Progress of the War.

Press, Volume LIII, Issue 15874, 13 April 1917, Page 6

Progress of the War.

The best ally which the Germans hare had in the war has been the weather. It saved them in the Somme offensive last year: and it is helping them again in the present operations. The British attack, which was commenced in the rain, was continued on Tuesday in the midst of a snowstorm, and the fall has since become so steady and continuous that it has made observation work impossible and seriously impeded the British progress. How much this will interfere with Sir Douglas Haig's plans it is impossible to say, but any check to the impetus of an advance must be in favour of the enemy, giving him time to recover from the flrgt smashing blow. Just as the gong will often save a boxer from a knock-out which appears imminent and enable him to return refreshed to the fray, so the snow has intervened on behalf of Hindenburg. Nevertheless the respite is only temporary, and the punishment which was meted out to the enemy in the Arras battle was sufficiently severe to shake his arrogant confidence. The brilliant success already achieved will, on the other hand, hearten our own men by revealing-the superiority of the British fighting machine over that of .Germany. Also it must be remembered that the snow which hinders the British advance also interferes with the enemy's reorganisation, and there is every reason to hope that onco the weather clears the offensive will be renewed -with redoubled vigour until the objects aimed at are achieved. The worst piece of news this morning from the Allies' point of view, is the announcement that the Crown Prince has been relieved of his command and recalled to Berlin. Matters on the other fronts remain remarkably quiet, and nothing more has been heard of the proposed big offensive against Italy. Thero have been minor engagements on the Russian front, but the Germans do not appear to have been ablo to take advantage of their recent success in the comic-opera battle on the Stokhod river, when the Russians were too busy electing a committee to bother about the enemy's movements. The news regarding the internal position in Russia is slightly more reassuring this morning, while on the other hand there aro renewed evidences of widespread disorders in Germany.