n 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.
The Task of Italy
[By a Special Correspondent of The London Morning Post]
Cormons, July 1.
The Italian battle for the conquest of the fortified lines on the
Isonzo and the entrenched camps of Gorizia is one of the most
important in the European conflict. The battle of the
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