and the soonest dis
posed Of. The famous fighting ground
at Asiago was held. The Monte Grappa
positions, which are to be a national
park when the war is over, to preserve
them in Italian memory, positions which
command both the Piave and Brenta
valleys, were retained, with only light
losses. Austrian troops here experienced
the same check which two years ago
blocked an offensive designed to produce
supreme Italian disaster by cutting off
the retreat of armies then fighting far
eastward at the 1sonzo.
By contrast, the attack on Montello
was the most successful and, despite
hopeful bulletins, there were certainly
several days during which it was touch
and go whether Montello would fall into
Austrian hands and the line of the Piave
have to be abandoned. AS the mountain
line held firmly, this would not have
meant disaster, but it would have COM
PEELED retirement upon and beyond
Treviso and would eventually have ex-
posed Venice to bombardment, if not to
capture. AS for Austrian progress
southwark it was not considerable, and
the fighting in this region, while intense,
was relatively less important.
New-York tribune., 1918-06-30
Boche Now Stop
ned All the Way
From Alps to
the Sea
By FRANK HI. SIMONDS
Author Of ''The World War;" ''They
Shall Not Pass"

A week ago / commented here upon
the opening Of the great Austrian often
sive from the Adige to the Adriatic, an op-
grafton which even at that early date dis
closed itself obviously as the main Aus
trian effort of the campaign of 1918 and
final effort OF the part Of the Hapsburg
monarchy to dispose of the single enemy
left along its frontiers and thus attain
peace By Monday, June "a, the fifty
ninth anniversary of Solferino, the Bat
tie of the Piave had ended in a tremen-
dous Italian succesA Italy had won her
verdun, and ~They shall not pass" had
proven as inspiring watchword for
brave men in Venetia as it had in Lor-
raine-
New-York tribune., 1918-06-30
Venice and Verona
Have Been Saved

Finally, in the third period the weight
Of the Italian counter attacks, first in
the north in the mountains, then at the
mouth of the Piave and finally at the
crucial point of Montello heights, began
to assume the character of a counter Of
fensive; in word, The Austrians lost
the initiative and, while the Piave River
rose in flood behind them and swept away
bridges, depriving them of means of re-
ceiving munitions and reinforcements,
the Italian attacks prevailed and the
broken enemy was thrust back across the
river in rout, his offensive destroyed
and the safety Of his own lines imme-
diately threatened. What happened to
the French on a small scale about Sois-
sons in the winter Of 1914-1915 now oc-
Cured on an enormous scale east OF
Treviso.
AS / write these lines on Tuesday,
June rs, the measure of the Italian VIC
tory is still to be taken. What is clear
at the moment is that supreme Aus
TRAN bid for victory has ended in de-
ieat which has already many resem-
dances to a disaster and leaves no rea-
Sonable doubt as to the final crushing Of
Austrian hopes of disposing of Aaly for
The present war. In word, it is not yet
GEAR whether Udine is to be redeemed
and Trieste conquered, but it seems
plain beyond peradventure that Venice
and Verona have been saved.
New-York tribune., 1918-06-30

Within Twelve Miles
OF Venice
Southwark of Monteilo the Austrians
effected a number Of crossings of the
New-York tribune., 1918-06-30
The Anniversary
of Serajevo

years to the days when the Kaiser was
compelled to pause in his push for Calais
because Russian victories in Galicia
threatened to bring the Hapsburg mll,-
tary edifice down in heap if Austrian
armies, already verging on rout, were
not promptly reinforced. Again, in the
Verdun time, Austrian collapse in Vol
hynia and Eastern Galicia made fatal
demand upon German resources at mo-
ment when the Battle of the Somme was
beginning and the Meuse fortress still un-
taken. Diaz, by his victory, has repeated
the service of Brusiloff in the last Russian
triumphs which in June two years ago
blinded the world to the approach OF
Russian ruin.
There is grim irony in the fact that
the week which sees the defeat of the
Austrians at the Piave made complete
also contains the fourth anniversary Of
the assassination of the Archduke at
Serajevo, the remote and almost forgot
ten occasion of all this terrible conflict
which has followed. And on this ami
versary every whisper which comes from
Austria points to the approach Of utter
ruin for the state that welcomed the MUIR
der of prince four years ago as the
signal for an attack upon it's Serbian
neighbor, an attack which would insure
the future security of the empire Of
that aged Emperor who has already sue
cumbed to the burden of sorrow the
struggle has brought.
Booty and Food
Vanish
Whatever the military consequences Of
the defeat at the Piave we are bound to
believe the political results will be moro
important. The long train of evil events,
beginning with the Russian collapse a
year ago, has at last been interrupted.
Austria, having brought to the Italian
field all the best of the troops once en-
ployed against Russia and Rumania,,
New-York tribune., 1918-06-30
Three Stages
In the Battle

In the ten days of the Piave contest,
from its opening on Saturday, June Is,
to this second Monday, the great battle
passed through three distinct stages.
There was first the onset of the Aus
TRANS, which resulted in no material
gains between the Piave and the Adige,
in considerable success on the Montello
heights below the bend Of the Piaye,
which threatened the line of the river,
and in a substantial advance in the
marshy ground near the delta, which
brought the Austrians within a dozen
miles of Venice.
In the second period, when the Aus
trians should have been able to exploit
their gains and push their offensive
home, the world had its first evidence of
the new spirit of Italian armies, for in
this period there was sudden check to
the Austrian advance at all points and
the beginning Of a series of counter at
tacks all along the front, which, with lit
tie delay, first broke the force of the Aus
trian thrust and finally halted it, and in
places turned it back from high water
mark.
The daily Gate City and constitution-Democrat. (Keokuk, Iowa) 1916-1922, 1918-06-03
PAYS CASUALTY LIST
CONTAINS THIRTY-SIX NAMES

Died of disease:
Privates Edward Anderson, DeeI
River, Conn; Walter N. Bailey, VIII
kinsburg, Pa; Cornelius Frommeyer
Pittsburgh, Pa; John kastner, Chica
go: Henry j. Kruger, Spokane, Wash.
Leslie Robert Lee, Chicago; Robert G
Martin, Brooklyn. N. Y.
Wounded degree undetermined):
Lieut. George w. McCabe, Vicks
burg, Miss; Privates Brace B. BEEN
er, Vincennes, Ind; Vastly Nuede
kow, Hartford. Conn.
Wounded severely:
Lieut.. William Hepburn, Windsor
Conn; Corporals Francis D.. Bodewig
Cedar Rapids. Neb.; August F. Miller
Seymour, Conn; Charlie T. Morrow
Douglas, Ala; Cook Charles Coart
New Haven, Conn; Privates Oscar j.
Carter, Ariton, Ala; John p. Claverie
R. F. D. 8. Box Sc, K, San Diego, Calf.
Hubert S. Coon, Briggsville, Wis;
George E. Hurt, Wallingford, Pa; Jno.
M. Mcdonald, Wellington, Mass: Sam
Michigan City. Ind: Oliver
North, Indianapolis, Ind; Clarence
Penson, Zebuton, KY: VIM. B. Ram
sey, Dunbar, VS.. Harry S. Staley,
GRANVILLE, Ill:; Anton Trostnski, Dwy-
erville, Texas.
Private Frank Kurzynske, Ripon,
wis.
Private Teodor Beniewez. Webster,
Mass. previously reported wounded,
now reported killed In action
The daily Gate City and constitution-Democrat. (Keokuk, Iowa) 1916-1922, 1918-06-03

|ted Press Leased Wire Service1 i
Few YORK, June 3.-Tell.
. story Of having been held
PIT the Jersey coast by two
man submarines, ordered
small boats and their ship
with bombs, Captain H.
ewcombe and ten members
|he crew Of the American
Poner Edwin H. Cole ar
d here today. The men
taken in charge by the
authorities, who are
s-examining them.
ccording to the story told,
submarines appeared, one
(ither side of the schooner,
crews aboard, placed
bs and blew up the vessel.
ne men, in their small
:, were picked up by the
r1can steamer Bristol and
pght into New York
hey asserted the attack
place at four p. m. Sun
pe schooner was enroute
Boston to Norfolk with
blowing reports that sew
ships had been sunk off
oast, port authorities this
plng refused to allow YES
20 leave the harbor.