The review. [volume] (High Point, N.C.) 1908-19??, 1918-02-07
Correspondent Sees SheII-Bat-'
tered City Just Before the
italians Retreated.
PAINTS PICTURE OF RUIN
Newspaper Men Have Marrow Escape
as They Watch Artillery Battle.
Outlines of City Still There,
but II Is a City sieved by
.-Bombardment. a

Northern 1taly.-GOr1tH SIS Sy1nDOi
ION to Goritz!' was the cry OF TIT
duke of Aosta's soldiers as they
pressed through the little town OF Lu
cfnico q few months ago, fighting the1'
way down to the Isonzo river, ther
across the western bridge leading tt
the city, when the cry changed to go
ritz at last! !"
Then this was reversed when the
overwhelming invading force of Aus
tro-Germans took up this same cry
ION to Goritz!'' pressing down from
the. north, across the northern bridge
to the city and ending with ''Goritz at
last ~ =
Thus Goritz has become symbol OF
the huge change which has occurred.
1t was one of the furthest points for
wardeon the Italian line, the center OF
q vast arc of fighting front stretching
from PiOzzo, far in the north, down to
the sAdriatic at Montefalcone, and it
was the; most populOus and important
city in the great crescent of territory
which the Italian army had sliced off
southwestern Austria-sOme six hun
bred square miles in all. And so Go
ritz was symbolic of that entire region
which has twice changed hands in this
war;, and of the furthest advance in
the first Italian campaigns.
went to Goritz and saw the city
on the eve of it's agony. 1t was the
last trip made there by anyone outside
the military before the retreat began.
The roar of the great Austro- German
nFE oily du hod commenced
: though for the moment it was taken
for Spasmodic renewal of the cannon
ade which had been going on for weeks.
Within twenty-fOur hours the enemy
had crossed the Isonzo Is miles further
NORTH turned the italian left wing,
beaten back the second army under
General CapellO, threatened to envelop
the third army under the duke of AoS-
ia. brother of the king of Italy, andDut
In execution that gigantic hammer
stroke hE- which they hoped to finish
Italy and cripple the whole entente.
Roads Left Clear.
My trip was maze by invitation Of
the supreme command, with staff edi-
: tor from headquarters as escort. = AS
we sped along the road in the big army
automobile I noted there were no
troops along the road and bordering
fields as one sees approaching Verdun
or in the Somme or Flanders. This alb
sence of troops in the rear was part Of
the system adopted, it was explained.
All the reprovisioning of the army was
done at might and the roads we're left
clear by day most of the time.
Ten miles out we crossed the Ital-
ian-Austrian frontier and entered Aus
tria.
AT Commons, an Austrian village on
the road. the signs above the shops
were all in Italian, showing the Ital-
faIs were right in the claim that all
this section was racially italian.
The cannonade began to be heard
for the first time ten miles west of Go
rita low rumble to the north and
east, with now and then the muff1ed
boom of a great gun. Day by day the
fire was getting heavier, said our es-
cort, who knew the ground by heart,
and he added that the enemy forces
had been increased from 12O battalions
to $50 batta1ions.
As we passed through the town of
LuciHico, a far-out suburb of GOritz, 1t
was seen to be half destroyed. Along
the main street ran rows of battered
buildings, with walls half down and
shell holes making ugly gashes. But
business was going on, men were at
the cafes and women and girls strolled
the street unconcernedly. Now the au-
tomobile turned up the steep side Of
NJ 80 %R1o
OF Goritz where bloody hand-to-hand
f1ghting occurred. One could see the
old trench and wire system, now grass
grown. All this hill had been swept
bare by shell fire, but nature had kind
1y Obliterated the scars and the hillside
was again smiling with its verdure
The sound Of firing had now increased
TO an enormous roar as we passed Pad
Eera hill.
Turning the corner of a shattered
wall we saw the Isonzo river lying
ahead and on the further side Goritz
rising in terraces with the huge battle
ments of the citadel towering on the
right. { The river looked about the
width of the Potomac at Washington
but. with swifter current from the
mountain feeders. Along the edge of
the river ran rows of shell7torn walls
with gaping windows. This whole wa
ter front had been torn to pieces, and
yet many of the demolished remnants
Of the buildings were occupied, and
work along the river wharves was pro-
ceeding.
Old Bridges Replaced.
The Isonzo river was crossed by the
wooden bridge which Italian engineers
built sitter all the old bridges had been
blown up. On one side lay the wreck |
Of q big pontoon. It was on pontoon
bridges that the Italians entered the
-.