On July 23, after two months of her war against Austria, an
appraisement may be taken of Italy's extensive and
business-like preparation for the conflict. Rapidly the
passes leading to the Trentino, Carinthia, Friuli, and the
valley of the Isonzo were secured, almost over night; and
then, with the regularity of a railway time-table, the
Italians began their hard, patient work, in hitherto
impassable regions, of neutralizing the Trentino, so as to
make impossible an invasion from that territory, and of
linking up their columns along the Isonzo, so that now, at
the beginning of August, a battle-front of seventy-five
miles extending from Tarvis to the Adriatic, is ready to
move eastward in the direction of Klagenfurt, beyond which
there are no Austrian fortifications until Vienna is
reached, 170 miles away--about as far as Cape Cod is from
New York City. The right flank of this battle-front has been
developed along the Carso plateau so as to neutralize, as
the Trentino was neutralized, the Peninsula of Istria with
the great commercial port of Trieste, the naval base of
Pola, and the Hungarian Free City of Fiume.
The Italian field of activity saw during the week ended July 24 the
blazing out of the Italian offensive. Italy apparently was then
satisfied that all the passages by means of which Austria could pour
troops to attack her rear are effectively stopped and has therefore
begun a determined advance along the Isonzo front from Tarvis to the
Adriatic, with the object of breaking down completely Austria's first
defensive screen. The battle is, as is natural, centring around
Gorizia.
Once Gorizia falls, the Italian problem in so far as Trieste is
concerned, will be near solution. The Italians have made notable
advances in Cadore and along the Isonzo, on the plateau of Carso. But
Gorizia must be taken before a decided local victory can be recorded.
The fighting has not progressed as yet to the point where definite
information is available, but in late July it seemed to have reached
the culminating stage. The surroundings of Gorizia, which is the key
to the Isonzo district and the junction of five main roads and four
main railway lines, are protected with all manner of fortifications.
The official report from Rome on June 25 recorded the Italian
occupation of Globna, north of Plava, and of the edge of the plateau
between Sagrado and Monfalcone. From that date reports from Vienna
recorded continuous and heavy Italian attacks from the bridgehead at
Goritz to the sea. The correspondent of the Berliner Tageblatt at the
Isonzo front reported on July 7 that the second great Italian
offensive had forced its way into the Austrian line at Podzora--a
height covering the bridgehead at Goritz--and at Vermegliano, between
Doberdo and Monfalcone. A Geneva dispatch, dated July 14, reported the
capture by the Italians of two miles of trenches in the Carnic Alps,
the Alpine troops dragging their artillery to an altitude of 6,600
feet near Roskopel, and capturing to the south of Gorizia two
important forts. On July 16 a dispatch from Rome told of a war council
at the front held by King Victor Emmanuel and Premier Salandra, with
Count Cadorna, Chief of the General Staff, and General Porro, his
chief assistant. A Vienna official dispatch of that date reported
increased artillery activity in the coast district and in Carinthia.
Two passes at a height of over 10,000 feet were taken by the Italians
at Venerodolol and Brizio, as reported July 17, and on July 18 they
began an advance in Cadore, attacking a ring of powerful forts at a
great height at Paneveggio, San Pelegrino, Monet, Livinallongo, and
Tresassi, while Goritz was shelled from land and air.
[Illustration: The Austro-Italian frontier, the scene of the
fighting.]
Then began, on July 20, a great general Italian assault on a 75-mile
line from Tarvis to the Adriatic shore. A dispatch from Turin from the
correspondent of The London Daily Chronicle announced a victorious
advance by the Italians on the Carso plateau, east of Sagrado, with
the capture of 2,000 Austrian prisoners. The War Office in Rome
reported on July 21 that while the Italian defense continued to
develop energetically in Cadore, and the artillery was effectively
working in Carnia, the struggle in the Isonzo zone continued with
increasing intensity. Toward Goritz the Italians gained part of the
line of the heights which form the right bank of the river commanding
the town and the Isonzo bridges. On the Carso Plateau the Austrians
were reported driven from some trenches, and 3,500 prisoners and much
material captured. On July 22 the fall of Goritz and Tolmino was
reported to be near, the War Office in Rome announcing a development
of the offensive "along the whole front from Monte Nero to the Carso
Plateau. Vienna reported that the heavy attacks were being repulsed.
But on July 23 the official report from Rome for the first time
declared that the Italian armies in the battle along the whole Isonzo
front were achieving success," which was "constantly becoming more
clearly apparent." On July 24 a dispatch from Udine said that General
Cadorna was personally directing the battle in the presence of King
Victor Emmanuel and the Duke of Aosta. A Milan dispatch to The London
Daily News on July 25 reported the evacuation of Goritz by the
Austrian General Staff in view of the imminence of its fall. Below
appears a prospective account of Italy's formidable task, written on
July 1 by an Italian correspondent of The London Morning Post.