Vittorio Veneto.
cooperation with the left wing of the French Armee d'Orient. After the occupation of Fieri and Berat, Gen. Ferrero's corps suffered a setback owing to the enemy's strong reenforcements, while his own effectives had been greatly depleted by fever, but it subsequently contributed to the success of the Macedonian offensive in September. In the latter operation Gen. Mombelli's contingent played a useful part. During the summer of 1918 preparations were being made for an Italian offensive on the Asiago plateau and in the Pasubio sector. But a vaster general offensive was also being prepared with the object of completely breaking the Austrian front. Events in France rendered any help to Austria from Germany improbable, while the surrender of Bulgaria constituted a new menace to the Dual Monarchy from the south-east. The army under Gen. Diaz comprised 51 Italian, 3 British, 2 French and one Czechoslovak divisions and one U. S. regiment. The attacking force consisted of 22 divisions divided into four armies, of whom one was commanded by Gen. the Earl of Cavan and another by the French Gen. Graziani; the two Italian army commanders were Gens. Caviglia and Giardino. The total enemy forces amounted to 73 j divisions, but they were inferior in artillery. The offensive known as the battle of Vittorio Veneto began on Oct. 24 a year and a day after the beginning of the Caporetto disaster. By Nov. 3, " what had been one of the most powerful armies in the world," as Gen. Diaz's victory communique states, " was annihilated." Some 600,000 prisoners, 7,000 guns and an immense quantity of material of all kinds were captured the biggest haul of the whole war. The same day, at Villa Giusti, near Padua, an armistice between the Italian and Austro-Hungarian armies was signed. By its terms the enemy troops were to evacuate not only all Italian territory, but also all the territory assigned to Italy by the Treaty of London, and all Italian prisoners were to be liberated without reciprocity. At the moment it was signed the Italian troops were well beyond the old frontier in the western and central sectors of the front; Rovereto, Trento and the Val Sugana were occupied; and a column, descending the Val di Sole, was rapidly approaching Bozen. The enemy had also been driven out of a large part of the province of Belluno and most of the Friuli, while the city of Trieste had been occupied by troops under Gen. Petitti di Roerto transported by sea from Venice. The armistice went into force on the 4th, and on that day Cividale, Cervignano, Grado, Aquileia and Gorizia were reoccupied, and detachments landed at Monfalcone, various Istrian ports, Zara and on the islands of Lussin, Lagosta, Maleda and Curzola. There had been at first no intention of occupying Fiume, but it was done at the urgent appeal of the inhabitants, who were in fear of violence at the hands of the Croat bands.
Meanwhile the Armistice of Nov. 1 1 with Germany was being concluded in France, as the result of events there, to which the victory of Vittorio Veneto had been an important contribution. For Bavaria was now open to the Italian armies. The first difficulty with which Italy was confronted immediately after her armistice with Austria was the handling of the enormous and unexpected number of enemy prisoners, to which were added the very numerous Italian prisoners who had been suddenly set free, or had freed themselves, without any arrangements for their food or transport ; a considerable number who had been employed in Hungary, Rumania, Bulgaria and South Russia came pouring down into Macedonia, taxing to the uttermost the very limited resources of Gen. Mombelli's force. It was also urgently necessary to provide food, seed corn, cattle and clothing for the inhabitants of the liberated territories, whom the Austrians had plundered of everything. The problem of the prisoners was rapidly and efficiently handled, and in a comparatively short time the Italian prisoners were repatriated, although not a few of them, especially those in the Balkans, died of starvation and exhaus- tion on the way home. The question of the terre liberate proved far more serious; a special ministry was created for it, but in 1921 much still then remained to be done before those prov- inces could.be restored to normal conditions.
The Armistice.
Occupation of Italia Irredenta.
Italian Losses.
After Vittorio Veneto the Italian troops occupied the whole territory assigned to Italy by the Pact of London, and also certain other points beyond the line for the main- tenance of order. Troops landed at Pirano and Muggia on Nov. 5, and a naval division entered Pola harbour the same day; Bozen in Tirol and Sebenico in Dal- matia were occupied on the 6th, and on the loth the north- ernmost limit of the line arranged with Austria, the Brenner pass, was reached. The Duke of Aosta, commanding the III. Army, entered Trieste, where he established his H.Q., and on the same day a detachment under Gen. di San Marzano, together with a U.S. battalion, entered Fiume. On the .2 2nd the greater part of the former Austro-Hungarian mercantile fleet, which had taken shelter in the Prokljan lagoon near Sebenico, was taken over by Italian warships. Innsbruck and Landeck, at the request of the local authorities, were occupied on the 23rd for the maintenance of order, while on the 24th Italian patrols reached the high peaks of the Vetta dTtalia and the Pizzo dei Tre Signori, where they planted the Italian flag. The final settlement of Italy's new frontiers was of course a matter for the Peace Conference to decide.
The extremely heavy losses suffered by Italy in the war materially influenced public opinion in the country during the discussion of the peace terms, for it was generally felt that in the other Allied countries these losses were not adequately appreciated, neither in their absolute nor in their relative importance. With a total pop. of about 38,000,000 inhabitants (including the African colonies) Italy had mobilized 26 classes, or 5,615,000 men. Her losses in men were 496,921 killed (of whom 15,500 were officers) and 949,576 wounded (slightly wounded not included); of these 219,145 remained permanently disabled. The killed alone represent I- 3% of the population. The fact that Italy entered the war 10, months later than the other Powers makes her percentage of losses still more significant.
Italy's territorial claims had been set forth in the Pact of London, although certain Nationalist elements aspired to somewhat wider lands. The reasons for Italy's aspirations, as stated in the memorandum presented by the Italian Delegation to the Pans Conference on claims. Feb. 7 1919, may be summarized as follows:
1. The Trentino. This was a purely Italian province, whose inhabitants had always demanded union with Italy; on this point there was no controversy.
2. The Alto Adige. The upper valleys of the Adige and its affluents as far as the Brenner were necessary for Italy's strategic security, and although they contained a German pop. of 180,000, it would be very difficult to find a possible geographical frontier south of the Brenner. This was one of the cases in which geographical considerations prevailed over purely ethnical ones.
3. The Venezia Giulia. This territory comprised the city and district of Trieste, Gorizia-Gradisca, Istria and certain adjoining districts of Carinthia and Carniola. The total pop. was 893,000; according to Austrian statistics 48 % were Italian, 32 % Slovenes and 20% Croats, but these figures were, as is well known, doctored to make the Italians appear less numerous, while the Slav element had been largely increased in recent times by the importation of numbers of Slovene officials and workmen for the Government services, rail- ways and State industries, always with the object of reducing the Italian percentage. On the other hand, the numerous Italian citizens permanently settled in the Venezia Giulia, although included in the total population, did not affect the Italian official percentage, being aliens, although they would affect it under Italian rule; if they were included the total of Italians would be 482,000 to 411,000 Slavs. Furthermore, even under Austrian rule, 70% of the total population lived in communes administered by Italian councils.
4. Dalmatia. In this province the majority of the population was Slav. According to Austrian statistics, out of a total of 645,000 inhabitants only 18,000, or 3 %, were Italians. According to Italian statistics the proportion of Italians amounted to 10% of the total. All the Dalmatian deputies to the Reichsrat were Slavs, and so were all the communes except Zara. But in 1861 the Diet comprised 30 Italians and 13 Slavs, and in 1869 seven Reichsrat deputies were Italians and two Slavs. The whole civilization, traditions, manners and customs of Dalmatia were undoubtedly Italian rather than Slav, and until after 1866, when Austria inaugurated her policy of fomenting hatred between the two races and of backing up the Slavs, Italians and Slavs had lived amicably together. Of this province, whose total area was 12,385 sq. km., Italy, by the Pact
