The review. [volume] (High Point, N.C.) 1908-19??, 1918-02-07
GORITZ TORN To 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
eminent notes. All these mills were
masses of ruins, with few tall Chin
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 a
few hours OFF.
And yet with the imminent danger
many persons still chung 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 a deserted
ing up the rear. Goritz had $4,000
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-
tensives Jesuit establishment where 600,
seminarians. 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-
tfrely, 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
The outlines of a city were
still there, but it ~was a city sieved by.
bOmbardment
Trip to the Citadel.
The trip to the citadel was the event
of the day. This is huge pile, with
O1d-time moat and battlements and a
great tower dominating the whole |
country for miles around. Here we
were to view Mount Gabriel. Mount Mi
Gael, the Biansizza plateau and the
whole range Of ground which had |
passed through this upheaval, 1t was
uphill to the citadel. Everything
showed the havoc of long continued
are. In one great court there was a
pretty little chapel which had come /
through the ordeal untouched, though |
all around was wreck. /
Once upon the battlements a. COM
view was ahead. There was |
)ne point of vantage where this view |
vas particularly good, known as the |
post. We halted a moment,
about to enter the post, but others |
wished to push on to the very front of
he wall, and this view prevailed. 1t |
vas a most fortunate decision, as we
soon after had reason to know.
On the battlements a splendid view
stretched out for miles over this bat
legrOund Of mountains, valleys and I
plains, with the city houses clustered
below and the roads winding off (
through the valleys and foothills. There |
n front was Mount Gabriel, this side
held by the Italians, the other by the
Austrians.
"There runs the dividing line" said
he escort, pointing to a line of trees
md depressions near the summit.
The Italian trenches could be plainly T
seen, but there was no need of indi-
,ating dividing line, for the bursts of
smoke along one side of the summit
md the answering bursts from the
'ther side told where the line was.
DIFF to the left was Mount Michael,
nee swept clean by shell fire. but now
,reen again. Nestled in hollow was
he convent of st. CatarinA. The Bian-
liza plateau was off to the left, and
through the mist were the dim out
ines of snow-tOpped Mount Nero, that
outpost Of the Italian advance.
AS we stood surveying this scene
here was the steady rumble of guns,
With the crack of quick-frers and then
he long "whiz" of ever-passing shells.
BUT there was one "whiz" which In
family engaged every attention. We I,
ould hear it coming, and 1t was not Il
DING over, nor under, nor at either I