FIGHT FOR PASUBIO.
THREE DAYS' STRUGGLE,
BRITISH ADVANCE ON BAPAUME.
THE HONGKONG DAILY PRESS, MONDAY, NOVEMBNA 201a, 1916.
[TROM "THE TIMES" MILAN CORDESPONDENT IN FRONT OF GERMAN FOURTH
VICENZA, Oct. 17th. Perbup on no front of the Allies is it possible so to harass the enemy as ou the Italian. The great longth of the line defended, together with the special exigencies of the defence, which vary at cording to altitude, and the fact that the Austrians are especially fearful of Italian pressure at a half-dozen different points, keeps them in uncertainty and obliges them to hold an abundance of reserves everywhere. They have bad to rush troops to the Cargo, the Dolomites,
POSITION.
OFFICIAL REVIEW OF PROGRESS.
FOOD PRICES. PLEA FOR FURTHER STATE?»
CONTROL.
MR. RUNCIMAN ON SHIPPING. There was an extremely interesting, The following telegraphic dispatch, dated food prices in the House of Commons on though somewhat inconclusive, debate on Outobar 19th, giving & summary of recent October 17th. The Government were free- operations, has been issued by Generally criticized for their cautious handling Headquarters in Franco
of an admittedly complex question, and the account of the operations on the their policy of controlling supplies to The summary of October 3rd brought several members urged them to extend Somme battlefield down to the last day commodities which they have not yet of September. By that day we had ad- touched. Mr. Runciman, however, had vanced well beyond the crest of the main ridge which runs from Thiepval to Saily-rationing, and defined the policy of no changes of Government policy to an nounce. He declared strongly against Saillisel.
the Government as the provision of plenty and the prevention of exploitation.
The debate was opened, fittingly
develop his argument for stronger Gov- erminent action. He contended that, speaking generally, the Government had moved so haltingly that most of the opposing interests had been given time to neutralize largely the benefits which ing to his subject, ho insisted that specu would have accrued to the public. Warm lators had been fining their pockets with the pickings of the poor man's loaf Nothing, he exclaimed: had so angered the people as the enormous profits made out of their poor unless it were the shame less excuses put up for them by Govern ment spokesmen.
GERMANY'S DWINDLING MAN- POWER. MYTH OF A BIG STRATEGICAL ARMY RESERVE,
respondent with the French armies of Mr. Henry Wood, the permanent cor the United Press Association of America, recently sent to his agency at New York an article in which he says:··
Following the encrifice of over 300,000 reduced at the present moment to such a sustained on the Somme, Germany is men at Verdun, and the terrible losses scarcity of men that she has only three divisions, or about 48,000 men, left for being held in reserve by her not exceed precisely the same condition, the troops her strategical reserve. Austria is in ing three divisions, This information, my disposition to-day to refute the claims with supporting evidence, was placed at
strategical army, which will be flung a where they wish to engage & a given moment on the particular point battle.
decisive
and the Trentino at one and the sanie time. Last week's advance in the Trentino, while the result achieved in
From the line hold the ground slopes small, is really of very great importance.orth-westward from near Bailly-Baillisel enough, from the Labour benches. There made recently by Germany and Austria territory and in prisoners is relatively gently to a shallow valley which runs In the Arst place, it gave the Italians to about 2,000 yards south of Bapaume, waa à large House to hear Mr. Barnes that they are holding in reserve a large | that domination on Mount Pasubio and then turas westward, and joins the which is absolutely essential for the scop valley of the river Anero at Miraumont, From the main Thiepval Morval ridge ing of what has already been won. Also it has removed from Austrian observation series of long well-marked spurs run for 10 miles important roads, and com-
down to the valley described above. The pletely freed at last the Vallarss, whose important of these is the hammer- scraping up hit by bit" Signor Bat-headed spur immediately west of Flers, tisti described in one of his last letters.
at the western extremity of which stands When the tide of the Austrian inva-the tumulus called the Butte de Warlen- sion rolled back at the end of June its court. Lying across the main trend of the margin became fixed on the crest of the ground, another well-marked spur runs Pasubio, an enormous and irregular group from Morval north towards Thilloy, of mountains, of which the Italians re- passing 1,000 yards east of Guenecourt. mained in possession of the highest peak, fourth position, to get within assaulting Bebind this spur lies the German but all the northern summits and the to distance of which it was necessary to of the whole central ridge called the Cosmagnon Alps remained to the enemy. These wore held as intermediate positions carry Le Bars and these two spure was from this ridge that they dominated the Vallares, and their first by the enemy, every advantage being line tronches were on its edge. Fifteen taken of sunken roads, buildings, and yards below them the Italiang had bur- the undulating nature of the country. rowed in somehow and had hung on until
DOW
THE STRUGGLE AT EAUCOURT.
On September 29th we carried Destre With the oncoming of winter, bowever, and the avalanches their hanging on mont Farm, 300 yards south-west of Le became altogether too problematic, For Bars and just north of the Albert wecks the weather prevented action Bapaume Road. On the afternoon of through some meteorological phenomenon. October 1st we advanced our line on a When it is fair below in the plain front of 3,000 yards, occupying the Pasubio is crowned with dense fogs, and buildings of Eaucouré l'Abbaye, 1,400 wice versa. Finally, the summits reveal yards to the south-east of Le Sars. The ed themselves clear against the sky. The struggle in this neighbourhood continned careful preparation had passed unab with great severity during the night, and served of the enemy, and during the early in the morning of October 2nd the aight of the 8th inst., with increased in-enemy had rogained a footing in the tensity at dawn of the sth inst., the place. During the whole of the next artillery attacked on the whole line for day and night the battle fluctuated, but several miles. The enemy remained non- by the following morning we had plussed, not knowing where to send his succeeded in finally clearing the build
ings of the enemy.
reserves.
WORK OF THE COMBERA.
Among the concrete suggestions Mr. Barnes put forward was the fixing of the the supply of milk at a reasonable price, price of bread and the maintenance of While on the subject of milk, he asserted that a farmers association in the West of England had encouraged its members to give milk to their pigs rather than send it to market, and that an East Anglian dairy farmor bad ordered as much as 30 gallons a day to be thrown down a drain. Ho recommended penal treatment for such cases, and put forward Food Minister. the conclusion that we ought to have a
THE LABOUR PROBLEM,
With the entranco of Roumania into the war Germany was without reserves sary to meet this freah emergency. Ger- for the formation of new divisions neces- many solved the problem by cutting down her divisions from four to three regiments, and using the regiments thus disengaged for the new divisions to bo sent against Boumania. As a conse quence, of the 103 divisions of which the German army is composed at the present moment, 117 have been reduced to three formation of four regiments; while the regiments. 7 still retain their original remaining 19 regiments have a special variable formation. On the classes of 1916, 1017, and 1918 heavy drafts have already been made, and the older classes, such as those of 1889 and 1800, which the Chancellor in his address to the Erich- tag on September 11th promised would no longer be called upon, are now un- dergoing a fresh revision.
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by large elements in the House, was not
This straight talking, though cheered THE LAST OF THEEMDEN.» to the liking of all. Captain Charles Bathurst, for instance, speaking for the
MR CLUNY ROSS AND agricultural interest, protested against
AUSTRALIA'S CLAIMS, Mr. Barnes' allegations of deliberate waste of milk. He warned members that
When the cruiser Emden disappeared the country was approaching a serious from Germany's fighting fleet, says the crisis in the home production of food Nawal und on account of lack of labour, and pleaded Australians expressed themselva, anxious Military Record, the for the temporary release of men not im-to salve her. She was a ship with a of manitions, mediately required as soldiers or makors famous career, and she was, moreover, the first vessel which any unit of the the war, All hope of bringing the ship Australian naval forces engaged during to Sydney has now been abandoned. Since she was defeated, wind and sea have played havoc with this ruinous TJIKINI ship; from week to week she has been exposed to varying weather, with the and, according to the latest letters from result that eventually she broke in two, North Keeling Island, only the bow, extending from the stem to the second funnel, now remains. Mr. Cluny Rosa, island, has been actively engaged in who is the absolute proprietor of the salving the ship's armament and Attings, and in due course relics will probably be exhibited in Australia, if not in Great Britain.
On October 6th we won the Mill north west of Eaucourt Abbaye. On the afternoon of October Tib, in conjunction the same sense, but from a different Mr. George Lambert, speaking in much with the French on our right, we attached political angle, made some amusing hits. on a wide front between the Albert-Discussing the deficiency of labour in the Bapaume road and Lesboeufs. We drove country districts, he observed that it was the enemy from Le Bars, carrying posi- far easier to find a substitute for a tions also to the cast and west of that Cabinet Minister than for an experi- village after severe fighting. Gueudecourt and Lesboeufs we forced our a dairyman to the effect that, if many Betweentenced carter. He quoted the remark of way forward from 600 to 1,000 yards. The more men were taken from his industry. period since that date has been occupied He, too, sounded a warning: note, An milk would become as dear as nort winn in winning ground letween Le Sarı and Leabouts up the slopes of the low experienced friend of his estimated that ridges already mentioned. In the area by as least 25 per cent, during the coming the area under what would be decreased between Thiepval and Le Bars we have year. A second Labour speaker, Mr. made steady progress, and have grada Anderson, sounded a new note. He told ally won a series of strong pusitions.
the Government that unless they did prices, but to bring them down, they something, not merely to steady food would have to face very considerable wage movements in the coming winter.
Bombs were employed in great num becs, and are found to be even more effective here than on the Cargo, the friable rock breaking into millions of fragments under the explosion,
In the afternoon à demonstrative attack in the Vallarma carried the line ahead some 400 yards and at half-past 3 the principal attack carried the trenches of the crest (Cosmagnon Alps), together with the summit called Lora. The arduous mountaineering feat of arriving on the mountain's overhanging brow was accomplished on rope ladders by In fantry Alpino and Bersaglieri. The Iatter arma, which has had little scope for its particular qualities during the treach war, has lately won many fresh longed, the enemy has resisted stubborn. The fighting has been heavy and pro- Innrols and found service for its tradi-ly until surrounded in one place after tional dash and audacity in friendly another, and large numbers of prisoners emalation of the Alpini on the high have fallen inte our hands. During peaks.
this period we have had to repel repeat The line onte brought over the crest, ed counter-attacks. Generally the battle raged furiously on the moun-
were stopped by tain top. The Austrians, with their machine-gun fire, but when they did our artillery and undoubted military science, had can succeed in forcing a way through the stracted magnificent caverns and dug barrage and reaching our lines they outs, and made them as impregnable were thrown back by our infantry rifle as their long residence permitted. Their ure with heavy losses. On only one or resistance was specially keen around the two occasions did they manage to regain fearful natural fortification called the a footing in a trench, and then they Tooth, consisting of spires and slender wore promptly driven out again with the ledges and abounding in caverns. The Toosh still remains in part to the Aus-
bayonet. triana. From the first day the Alpini have scaled part of it and still stick
there.
the
AUSTRIANS FELTED WITH ROCKS.
trench raids.
these
Outside the Summe battlefield our troops have shown greet activity in Between Ypres and Loos over raids have been carried out, in which we have secured many prisoners and inflicted heavy casualties.
AIRCRAFT AND ARTILLERY WOBE,
traste
One of the most remarkabla con
which this
War presents
to all former wars is the absence of
and not a single navy is the stronger destroyed, but few have been captured. men-of-war prizes. Ships have been
the
MR. BUNCIMAN'S REPLY three hours before Mr. Runoiman made The debate had run its course, for
an hour, and dealt in the main with the syses result of a vessel of an enemy reply for the Government. He spoke for
guate questions of the control of sup pies, the rise in prices, and the war general principles underlying the three passing into it in effective condition.
uc uses of our matreutile marine. He put NINE WOMEN OUT OF TEN. true explanation of a great deal of the forward the general proposition that the rise in prices was than the consuming capacity of our people had gone up, while women out of every ten are victims of It is an unfortunate fact that nine the sources of supply had been curtailed. bloodlessness in one form He declined to accept any of the novel The girl in her teens, the wife, remedies suggested by this critics, although mother, the matron of middle-age-all or another. he conceded that on the milk question a know its miseries: To be anamic means good deal could be done by letting all your are breathless after any slight exer those engaged in the trade realize that tion. You feel worn out and depressed the Government had its eye on them.all day. You turn against food He brushed aside the proposal for a
and Minister of Food by recalling that one of At night, if you do sleep, you are not cannot digest what little you do cat his correspondents had pleaded for the refreshed, and when it is time to get appointment of a "Minister of Gastro- you feel exhausted and unfit for the day's up nomic Munitions."
Similarly Mr. Runciman gave no guar-
duties. If neglected, aummia may lead adopted in the case of meat. At this taking Dr, Williams' pak pills, the
on to consumption. new measures would be Make good the fault in your
Act promptly,
by point Sir Edward Carson rose and asked most reliable blood enricher ever dis the Minister point blank if he had covered. These pills purify bad blood evidence of any exploitation. Mr. Run they strengthen weak blood and they not the feast evidence of exploitation you will be better for your food; you will ciman replied emphatically that he had make good blood. After a short course mant had evidence, they had statutory womanly charm will be increased, and as with regard to meat. If the Govern-be brighter and more active powers and would not hesitate to use you continue with Dr. Williams pink Your
ment had spent altogether over £60,000,000 enjoy hfe as fully as every woman should them. He pointed out that the Govern pills you will regain proper strength and in the purchase of meat, and declared do that the meat control, so far as it had Start Dr. Williams' pink pills for pale gone, had been effective." fresh light to throw on the scheme for the strong. Most dealers call them also, He had no people to-day and begin to get well and the Government for its cautious steps in from Dr. Williams Medicine Co., 95, control of wheat importa, and defended post free, 1 bottle $1.50, 6 bottles $8, the mattter, on the ground that our Szechuan Road, Shanghai, that a mistake in handling the matter address for the helpful free guide, “Plain margin of safely was not too large and FREE Send a postcard to the above
One of the spectacular sights of the day was an Alpino perched on his spire of The captured during the fortnight the Tooth, who kept the Austrian bring the total prisoners in the Somme machine gunners from their task, pelting battle since the beginning of July to them with rocks every time they set to 29,918, and in the action of October 7th work. The first day and the whole of one division alone, which had previouslyantee that
bright moonlight night which had many daye of hard fighting, took followed all the first-line troops and the eiglit officers and 474 other ranks. immediate reserves were successively met and beaten. So successful had been the demonstrative attacks that it was only 20 hours after the action opened that operations reviewed has been consistently The weather during the course of the the reserves began to arrive en masse unfavourable for aircraft. Heavy rains. These troops arriving at the danger and strong south-westerly winds have point on the 10th, met the Italian rein lowered the visibility and have rendered forcements, only to find their masters.
The fighting all took place on the of such adverso conditions, our machines their work most difficult. Yet, in spite rolling surface of the Cosmignon Alps have made many valuable reconnaissances
closed in by the barrage fire both sides under the dazzling sky, but enemy lines of communications, ammu- on and have repeatedly attacked with success with the world below completely shut nition dumps, and troops on the move. off by Mt. Pasubio's crown of clouds. A captured document emanating from Barapnel and shell disappeared in the German Army Headquarters, in acknow ocean of clouds. At the end of the day ledging the superiority of the British the whole plateau, two and a half by five nirmen, suggests methods of reorganiza miles, had been freed and held, and, after tiun whereby it is hoped that "it will might bring the supply below the danger Talks to Women further and decisive fighting on the 11th, be possible, at least for some hours, to line. the Italians bad carried their lines to contest the supremacy in the air of the*** the foot of Mt. Roite, the farthest border enemy." of Coamagnon..
During the three days' progress of the
Assisted by our. aeroplanes, our artil action the airmen spied, bombarded, and lery has continued to play a notable protected, and contributed grently to the part in the fighting, It has established successful advance.
and maintained a clear superiority over Yesterday in a village of the plain that of the enemy. It has supported our below the great Pasubio I saw the, 600 infantry attacks and has disorganised prisoners, a pledge of victory, march the enemy's arrangements behind his down the valley. On the greensward front lines and hindered the arrival of were two generals and a guard of honour is reserves and supplies. It allows him of Bersaglieri and Alpini who had cap no res by day or night and materially tared them. Great was the festivity of assists in that wearing down of his the little town. All the fighting had moral which is vital to success in battle. taken place on Austrian soil, but On many occasions during the period Pasubio and the whole of Pasubio is neces under review the battle has resolved itself sary to the defence of these valleys, and into isolated struggles. Both in the proof of it is seen in this war. The joy and in the main advances our infantry of the victors was sugmented by the fact have shown their wonted endurance and that the prisoners were Kaiserjägers, and devotion. Captured documents bear clear that there are very few Kaiserjägers left, testimony to the effect of our continuous and to win in the Trentino fighting needs artillery fire and to the dash and discip those who are used to Trentino moun- line of our infantry attacks and the
quality of our men.
tains.
CONTROLLED SHIPPING.
Mr. Runcimen concluded his speech
That
with a very interesting review of the a deficiency. We were doing our best to shipping operations. of the Government, put vessels into the water as quickly sa in the course of which he gave several new we could, but the House should remen- and important facts. He pointed out ber that we had. actually lost by enemy that the bulk of the mercantile marine action and by marine risks 2,000,000 gross small part of the controlled shipping, or more than the whole mercantile marine was under control; that all, except a tons of shipping since the war began, was running at Blue-book rates; that the of France, or Spain, or Italy. was running al fixed rates, which hors dead weight. remainder of the controlled shipping loss represented nearly 3,000,000 tons. no relation to the open market rate; that His contention was that the importans only a small fraction was running at thing was to provide plenty in the coun- free rates; and that of this only three-try. It was not possible for prices to be score were bringing foodstuffs. He claim leit altogether to care for themselves, but ed that, if those facts had been known the one thing we ought to avoid was to a great deal of the hubbub outside would put ourselves into the position of a of the effect of freights on food prices, ever. So he would not bear of bread he said that, whereas the price of meat tickets, meat coupons and such artifcial have been subdued. As an illustration blockaded people from any case what- appeared to have increased by id to bd., arrangements, for they were harmful to only thres eighths of a penny of that those who had the least with which to had gone in additional freight He buy. We wanted, he said in conclusion, argued that the real thing from which to avoid any “ rationing" of our people we were suffering now in shipping was in food. Zimes.
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