Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1918-02-05
ITALIANS SURPRISE AusrRIANs.
Eye Witnesses Tell Of Recent Fierce
Fighting.

Italian Headquarters IN Northern
Italy. Wednesday. Jan. So. lBy the
Associated Press. Eye witnesses OF
the Italian attack OF the past few
days on the Asiaeo plateau tell
story OF thrilling interest. From their
account II appears that the first ltali-
an rush Was in the darkness AT 3
o'clock Monday morning. The sleep
ing enemy forces werr taken com
plctcly by surprise. The Alpini were
IN the thick OF this lighting and by
daylight they had swept the first line
trenches and taken an old church.
which formed "A strategic point in the
enemy lines Of defense. They We're
vigorously supporting the heroic Sas-
ari brigade. which took and rctook
the height OF Col Del Rosso three
times against the stubborn. desperate
resistance OF the enemy.
These early movements were a Ill
version To screen the main move.
mcnt ON the right where u stroke MAS
delivered for the dominating height
OF Monte Di Val Bella. II was here
that the most severe fighting occur
red through Monday night and in III"
early hours OF Tuesday. Italian storm
Ing troops took the eastern and west
ern slopes and by o'clock Tuesday
morning had cut their way Ia The
summit and were establishing them.
selves firmly in definite control Of the
key position.
Hand to Hand.
II was hand TO hand lighting up
the slopes. with heavy losses on the
austrian side and the enemy clearly
at Il disadvantage. \ singular fcutur"
of the struggle was supplied by u con-
siderable Italian force which fought it's
way far beyond the first days uh.
Jectirc and was such u distance with.
in the enemy's lines that the troops
were given up for lost. When the
final charge was made up Monte ID
Val Bella. however this Italian force
disengaged itself from the cnem>
encirclcment and took an important
art in the final capture OF the sum.
nit.
Throughout the day yesterday the
enemy sought To redeem the situation
by bringing forward large reinforce
ments and IL is estimated that SO new
batteries were added 10 his fighting
line. But his efforts to move the in
fantry led to such confusion that all
his countcrattacks were rendered abor-
tive. Austrian prisoners declared that
the reserves hurrying were met by
steady streams Of beaten troops NOV
ing backward until all orderly forma-
tions were broken up. Attempts to
merge the fresh troops with the deci-
mated front line units only added to
the confusion.
Divisions Wiped Out.
According to prisoners. the Twenty
first Schutzen Division OF AustrIans
and the One Hundred and first Aus
trian Landstrum Division were vir-
tually DESTROYED while the Ninsiieth
and Fifty-second Mountain Brigades OF
kaiserjaegers were similarly decimat-
ed. The large percentage OF officers
among the prisoners IN noticeable
feature. and the casualties show a
similar heavy proportion OF officers.
No exact information IL available on
the extent OF losses. but the total
mounts high for the enemy. Besides
yielding considerable number OF
prisoners and war material the engage
ment resulted in restoring the Italian
line to the dominating points occu-
pied before the enemy made his for
ward movement in this sector just
before Christmas