A FATIGUE PARTY ON THE HIGH MOUNTAINS
UNLOADING MUNITIONS AT 2,800 METRES
ITALIAN MOTOR TRANSPORT COLUMN CARRYING TROOPS TO THE FRONT
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Italian advance on the Carso
The big trench mortars had done their work well, and the enemy defences near the river were smashed to bits
The battle on the Italian Eastern front continues with great intensity. On Sunday the Italian infantry carried by assault the whole of the first Austrian line east of the Isonzo from Plava to the sea - a front of fully 25 miles, largely across the Carso. By nightfall 7,600 prisoners had been counted. The Austrians are offering a most stubborn resistance to the further advance of the Italians. A little farther north, some six or seven miles above Gorizia, the Austrians have lost the bridgehead they held near Anhovo on the right or west bank of the Isonzo. Here the Italians have crossed to the left bank, at a spot about three miles north-north-east of Monte Santo, the mountain which in their May offensive the Italians captured but failed to hold.
A SATISFACTORY BEGINNING
Battle was joined yesterday morning early along the greater part of the Julian front. The preparatory bombardment lasted only 24 hours, but no such weight of artillery fire has hitherto been seen upon this front. Few details may be given as yet, but the bare facts noted in the bulletin are in themselves an indication of a satisfactory beginning.
On Saturday the weather was hot but clear, and, in spite of the rolling mists of smoke. a fair although intermittent view of the immense battlefield could be obtained. Yesterday a river fog filled the valley of the Isonzo and crept to the hills till well on in the afternoon, and the Carso was shrouded all day in a haze that was thickened and darkened by the endless up-spouting of innumerable shell-bursts. The vast extent of the fighting line and this gross cloud of darkness lent to the battle the appearance of something outside human agency, some dread convulsion of Nature. In the early morning the mist lay in the valleys like a level floor, that seemed scarcely disturbed by the havoc of shell-fire. But, as it thinned, the levels broke and the vaporous mass seethed and swirled like a witches’ brew.
BRIDGING THE ISONZO
On Saturday night, when darkness fell. the work of bridging began, and long before dawn it w as complete. Between Plava and a point some six miles to the north many bridges were thrown across the swift-rushing Isonzo. A number of troops were across before dawn, and, before the sun had topped the hills to the east large forces were established on the left bank of the river. The big trench mortars had done their work well, and the enemy defences near the river were smashed to bits. In places, too, the Austrian artillery was strangely silent - perhaps too much reliance had been placed on the machine-guns, which were very numerous - but at other crossings the shrapnel fire was very heavy. But nothing could stop the Italian infantry, and every battalion detailed for crossing reached the other side. Some bridges, naturally, were damaged, but quite enough remained and there was ample material ready for repair at the convenient moment. From Plava to the sea the enemy’s front line has practically disappeared, and, in spite of very strong resistance, our Allies are pressing closely upon the next defences.
As in the previous battle, the Austrian artillery is exceedingly powerful, and the weight of high explosive hailed upon the Carso seemed even greater than in May and June. The number of machine-guns has certainly largely increased. As I have said, it is too soon to give details, and it is much too soon to hazard conjectures. The Italian offensive has entered successfully upon its first phase. The men are in good heart and the leaders are confident.
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The first phase of Italy’s greatest offensive now seems to be closed, but heavy fighting continues in many parts of the long battle line. The operations now in progress, though apparently limited in extent, are necessary to the passage from this splendid first phase to the developments which it seems to render possible. On the Bainsizza Plateau the enemy has managed for the moment to stem the advance, though, in the first instance, the halt was due more to the impossibility of making guns, stores, and water keep pace with the infantry than to the actual resistance found after the first lines were pierced and outflanked. The inevitable slowness with which a modem army moves gave time for reserves to arrive - and bring wire with them.
Battle was joined yesterday morning early along the greater part of the Julian front. The preparatory bombardment lasted only 24 hours, but no such weight of artillery fire has hitherto been seen upon this front. Few details may be given as yet, but the bare facts noted in the bulletin are in themselves an indication of a satisfactory beginning.
On Saturday the weather was hot but clear, and, in spite of the rolling mists of smoke. a fair although intermittent view of the immense battlefield could be obtained. Yesterday a river fog filled the valley of the Isonzo and crept to the hills till well on in the afternoon, and the Carso was shrouded all day in a haze that was thickened and darkened by the endless up-spouting of innumerable shell-bursts. The vast extent of the fighting line and this gross cloud of darkness lent to the battle the appearance of something outside human agency, some dread convulsion of Nature. In the early morning the mist lay in the valleys like a level floor, that seemed scarcely disturbed by the havoc of shell-fire. But, as it thinned, the levels broke and the vaporous mass seethed and swirled like a witches’ brew.
BRIDGING THE ISONZO
As in the previous battle, the Austrian artillery is exceedingly powerful, and the weight of high explosive hailed upon the Carso seemed even greater than in May and June. The number of machine-guns has certainly largely increased. As I have said, it is too soon to give details, and it is much too soon to hazard conjectures. The Italian offensive has entered successfully upon its first phase. The men are in good heart and the leaders are confident.
https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/italys-great-offensive-bxc70vvwq?utm_source=newsletter&utm_campaign=newsletter_118&utm_medium=email&utm_content=118_November%2008,%202017&CMP=TNLEmail_118918_2489815_118
Italy’s great offensive
Yesterday afternoon, I watched the Italian grip tightening from a rocky perch 1,500ft above the Isonzo, a desolate crag that a golden eagle might have chosen for her nest before the war came
The first phase of Italy’s greatest offensive now seems to be closed, but heavy fighting continues in many parts of the long battle line. The operations now in progress, though apparently limited in extent, are necessary to the passage from this splendid first phase to the developments which it seems to render possible. On the Bainsizza Plateau the enemy has managed for the moment to stem the advance, though, in the first instance, the halt was due more to the impossibility of making guns, stores, and water keep pace with the infantry than to the actual resistance found after the first lines were pierced and outflanked. The inevitable slowness with which a modem army moves gave time for reserves to arrive - and bring wire with them.
On the eastern sector of the Bainsizza Plateau the enemy now have some four divisions in line, plus the shattered remnants of the 21st Schutzen, which, like the 106th Landsturm, left most of its effectives on the ground now occupied by our Allies. Another division faces the troops which have come across the southern outlet of the Chiapovano Valley, and all the comparatively low ground from San Gabriele down to the Carso is very strongly held.
The ground still favours the enemy. On the north-east corner of the Bainsizza it is broken, rocky, and wooded. Wire and machine-guns can hold up any advance until the defensive positions are flattened out by sheer weight of artillery fire. The steep, wooded eastern rim of the plateau rises well above the approaches to it, and here, too, time is absolutely necessary. Farther to the south the Italian advance, which came down from the north and turned Monte Santo, now, has the great upland of Ternova on its left front, and on its right front Monte San Gabriele still stands, battered but defiant, with Monte San Daniele echeloned back on its right, blocking the way to the movement which would cut in behind the Austrian positions east of Gorizia.
SAN GABRIELE BESET
Monte San Gabriele is closely beset. The Italians have long been a little way up its western slopes. Now they have come up from the Sella di Dol, that divides it from Monte Santo, and have gained a firm footing on its northern ridge. And trouble threatens from the east. Yesterday afternoon, from a distance of about 1,500 yards, I watched the Italian grip tightening. I watched from a rocky perch 1,500ft above the Isonzo, a desolate crag that a golden eagle might have chosen for her nest before the war came and populated the inaccessible places. I arrived a little before the hour of attack, and as we waited, a red-haired boy with a freckled face. who looked as though he ought to have come from Argyllshire, hummed “Che gelida Manina”.
The lower slopes of San Gabriele to the west were once green and wooded. Now for the most part they resemble the worst rubbish heaps of the Somme battlefield. Higher up you can distinguish one shell crater from another, and a little higher still, beneath the last rock slope, there are two patches of wood left almost untouched. And in the middle of one of them there is green grass.
All the pounding from the west had not forced the Austrians from the battered trenches and caverns of Santa Caterina or the line that runs above Hill 343 - itself a hateful mound of debris. But the fall of Monte Santo had let the Italians in with a rush over the Sella di Dol, and they had scaled the precipitous northern slope and tucked themselves in under shelter of the crest before the Austrians were well aware of how their flank had been turned. Now their task was to push along the lower ridge that runs north-west from the main peak, and, once forward, they could use the Austrians’ trench that ran along the crest as a communication trench.
AN ITALIAN RUSH
When I arrived yesterday the troops that were to attack were crouching in dead ground while our shells pounded the Austrian positions and the enemy sprayed a shrapnel barrage on the slopes where they judged the supports would be coming up. Suddenly the men went forward with a rush, dashed into the Austrian trench and out again over broken ground to the east. Machine-guns protested furiously, end there was a quick, sharp struggle with bombs, and men fell. Then little figures rose from their hiding places and ran forward with their hands up. Others had to be hunted out, but thev kept on coming in twos and threes. A very important part of the ridge had been torn from the enemy. The counter-attack would come in due course, but the attackers had won an admirable position, and the enemy would have to come over open ground to reach them. There was a little pause in the fight, and the eye turned to the prisoners. They were running for life, running from their own artillery, which doubled its shrapnel barrage and bumped big shells along the slopes as the position was lost. The wretched men came down the steep, broken slopes like goats, down to the Sella di Dol, and the fragments of stone which are all that remains of a roadside inn. Then down the winding road to the Isonzo. They must have run three miles before they came to safety and food and drink. And a number of them were caught by their comrades’ fire.
In due course the counter-attack came. A strong body of Austrians suddenly appeared over the crest from the eastern slope, where their caverns are, and drove head down at the new Italian line. In one minute field and mountain guns were on them. The ridge was blotted out; the attack was crushed, as a boot crushes a beetle, before it was even near the Italian line. As the smoke cleared away after a few minutes’ fire some figures could be seen running wildly back over the ridge. The Italians moved forward farther along the old Austrian trench, and began to repair the damage. And more men and still more came quietly up the steep northern slope, while Austrian shells fell vainly on another part of the tortured mountain. As I came away towards evening there was fighting in the low ground north-east of San Gabriele. The grip is tightening.
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There is no truce in the bitter struggle that has now been going on for 17 days. At first the whole front went on fire from Tolmino to the sea. Then slowly the actions on the wings burnt out for a moment, and in the centre the Italian advance leapt across the Bainsizza plateau and Gargaro valley like a prairie fire. Then the rushing flames slowed, and flickered, but new fires sprang up elsewhere, especially to the north-east of Gorizia, where for days the enemy positions have been hammered until bits of them have broken off and fallen into our hands.
Here there is still no slackening; the flames are rising higher to the north, and yesterday the whole southern Carso went ablaze. This time the enemy lit the fire. No doubt he thought that the magnificent drive of the Second Army under General Capello had been achieved at the expense of the Third Army on the Carso, and, mindful of the partial success of his counter-attack on the Carso in June, he chose the same part of the front for the blow which we have been expecting.
The ground still favours the enemy. On the north-east corner of the Bainsizza it is broken, rocky, and wooded. Wire and machine-guns can hold up any advance until the defensive positions are flattened out by sheer weight of artillery fire. The steep, wooded eastern rim of the plateau rises well above the approaches to it, and here, too, time is absolutely necessary. Farther to the south the Italian advance, which came down from the north and turned Monte Santo, now, has the great upland of Ternova on its left front, and on its right front Monte San Gabriele still stands, battered but defiant, with Monte San Daniele echeloned back on its right, blocking the way to the movement which would cut in behind the Austrian positions east of Gorizia.
SAN GABRIELE BESET
Monte San Gabriele is closely beset. The Italians have long been a little way up its western slopes. Now they have come up from the Sella di Dol, that divides it from Monte Santo, and have gained a firm footing on its northern ridge. And trouble threatens from the east. Yesterday afternoon, from a distance of about 1,500 yards, I watched the Italian grip tightening. I watched from a rocky perch 1,500ft above the Isonzo, a desolate crag that a golden eagle might have chosen for her nest before the war came and populated the inaccessible places. I arrived a little before the hour of attack, and as we waited, a red-haired boy with a freckled face. who looked as though he ought to have come from Argyllshire, hummed “Che gelida Manina”.
All the pounding from the west had not forced the Austrians from the battered trenches and caverns of Santa Caterina or the line that runs above Hill 343 - itself a hateful mound of debris. But the fall of Monte Santo had let the Italians in with a rush over the Sella di Dol, and they had scaled the precipitous northern slope and tucked themselves in under shelter of the crest before the Austrians were well aware of how their flank had been turned. Now their task was to push along the lower ridge that runs north-west from the main peak, and, once forward, they could use the Austrians’ trench that ran along the crest as a communication trench.
AN ITALIAN RUSH
When I arrived yesterday the troops that were to attack were crouching in dead ground while our shells pounded the Austrian positions and the enemy sprayed a shrapnel barrage on the slopes where they judged the supports would be coming up. Suddenly the men went forward with a rush, dashed into the Austrian trench and out again over broken ground to the east. Machine-guns protested furiously, end there was a quick, sharp struggle with bombs, and men fell. Then little figures rose from their hiding places and ran forward with their hands up. Others had to be hunted out, but thev kept on coming in twos and threes. A very important part of the ridge had been torn from the enemy. The counter-attack would come in due course, but the attackers had won an admirable position, and the enemy would have to come over open ground to reach them. There was a little pause in the fight, and the eye turned to the prisoners. They were running for life, running from their own artillery, which doubled its shrapnel barrage and bumped big shells along the slopes as the position was lost. The wretched men came down the steep, broken slopes like goats, down to the Sella di Dol, and the fragments of stone which are all that remains of a roadside inn. Then down the winding road to the Isonzo. They must have run three miles before they came to safety and food and drink. And a number of them were caught by their comrades’ fire.
In due course the counter-attack came. A strong body of Austrians suddenly appeared over the crest from the eastern slope, where their caverns are, and drove head down at the new Italian line. In one minute field and mountain guns were on them. The ridge was blotted out; the attack was crushed, as a boot crushes a beetle, before it was even near the Italian line. As the smoke cleared away after a few minutes’ fire some figures could be seen running wildly back over the ridge. The Italians moved forward farther along the old Austrian trench, and began to repair the damage. And more men and still more came quietly up the steep northern slope, while Austrian shells fell vainly on another part of the tortured mountain. As I came away towards evening there was fighting in the low ground north-east of San Gabriele. The grip is tightening.
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Austrian attacks on the Carso
The Austrians realize to the full the importance of their positions here, and they are putting up a magnificent fight
There is no truce in the bitter struggle that has now been going on for 17 days. At first the whole front went on fire from Tolmino to the sea. Then slowly the actions on the wings burnt out for a moment, and in the centre the Italian advance leapt across the Bainsizza plateau and Gargaro valley like a prairie fire. Then the rushing flames slowed, and flickered, but new fires sprang up elsewhere, especially to the north-east of Gorizia, where for days the enemy positions have been hammered until bits of them have broken off and fallen into our hands.
Here there is still no slackening; the flames are rising higher to the north, and yesterday the whole southern Carso went ablaze. This time the enemy lit the fire. No doubt he thought that the magnificent drive of the Second Army under General Capello had been achieved at the expense of the Third Army on the Carso, and, mindful of the partial success of his counter-attack on the Carso in June, he chose the same part of the front for the blow which we have been expecting.
He has fresh troops, of course. The situation on the Eastern front allows him to dispose of forces on which he ought not to have been able to rely, and this fact has once again enabled him not only to take his punishment, but to stand up and hit back. Yesterday he was hammering hard, and this morning he is at it again all the way from Kostanjevica to the sea. So far, however, he is not scoring any points. In two separate sectors yesterday he started in well, but in neither case was he able to hold on to his advantage.
South of Kostanjevica down to Korite there was give-and-take fighting for a long time, but in the end the Austrian left off where he began. South of Korite down to the Selo sector he could make no headway at all against the corps opposed to him. This corps has done great work during this battle, and it might well be given the nickname of the “Iron Division,” which was the name of one of those of the enemy which it put out of action in its advance on Selo a fortnight ago. On the foothills of the Hermada the Austrians gained an initial success in the morning of yesterday. but the line was re-established in the afternoon.
THE FIGHT FOR HERMADA
The mention of certain positions in the communique allows me to say what I could not say before, that during the first week’s fighting of this offensive our Allies practically reached that line on the Hermada slopes which they gained last May, but could not hold against the Austrian counter-blow in June. It is not a very satisfactory line for defence, but yesterday’s fighting seemed to show that it is serving fairly well. The Italian artillery and the British batteries who are with it rejoice in the Austrian counter-attacks. and it may be assumed that they took their toll of the enemy troops. Certain British batteries have made rather a specialty of this duty, and for one particularly neat piece of work which they accomplished a little time ago they received the special thanks of the commander of the corps to which they are attached.
We may not yet speak in any detail of the fighting north-east of Gorizia, but the number of prisoners shown in to-day’s communique as coming from that sector indicates plainly enough that things are going well. It is a tremendous struggle. The Austrians realize to the full the importance of their positions here, and they are putting up a magnificent fight. On one hill alone. to which they are clinging with desperate courage, they have had no fewer than 15 battalions. I say “have had,” for most of these stubborn fighters have been wiped nut. The Italian artillery fire has been appalling, and the infantry have shown all the qualities which it has taught us to expect.
The officer in charge of the British ambulance cars at Gorizia has been wounded by a high explosive shell on the road to Sella di Dol. between Monte Santo and Monte San Gabriele. His wounds happily are not serious. He has already received a medal for valour. He had his wounds dressed by the Italian medical officers at Salcano, with whom he has worked for so long, and he is now in the British hospital.
South of Kostanjevica down to Korite there was give-and-take fighting for a long time, but in the end the Austrian left off where he began. South of Korite down to the Selo sector he could make no headway at all against the corps opposed to him. This corps has done great work during this battle, and it might well be given the nickname of the “Iron Division,” which was the name of one of those of the enemy which it put out of action in its advance on Selo a fortnight ago. On the foothills of the Hermada the Austrians gained an initial success in the morning of yesterday. but the line was re-established in the afternoon.
THE FIGHT FOR HERMADA
We may not yet speak in any detail of the fighting north-east of Gorizia, but the number of prisoners shown in to-day’s communique as coming from that sector indicates plainly enough that things are going well. It is a tremendous struggle. The Austrians realize to the full the importance of their positions here, and they are putting up a magnificent fight. On one hill alone. to which they are clinging with desperate courage, they have had no fewer than 15 battalions. I say “have had,” for most of these stubborn fighters have been wiped nut. The Italian artillery fire has been appalling, and the infantry have shown all the qualities which it has taught us to expect.
The officer in charge of the British ambulance cars at Gorizia has been wounded by a high explosive shell on the road to Sella di Dol. between Monte Santo and Monte San Gabriele. His wounds happily are not serious. He has already received a medal for valour. He had his wounds dressed by the Italian medical officers at Salcano, with whom he has worked for so long, and he is now in the British hospital.
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