El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1918-06-29

tanry and cavalry the clearing Of the back areas Ihey
recaptured Monelo plateau and the shattered town Of
Nervesa. The Austrian withdrawal became almost rout
Thousands thronged TO the two bridges and were blown
to bits by shells before they could start Thousands
tried to get into boats OF to swim but victims the
rain Of death The yellow waters Of the Pave turned red
with blood and its pillows became waves Of corpses.
Trapped, Austrian forces turned and fought des
peratey in comparatively small groups but in other places
Italian forces by Monday reached the river bank and
crossed the east side the first time in months that
Italian forces had been that side Of the river And
the struggle has gone on the Austrans suffering dis
aster Of the first magnitude, well comparable with the
trapping OF the Russian Tenth army IN the MasuIlan
Lakes Hindenburgs masterpiece Of strategy. Thus
aided the allied by flooding the Piave. The
river obgngy fell to normal as the Italians approached
to cross If.
Apparently the Italian artillery has played the chief
role The Italian command has concentrated destroying
the enemy rather than capturing him. This accounts for
the dspToportou between dead and prisoners Destroying
many possible Of the enemy and at the time
keeping as many Italians as possible out Of the fighting
mat mas been zen Dazs ldea so lar as one may Juage
from current dispatches from the Rome office and
the correspondents at the Italian front This IS sound
strategy, and besides must be injurious to morale
Austria than capture Of larger numbers Of prisoners
Starving Austria would lucky those who fell
prisoners into Italian hands who would feed them clothe
them and keep them we'll But slaughter the battlefield
holds for the Ausrians at home nothing but mourning
What effect VIII this breakdown have in Austria?
That is prOblemadcal It is well realized that the dual
monarchy is in disorder because Of the desperate food stu
aion the strikes riots, the rebeious attitude Of subject
and the national demand for peace. However,
peror Charles still holds the rens and his government
agencies still dominate the people Emphasis should be
laid the fact that there has been nowhere any organized
resistance to the monarchy any hostility the part
Of the larger apparent The bulk Of the Austrian and
Hungarian populsce at peace with the government
but insisting food and peace notwithstanding that the
difficulties IN the way Of the government IN granting either
requirement vel realized.
Moreover the government controls the censorship and
c he chooses prevent the people at home learning any
thing from their newspapers that Austrian forces
have been withdrawn from the bank of the Piave
Letters from soldiers be suppressed entirely thor
oughy censored and it VIII take time for the Of the
disaster to te through the population By that time,
Austrian affairs al the front may have taken turn for
the better.
Austria has the more reason to hope for an improvement
the situation if reported, large detachments Of Ger
troops on the way to Italy from France They
sfen the Austrian line and lead charges Their
presence can encourage the people at home It VIII take
time for them reach Italy for the way long and the
communications not very good but their coming viii hearten
their allies.
The German offensive II France and Flanders has sus
tanned check because Of the Austrian failure and the
sending Of German expedition will weaken the German
'front.' but 1t is important that false hopes should be
raised IN the United States and allied countries.
The battle Of the Pave does not necessarily that
AustaHungary Is mitariy out Of the game that the
monarchy can be thrown into the dust by means Of
sudden victorious march through the sonzo beyond
The battle Of the Pave and the transfer Of some Ger
man troops to the Italian line does mean that the
German offensive has been ended The serious reverse
certainly has disconnected the enemy but it has broken
him
There is hard fighting ahead-penty of it. There is
no reason to expect the speedy collapse Of any
enemies victory by force Of within the year
To raise hopes IN that direction is almost certainly paving
the way for disappointment.
But the other hand there is every reason for ov
the fact that Italy who have been crumped up
has dealt the enemy tremendous and jarring blow and Is
stronger than at any time the drive at Trieste
was checked.