The Fargo forum and daily republican. [volume] (Fargo, N.D.) 1894-1957, 1918-05-23
Italian Raid on P0ld Ranks
With the British Attacks On
Hun Bases. as NdOdl Exploit
fRv Associated presa.l

Italian Naval Headquarters. Sat
urday, May 18.-The details Of the
recent italian naval exploit at Pola
show that it was one Of the most
audacious feats Of the war, worthy
to rank with the British at Zeebrug
go and the Merrimac at Santiago.
Plans were long matured by Lieut.
Commander Pellegrini. who adopted
unusual means of secrecy to safe
guard the project. To divert atten-
ton, he took service in the trenches
on the Piave, and when he was
ready to start gave out that he was
going to visit his friends. He was
accompanied by another officer and
two sailors. The party was escorted
by destroyers and arrived at Pola at
3 o'clock in the morning. It was very
dark, as the moon had been down
two hours. A light wind blew of!
shore, which prevented the sounds Of
prepa ration going landWard. The en-
trance Of the channel was 400 yards
across, with a long neck leading into
the great harbor, in which lay AUS
trials fleet of battleships, cruisers
and destroyers. encircled by a. frown-
ing terrace Of land batteries.
In the obsCurity the guardship at
the entrance was dlmly visible
swung to one side, the guards ap-
parently asleep. There was COM
plete lack of watchfulness.
Dash In the Dark.
Final preparation was now made
for a dash in the darkness. Com
mander Pellegrini and his two com
nsnions put on rubber suits, which
could be inflated. The plan was to
discharge torpedoes at the big ship,
then blow up their own craft, jump
overheard and await capture or
drowning. All realized that there
was practically no chance Of return
ing alive.
Commander Penegrfni was per-
fectly cool as he babe goodbye, his
superior officer saying:
You are putting your head in the
lions mouth"
Now they encountrede three sue
cessive lines of defense. First a
guardship, then a line Of wooden
buoys, marking a chain Of mines,
and then a heavy steel net strung
able to penetrate these apparently
impossible distractions must remain
a mystery.
The escort waited almost an hour
when the silence was suddenly brok-
en- by two distinct explosions Of tor
edpoes, followed by the sound Of an
alarm gun in the inner harbor.
Soon after, two signals of pari-
cclored lights slowly rose from the
center of the harbor showing that
Commander Pellecrini had penetrar-
ed to the very heart Of tho fleet and
was sending signals from the midst
OF it.
The first signal meant, "have tor
pedoed a battleship," and the second
said, don't mind US; we have no
chance"
This last signal was the agreed
emergency signal, to be sent up in
case there was no opportunity to
give help. It is believed thai they
blew up a craft and took to the water
as au explosive time bomb had been
set to go off even If the craft was
under water
Meanwhile til, sky was vivid with
searchlights an land batteries were
pouring a terrific fire on thu escort.
They chung to their work for time
and then left wi ~ 40 searchiights
and countless batteries playing upon
them
AS daylight broke, a fleet Of enemy
airplanes swooped down, but was
beaten off by a smaller fleet Of Ital-
ian planes. three enemy machines
falling into the water during the
aerial battle.
No words has since been heard Of
Commander Pellegrini and his party.
Their signal was definite that a. shin
had been hit and aerial photographs
are expected soon to confirm their
There is every reason to
believe that the four men are pris-
oners