Trench and camp. [volume] (Augusta, Ga.) 1917-1919, 1919-01-15
ITALY IN THE GREAT WAR
By A. ARBTB-COSTA
ASSOCIATE DIRECTOR, ITALIAN BUREAU OF

Italy as confronted by a tremen-
dous task, such, indeed, as a nation
had never had before. Seemingly un-
surmountable obstacles opposed the
advance of the Italian troops A
chain of precipitous mountains
formed natural fortress more than
hundred miles long. Steep cliffs
which are almost perpendicular run
along the course of the Isonzo River
and the mountain passes which open
along the river are very few and mar
row.
Perhaps never before in a Euro
pean war has the value OF individual
quality been shown so conclusively
as by the Italian troops in this war.
Feats of incredible valor. Of audacity.
of ingenuity were accomplished by
the Italian soldiers and officers.
Mountains were blown up. roads
were built under the incessant fire
of the enemy's artillery, bridges were
set up, impregnable fortresses were
taken by storm, supplies brought by
almost impossible means to impossi-
BILE places.
Nor were the people behind the SOL
dlers Inferior to their task. Italy is
country without coal, without min
eral ore, with few forests and conse-
Quently with little lumber. 1t was
essentially an agricultural country,
but under the pressure of war, it
changed into an industrial country.
The army was to be supplied with
material and ammunition, it was to
be fed, it was to be transported All
this was accomplished with scanty
means, while all over Italy the old
conditions of life were giving place,
to the new. The land so enormously
called of the dolce far niente was a
humming beehive OF tremendous ac-
tivity
For two years and a half, battling
against man and nature, the Italians
advanced on the rocky passes of the
Alps on the plateaus covered with
perpetual snow. The Isongo was
crossed, Gorilla was taken, Noun
tain after mountain. the peaks of the
Carso fell into the hands of the Ital-
ians. Trieste was almost in view of
the advancing Italian troops who,
alone and unaided, were fighting
against the formidable army Of the
Austrian Empire, a country, be 1t
noted with a population nearly dou-
Bile that OF Italy,
Meanwhile, the Italian navy kept
the Austrian battleships bottled up at
Pola and Trieste. In addition to that,
it was helping in transporting and
saving the remains of the Serbian
army One hundrded and fifty thou
sand Serian soldiers were carried on
Italian ships to place of safety
where they could recover from the
incredible hardships of their retreat
Italy was also sending a strong ex-
peditionary force TO the Balkans both
at Saloniki and by way of Albania
In the latter country as well as in
the redeemed provinces that were
falling into the hands of the Italians.
roads were built, schools were start
ed. Civilization followed the Italian
troops and marked their passage, just
as surely as ruin, barbarism and des-
olation marks the passage of the
Huns,
In the fall of 1917, Russia had
concluded, or was about to conclude,
the ignoble peace Of Brest-Litowsk
The entire army of the Austrian EN-
pire, powerfully aided by the Ger
mans with men, artillery and aero
planes, was thrown against Italy with
a view of crushing her and putting
her out of the way, just as Serbia,
Roumania and Russia had been
crushed and put out of the way. A
cunning and insidious propaganda
preceded the attack on the italian
troops False newspapers, seemingly
sincere attempts of determination, all
possible ways of demoralizing an
army were tried by the Austro-Ger-
mans
The world was startled in the clos
ing days of October, 1917. by the
news that Au9tro-German armies had
burst through the Julian Alps and
along the Isonzo and we're sweeping
southwestward into the Venetian
plain,
The retreating italians fought
heroically, trying to stop the enemy
food in each successive valley as they
fell back until the Austro-G German
hordes we're effectively stopped at the
Piave River.
The Allied Powers Of the Entente
were shaken by the Italian setback
and brought to a realization Of the
absolute necessity Of unity of action
If the whole north Of Italy had fallen
into the hands Of the Austro-Ger-
mans, another door to France would
have been opened and disaster might
have threatened the whole of the
Entente forces.
Thus it was that British and
French reinforcements were hur-