Evening star., 1918-06-30

Check to Austrians.
In the second period, when Aus
TRANS shoVld have been able to ex-
ploit their gains and push their Of
fensive home. the world had its first
evidnce Of the new spirit Of italian
armies, for in this period there was
a sudden check to the Austrian ad-
vance at all points and the beginning
of series Of counter attacks all
along the front, which. with little
delay. first broke the force Of the
Austrian thrust and finally halted it
and in places turned it back from
high-water mark.
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 Mon
tello Heights. began to assume the
character Of a counter offensive; in a
word, the Austrians lost the initta- =
tive and, while the Piave river rose
in Hood behind them and swept away
bridges, depriving them Of means OF
receiving munitions and reinforce
ments, 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 Immediately threatened.
Austria Out for This Year.
AS I write these lines on Tuesday,
June 25, the measure Of the italian
victory is still to be taken. What is
clear at the moment is that a supreme
Austrian bid for victory has ended
in a defeat which has already many
resemblances to disaster and leaves
no reasonable doubt as to the maj
crushing Of Austrian hopes of dis
posing Of Italy for the present war.
In a word, it is not yet clear whether
Udine Is to be redeemed and Trieste
conquered. but 1t seems plain beyond
peradventure that Venice and Verona
have been saved.
Now, Just as the Austrian offensive
had two different phases. the mill
tary and the political. the Austrian
defeat must have dual consequences
also. Its effect must be felt on the
western front almost as much as IN
must produce profound reactions in
Berlin as well as in Vienna.
Effect on West Front.
While Germany is preparing to make
her final and heaviest thrust. her at
tention and her resources are drawn
to new liability in another quarter.
Net only is there no longer the
smallest chance Of the transfer OF
hut we are already informed that
German divisions have been drawn
down to the Trentino and the Vehe-
tian plain.
All this carries us back nearly four
years to the days when the kaiser
was compelled to pause in his push
for Calais because of Russian victo-
ries in Galicia. 4
Again, in thefyerdun time. Austrian
collapse in Vohynia and eastern Ga
licia made a fatal demand upon Ger
man resources.
There is a grim irony in the fact
that the week which sees the defeat
Of the Austrians at the Piave made
complete also contains the fourth an
niyersary of the assassination of the
almost forgotten occasion of all this
terrible conflict which has followed.
And on this anniversary every whis-
per which comes from Austria points
to the approach of utter ruin for the
state that welcomed the murder of a
prince four years ago as the signal
for an attack upon its Serbian neigh
Dor.
Whatever the military consequences
of the defeat at the Piave, we are
bound to believe the political results
will be more important. The long
the Russian collapse year ago, has
at last been interrupted. Austria 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 unsub-
stantia1 food supplied by authentic
reports of a great victory. Victory
might not have satisfied the hunger
of the suffering masses, but what
can defeat do toward silencing the
protest and Quieting the unrest?