100 Years Ago - Piave battles

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/edition/register/home-rule-and-conscription-2z8qc3px5

june 21, 1918

Home rule and conscription

In the House of Lords tonight Lord Curzon indicated an important development in the Irish policy of the Government. He declared that in present circumstances it was out of the question to proceed with a Home Rule Bill which there was not a ghost of a chance of anyone accepting. If they could not have Home Rule, he added, they could not have conscription. The debate attracted a large attendance of peers, and several peeresses occupied seats in the side galleries. Mr Shortt, the Chief Secretary, and Sir Horace Plunkett, the Chairman of the Convention, listened from the steps of the Throne. Lord Londonderry opened by drawing attention to the inconsistencies of the Government, which cajoled Ireland at one moment and dragooned her the next. Lord Wimborne, Lord French’s predecessor as Lord Lieutenant, severely criticised ministers and suggested that conscription was now a physical impossibility. Lord Midleton urged the Government not to make the position more difficult by attempting to drive a Home Rule Bill through during the war.

Lord Curzon, replying, narrated the circumstances which had led the Government earlier in the year to adopt the separate policies of conscription and Home Rule for Ireland, and went on to the discovery in May of a formidable conspiracy of the leaders of the Sinn Fein movement with the enemy of this country. He explained how those revelations had occasioned in the Cabinet surprise and consternation. This new situation was accentuated by the fact that the attitude of every section of opinion about Home Rule had changed. His conclusion was that to proceed with the preparation of a Home Rule Bill and its introduction into Parliament would be a folly and almost amount to a crime. It was necessary in respect both to conscription and Home Rule not to abandon their policy or to change their front, but to recognize the facts and adjust their policy to them. Turning to Lord French’s appeal for voluntary recruits, Lord Curzon said that he would be surprised if the clergy did not come out on the side of this country in its present crisis. He intimated that the Government would put down boycotting, and would prohibit meetings likely to lead to a breach of the peace.
https://www.thetimes.co.uk/past-six-days/2018-06-20/register/the-british-stand-hnjjf3ghr

june 20, 1918

The British stand

The heaviest fighting during the last day and night has been round the new Austrian bridgehead on the Lower Piave, from which they are trying to strike out to reach Mestre. It is a lovely stretch of country, a land of the richest green with ample meadows and dense woods. Scattered up and down its remote lanes stand the great villas and castles of the old Venetian nobility.
The Austrians are not fighting cleanly in this offensive. The Italian General on the Montello sector told me that the enemy has been trying to push forward detachments dressed in Italian uniforms to mix with Italian troops. The same thing has occurred on the Lower Piave, where a number of Austrian spies in civilian clothes, trying to pass themselves off as Italian peasants, have been caught and shot. All the wounded I have talked to agree that explosive bullets have been used by the enemy. Many of the ghastly injuries to hands and legs could be due to no other cause. One wounded Italian even had a story of Austrians screening their machine-guns by sending unarmed men ahead pretending to be deserters.

The Northumberland Fusiliers and the Oxford and Bucks Light Infantry were in the line where the Austrian attack was heaviest. The two wings, outnumbered, fell back steadily, and fought a fierce three-sided battle among the dense pinewoods on the steep hillside. Machine-guns were not much good to either side amid so much timber, and the fighting was at close quarters with bomb and bayonet. A very gallant fight was put up by a small party that was surrounded, but fought its way back to the line. It consisted of an officer who was out with a detachment on patrol in No Man’s Land when the waves of Austrian attackers suddenly loomed up all round them through the morning mist. They fell back slowly, fighting all the way. At one point, the pressure being too great for them to move, the officer got his men into a trench and himself directed their defence from a tree into which he climbed. Not far away two crews of Austrian machine-gunners were setting up their weapons to open fire. The little party of British soldiers rushed both of them and killed the Austrians to a man. And so, steadily holding off the enemy, they got back at last to their own lines.


https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/austrians-unable-to-advance-zw65lcqq2

june 19, 1918

Austrians unable to advance

Smothering the front line trenches with their smoke shells the Austrians put off at 9 o’clock in the morning from Falze di Piave, and made a landing on the slopes of the hill. Masked by the smoke, more and more men trickled over, and began to press inland. Soon they had strung over a floating bridge, so that reinforcements could be brought over more quickly than by means of the boats floating crabwise down the swift stream. The Austrians fought their way up the hillside and down the southern slope. Here they made a junction with another landing party which had come across to Nervesa. They have not been able yet to bring guns on to their new position, and Italian counter-attacks are being delivered. The next sector where the enemy tried to gain a big bridgehead is in the neighbourhood of the double railway bridge Ponte di Piave. I followed this attempt from a command post in a house whose windows were closely shuttered in spite of the bright sun outside, because of the pungent tear gas with which the countryside was reeking. By runner, by telephone, news came through in snatches. We followed it with anxiety, for this attack was the direct push for Treviso, the objective which had been held out to the Austrians as the sure reward of their first day’s efforts. About 11 the Italian counter-attacks began. From that time all went well, the Austrians being pushed back to the river bank and held there. The third place where the enemy has thrust forward is from Fossalta, but he was checked last night by a strong counter-attack. This attack was intended to be pressed on towards Mestre, gaining possession of the flooded areas and lagoons that protect Venice.

The prisoners agree that this offensive has been forced on Austria by Germany, who refused, however, to contribute troops. The Austrian officers had stimulated their men by extravagant promises. The soldiers say they were told that they would win 10 miles of ground the first day, and after two more days’ fighting would enter “a beautiful city of the Venetian plain”. A message sent by a carrier pigeon which has fallen into the hands of the Italians says: “The situation is desperate; bearings are extremely difficult to take. Units are mixed up. Ammunition is wanting. Very heavy fighting. The attack is enormously difficult.”


https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/kaiser-and-british-intervention-7fmzkgd22


JUNE 18, 1918

Kaiser and British intervention

A Berlin telegram says that the Kaiser spent the anniversary of his accession to the Throne, June 15, with the Crown Prince and Prince Henry of Prussia at Main Headquarters. Field-Marshal von Hindenburg, warmly congratulating His Majesty, extolled the wise care of the Kaiser for peace during the first 26 years of his reign. “And if now,” he continued, “for almost four years the German people and the German Army have been able, in the face of a world of enemies, to show such proof of their strength and their right to existence as has never yet in history been demanded, they again owe this to their War Lord, who has indefatigably watched over his Army’s fighting efficiency. The envious grudge a place in the sun to people of such intellectual, creative and moral strength. The British Premier only recently dared to term Germany’s manly struggle under the Kaiser’s leadership against the Entente’s strangling attempt ‘a malignant disease, and a plague which must be rooted out’.”

Marshal von Hindenburg renewed his vow of unswerving loyalty till death in the name of Germany’s sons who, at the front, looked forward to a decisive struggle, and concluded: “May our old motto. ‘Forward, with God, for King and Fatherland, for Kaiser and Empire,’ result in many blessed years of peace being granted to his Majesty, after our victorious return home, years in which he will be surrounded by the affection and trust of his people.”
The Kaiser, replying, emphasized that from the first he had clearly realized the trials of war. The first outbreak of enthusiasm had not deceived him. The intervention of Great Britain had meant a world struggle, whether desired or not. It was not a matter of a strategic campaign, but a struggle of two world views, wrestling with one another. Either the German principles — right, freedom, honour, and morality — must be upheld or the Anglo-Saxon principles, with the idolatry of mammon, must be victorious. The Anglo-Saxon aimed at making the peoples of the world work as slaves for the Anglo-Saxon ruling race. Such a matter could not be decided in days or weeks, or even in a year. He thanked Heaven that it had placed Field-Marshal von Hindenburg and General Ludendorff as counsellors at his side.


https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/austrian-attack-on-italian-front-mm9z502rh

june 16, 1918

Austrian attack on Italian front

The long-expected Austrian attack upon the Italian front began on Saturday, and is now raging along the whole line of over 70 miles, from the Asiago plateau, where our soldiers are stationed, to the sea. It was delivered in great strength and pressed with much determination. Last night’s Italian report indicates that our Allies are gallantly holding their own. The large force employed by the enemy may be inferred from the fact that no fewer than four Austrian divisions were used in an attempt to dislodge the British contingent. After a brief semblance of success, it completely failed.
Favoured by the heavy mist and the configuration of the ground, the enemy at first penetrated the left of our position on a front of somewhat under a mile and a half to a depth of about a thousand yards. He was beaten off, and by nightfall we had driven him back on the left and returned to our original line. The French to our right appear to have had a similar experience. The greater part of the attack naturally fell upon the long front held by our Italian Allies. The outcome is given in General Diaz’s communique. The struggle is continuing with unabated fury, but his troops are holding firmly on the Asiago plateau, and are closely pressing the enemy infantry which had crossed the Piave.

The plan of the enemy seems to have been to press down the Brenta valley and the Val di Stagna and so to break into the plain of Vicenza by way of Bassano, and at the same time to force his way across the Piave. His “initial rush,” as General Diaz calls it, enabled him to carry a few front line positions both on the mountain and on the river lines.
There is nothing novel about this scheme. What is new is the unprecedented scale. It will be interesting to see what effects the battle may have upon the acute internal problems which are pressing upon the framework of the Dual Monarchy. It is a desperate attempt to keep up the waning spirits of such elements of the population as still remain faithful to the established institutions of the State. While Austria-Hungary is torn by controversies which threaten widespread insurrections, the Italian people are meeting the ordeal to which they are exposed with a unity and a calm courage that make us prouder than ever of our Allies.


https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/enemy-brought-to-a-halt-39jhq82j0

june 15, 1918

Enemy brought to a halt

Looking back on the week, which has been one of considerable anxiety, one may say that the offensive which began on Sunday, though it has brought the enemy to within about five miles of Compiègne and farther east has seen the French retire from the salient between the Oise and the Aisne, has been, on the whole, a decided disappointment to the German High Command. It has lasted a shorter time than any of the others, and has resulted in a much smaller advance. For the moment this particular road to Paris is barred.
There is a note of satisfaction in Paris today at the turn events have taken. No one is foolish enough to imagine that the enemy will accept as final this check to his operations, but the idea is generally expressed in the Press that he will seek out some other point for his next blow. Arrangements for the defence of Paris and for its possible evacuation are, nevertheless, being pushed forward. The authorities have already removed to safety the greater part of the national art collections. The galleries of the Louvre have for the most part become empty corridors, with here and there the great bulk of some sandbagged statue. The Venus of Milo has gone, the Winged Victory is covered with sandbags, and the vaulted cellars are filled with a mixed company of antiquities.

Documents in French hands point eloquently to the sanguinary nature of the Montdidier-Noyon battle. The finest “shock” troops of the enemy have suffered badly, some units have been wiped out, and the reserves have been cut into so freely that the Crown Prince has had to borrow divisions from his Bavarian cousin. One of these documents runs as follows: “State of losses of the 11th company, 34th Regiment, June 11, 7pm, remaining in front line — one officer, three non-commissioned officers, and eight men. State of losses of the 10th company, 34th Regiment, same date, trench effectives — one officer, one non- commissioned officer, and three men, remainder dead, wounded, or missing. Fighting effectives — one officer, one non-commissioned officer, and six men, with one light machine-gun. I have run out of munitions and grenades. The enemy is 100 yards from us. I beg urgently for reinforcements and munitions.”