Atlanta semi-weekly journal. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1898-1920, 1918-02-12
TRAITORS HELPED
TEUTONS IN ROUT
OF ITALIAN ARMY
Uniformed Men Shouted to
Hating Troops, "AlI Is
Lost Invaders Met Little
Resistance
ARTICLE III
ny HERBERT COREY

|
ny HERBERT COREY
! Paris, Dec. 14.--(By Mail. Things
| happen suddenly in war. 1t was only
| yesterday that we read of British gea-
erals in pajamas fighting before Cam
| brsi. But nothing has ever happened
mole suddenly c. more unexpectedly
than the Italian collapse of October %,
/ 1917.
I'VE knew that the enemy was pre-
pairing an offensive said one of the
most ebert journalistic observers. But
that meant nothing to US. Otfensivrs
are always being prepared"
! So that IN October Il he left heal
quarters &C. take a sightseeing jaunt
to Venice, and was never able to get
| back Another as vaguely knew that
| Something was going on" but slept
late on the fateful morning and did not
ger tae warning in time, He walked
twenty m1es through a pouring rain.
Another got the warning and barely
managed to get out that night on
Red Cross ambulance, leaving all mis-
be- ngings behind.
There were perhaps score of skilled
ap. r.ers of war at headquarters when
| the crash came Most of them sustain
cd conhGt ntial relations with members
\ of the staff. Yet not one of them had
an advance warning. Even members
of the staff were forced to leave their
| clothes behind. Maps, papers, books OF
great va.uc to the enemy were left 10
him. The traditional sights, of a flight
from an endangered city were to re
seer Women tottefed through the r1ul
barefoot Cd, after their satin slippers had
beef pulled off. Men and women and
children died by the roadside.
me of this has no doubt been told
in America. but am going to disclose
Some OF the mechanism OF the enemy
stroke. The first smash came at the
1olm:no bridgehead, which was held by
CalShIian regiment. There is no ques-
ton of the gallantry of these men.
Trsy have distinguished themselves time
| after time in the past year. Yet they
save wav with TO more than pretenss
! OF resistance. Some few fired upon the
enemy when they discovered the ruse
of which they had been made victims.
But the greater part seem to nave fled.
They had gone ION strike"
where Treachsry showed
Far behind the places which were
receiving the first onrush of enemy
troops disorder, which is plainly at
| tributable to treachery, became mani
| fest Men dressed in Italian uniform be-
| gan to cry that "all is lost" The usual
| shout that they had been sold to the
enemy went UP. italian officers order
ed their men to abandon defensiole po-
sitions. No doubt many of these men
lost their heads. Equally without doubt
many of them were traitors.
The telephone wires we're cut and
| false messages put through. One gal
liant major in command of an important
| telephone center went completely TO
| pieces He defended his post as heroic
! ally as any man could-but before be-
! GINNING the defense he cut the telephone
wires in some confused idea of there
| by hampering the enemy. This further
! crippled headquarters. In six hours
/ time the retreat became an enforced one,
! for the enemy had gained key positions
| Then il became a rout.
| Austrians made their way along de-
| files which were impregnable to any
thing short of seige without being fir
| ed on A squad of high school girls
with a pair Of machine guns could have
| held some of these runways. They gal-
Hoped over hilltOps in plain view without
| being fired on. Almost the whole or
the Second army was cut off and talk
en- prisoners The rout became wild,
insensate bowling panic, with all the
| accompaniments of a panic in the time
of war.
Yet these men who ran away were
anything but towards. They have all
proved their courage. Most of them
| have proved it since and are proving IL
as these lines are being written. In
many instances running was the one
sane thing for them to do and after hav-
| ing outrun the man who tried to cut
them off the Italians turned on their
pursuers and fought viciously, without
! food, water or blankets, until they re-
! formed their own lines almost without
aid. regiment of Bersaglieri caught
! in a defile ran the gantlet of Austrians
| who held every hilltop position-and
I when they got an opening climbed the
| hills and drove their pursuers back A
score of similar instances might be
| told
Reiterated for q Week
The frenz.ed rush of mob for safety
lasted for a week, varied by innumer-
able instances of heroism The BIRTHS
| managed to save all their guns by sheer
| dogGedness. No doubt most of the Ital-
| ians might have done the same thing,
| except that the underlying conditions
were different. The ignorant-but al
| ways courageous-Italian peasants had
| been bewildered by a multitude of ele-
ments which will be told later. Above
all when once the rout began the Italian
felt himself betrayed. Thousands threw
down their rifles, packs, blankets, to
| tighten their task of escaping through
knee-deep mud in a hammering rain.
others held on to these things with
| the grim intention of fighting again
| another day. Some units held together
! perfectly. Others dissolved completely
when the first shot was heard.
! When holding ground was finally
reached the innate courage OF the Ital-
| ian began TO show itself. These disor-
dered units came together in a fighting
line. With what guns had been saved
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