"4. The necessity for Italy to contribute to repelling the danger of a German hegemony which would flourish at the expense of the various individual cultures and civilizations."
INVASION OF AUSTRIA
Italy promptly threw an army across the Austrian frontier and began active operations in the direction of Trent and Trieste. The fortified city of Luzerne soon fell into Italian hands and continued successes marked the progress of the invaders all through the month of June. The Austrian strategy at first appeared to provide for a series of withdrawals after skirmishing; but late in the month a more determined resistance developed, the defenses of the Austrian troops being skilfully prepared. The loss of life during the month was comparatively light on both sides, but on June 26 the Italians—already masters of Plava on the left bank of the Isonzo river, and the heights dominating that town—were massing heavy bodies of troops before Gorizia and Tolmino for crucial battles at those two points, both of which blocked the way to the coveted Austrian seaport of Trieste.
STRUGGLE FOR THE DARDANELLES
All through the month of June the Allies continued their desperate struggle for the possession of the Dardanelles, the gateway to Constantinople. Under the direction of German officers and engineers, the Turkish troops and gunners offered determined resistance and the British, Colonial and French troops co-operating with the allied fleets, gained headway but slowly and at tremendous cost. But it was declared that the Allies were bent upon forcing a passage through the straits regardless of cost and that every effort would be made to complete the operation during the summer. Several German submarines appeared in the Gulf of Saros during the month and effectively interfered with the activity of the British and French fleets. The results of the operations on the Gallipoli peninsula during the month indicated that the Dardanelles would prove a veritable slaughter pen before the Allies succeeded in winning their way to Stamboul.
LEMBERG IS RECAPTURED
On June 22 the city of Lemberg, capital of the Austrian province of Galicia, was recaptured from the Russians, who had held it for nearly ten months, by combined German-Austrian forces, under General Mackensen. This marked the culmination of a successful Teuton campaign in Galicia, including the recapture of the strong fortress of Przemysl, as well as Lemberg, and the driving of the Russian invaders back to their own borders.
The eastern battle front in June extended for 680 miles north and south, and while the German drive through Galicia was entirely successful, the Russians gained some victories in the north. They were sorely handicapped by the lack of supplies and ammunition for their forces, and at the end of June the Russian authorities were organizing every possible industry for the production of ammunition.
The fiercest fighting of the war, as far as the Baltic provinces of Russia are concerned, occurred in a battle for the mastery of the Dubysa River early in June. The river changed hands five times in one day, and at nightfall the stream was completely choked with the bodies of thousands of dead, so that a plank roadway for artillery was laid by the Russians across a solid bridge of bodies.
HEROIC FEAT OF A CANADIAN