The Broadus independent. [volume] (Broadus, Mont.) 1918-1919, 1919-05-01
CAPTAIN TELLS
HOW He HALTED
italian FLIGHT
Wins Highest Military Recogni.
ton That Can Come to Sol.
der of Mis- Country.
Saves ARMYFRoMAUs

Francesca Mario ouardabassi Gives
Graphic Picture Of One Of the Most
Thrilling and Romantic Epi-
sodes Of the War.
New. York.-Back Of the meager of.
dcial dispatch announcing the award
BY. the Italian government, OF its sill.
yer medal for valor, virtually the high
est military recognition: that can come
to an, Italian: soldier,, is, one. of the
most -thrilling and romantic episodes
OF the entire waE; ore which, i'm fact,
may be seid to-. have, .hs a distinct
and definite bearing upon the success
Of thu, Italian ARMS. ,e~ 'o> ~" .
The seahle message, announcing the
award, and. which, was published in
America few days ago, read:
Awarded to FIRST Lieut.: Che later
received ibis cantaincy) Francesca
Mario Guardabassi Of Perugia, while
on the staff Of the, commander Of divi-
sion. a. Energetic co-operator Of the
high command of the division, First
Lieutenant Guardabassi gave an adj
mfrable proof Of determination, energy
and bravery In a very 'dif{icult circum-
tancepdurfng the drive from the Car
so to'the Pave, firmly checking a sud.
den ana threatening panic aroused
among the troops. arso-Tagliamento,
Bridgesdf Eatisana, 2e October. 1917"
Captain (thsn5 first lieutenant)
Guardabassi, ~ his action, prevented
the Italian retreat from the Carso to
the Piave from becoming disorderly
rout and TRANSFORMED It into an or
derby retirement, which enabled the
italian forces to reform and to make
their position on the piave fmpregna-
BILE It was Captain, Guardabass who,
standing virtua1lysalone on the bridge
head of Latisana; inspired the troops
Of the Third army to hold their ground
when overwhelmed with fear and
panic. g. y, ..>,.y
10 Here on Special Haissiea.
Captain Guardabassi, who at the
time was aid-de-camp of General Pc.
tillo, divisional. commander in the
Third army Of: Italy, in the last few
months has become. a familiar figure
In New York. Following his achieve
ments on the. Tagliamento he wa6
called to Rome and. because Of his
wide knowledge Of America and Amer.
leans, was sent to the United States
on special mission from the Italian
government. Captain Guardabassi
was persuaded to tell the story of how
he won the decoration. It is best told
In his own words:
you can imagine the spirit Of our
army last October" said he, "when
our generals Of the Third army an
noCnced that we were to fall back.
We had worked so hard to establish
oLf line on the Tagliamento, and we
were SO proud. Now the orders came
that we were to get back on the Pi.
ave. There were no finer fellows In
the world than in the Third army, but
a wave of Encouragement swept
through the ranks. Were we to. be
beaten1
'The Piave line was stronger-it
was our natural line. There we could
hold of the Austrians coming down
from the north and prevent their
breaking into the italian plains. IT
was only 40 miles back yet our army,
none of us, could realize this. It was
retreat. And 1t became more and
more difficult to keep up the soldiers
morale, to hold them together.
"The Third army numbered 100000.
It was reduced during the campaign
from 400 900 to 10000, but that was its
size when the retreat was ordered.
There were complications in the re-
treat, for down from the northwest
began to come detachments from the
Second army, mingling with our men.
tending to produce disorder.
Rain Makes Retreat Difficult.
VI shall never forget how it rained
during those days. The Carso-Taglia-
mento region Is a marshy country.
Where we were was not far from the
sea. In the retreat we had to keep to
the roads. THIS made our falling back
all the harder.
II could never have done what I had
to do had 1t not been for my general.
General Petillo. and the fact that
was his aid-de-camp. Remember
That. besides the hurriedly retreating
soldiers pouring along the roads ev-
erywhere. disheartened and fearful. the
country people by thousands were re-
treating. Nobody knew what might
happen. The feeling was growing that
the war was lost. That we would soon
make new stand and a brilliant one
along the Piave and later retrieve ev.
erything nobody realized. You could
not have told them that.
Fortunately, my general and 1 were
close to a very important crossing OF
the Tagliamento, the bridge at Latis.
ano. Marshes were ON every hand. II
reality there were two bridges, a rail.
road bridge and one for foot passen.
gers. Soldiers and peOple were nonn