The Monticellonian., 1918-02-08
GORITz TORN ID PIECES
 IN LAST GERMAN DRIVE

city and this wreck was one of the remnants of that crossing. The big railroad bridge was lying in a wreck from artillery fire. Further on was the massive stone bridge, with one of it's main arches blown to pieces. Near these bridges lie several important pa per mills, where paper is made for gov ernment notes. All these mills were masseS of ruins, with few tall ehfm- neys still standing among the debris Goritz itself was under the rain of terrific bombardment. for the full force of the great offensive was now only q few hours off.
 And yet with the imminent danger many persons still clung to their homes and belongings with that same tenacity which makes the Vesuvian peasants cling to the mountainside when the vol cano is raging and threatening to bury them. But most of these people on the streets are the poor who could not get away and the small shOpkeepers who cannot afford to abandon their goods. The big stores are all closed and the place has an air of q deserted city, with only q few stragglers bring ing up the rear. Goritz had 30,00O people. but only 5000 are left, and these make only scattered showing in the wide main street fringed on either side with it's shell-torn fronts It Was raining hard and this added to the lugubrious spectacle.
 Entering the city We passed the ex- tensiye Jesuit establishment where 600 seminarans are located. One corner was knocked off, the cornices were hanging and several big holes told where the shells had found mark. The main contour of the street was preserved and the buildings were in- tact as whole, but every second or third had been hit, some collapsing en- tirely, others with their front wall gone and their upper rooms with house hold goods showing from the street. But there was no vast area of com pletely leveled debris, as at Verdun or Monastir. The outlines of a city were still there. but it was city sieYed by bombardment.
 Trip to the Citadel.
 The trip to the citadel was the event of the day. This is huge pile, with eld-time moat and battlements and q great tower dominating the whole country for miles around. Here we were to view Mount Gabriel, Mount Mi paaI tba Riausizzo ,,io too, onJ tho whole range of ground which had passed through this upheaval. It was uphill to the citadel. Everything showed the havoc of long continued fire. In one great court there was a pretty little chapel which had come through the ordeal untouched, though all around was a wreck.
 Once upon the battlements com manding view was ahead. There was one point of vantage where this view was particularly good, known as the dissertation post We halted moment about to enter the post. but others wished to push on to the very front of the wall, and this view prevailed. It Was most fortunate decision, us we soon after had reason to know.
 On the battlements a. splendid view stretched out for miles over this bat tlegrOund of mountains, valleys and plains, with the city houses clustered below and the roads winding off through the valleys and foothills. There in front was Mount Gabriel, this side hold Inv thu TfaIianG of Inv tbA Austrians.
 'There runs the dividing line" said the escort, pointing to a line of trees and depressions near the summit.
 The Italian trenches could be plainly seen, but there was no need of indi- eating dividing line, for the bursts of smoke along one side of the summit and the answering bursts from the other side told where the line was. Off to the left was Mount Michael once swept clean by shell fire, but now green again. Nestled in a hollow was the convent of St. Catarina. The Bian- sizza plateau was off to the left, and through the mist were the dim out lines of snow-topped Mount Nero, that outpost of the Italian advance.
 As We stood surveying this scene there was the steady rumble of guns, with the crack of quick-firers and then the long .'whiz" of ever-passing shells. But there was one "whiz' which in- stantly engaged every attention. We could hear it coming, and it was not going over nor under, nor at either