NOTES ON THE WAR

Dominion, Volume 7, Issue 2229, 15 August 1914, Page 6

NOTES ON THE WAR

- N The fog of war 6till envelops, tho movements of tho great armies which are assembling in Belgium and along the French frontier for the first great' test 'of strength in the momentous struggle. 'The- fact that tho, forts of Liege still hold.. their own; the stories sent .us'regarding .'German repulses, 'and the .battering out' of action of their siege guns are all encouraging enough in their way, and we- can draw deductions therefrom as suits us. It is not safe,- however, to overrate the importance of these encounters in their probable, oh the big events which must shortly eclipse them That the "Allies j have so far had a distinct • advantage, seems beyond question; that the German plans have been disarranged is equally certain. But the German advance has been only delayed. . The delay has been of enormous advantage to the Allies, and will enable them to meet the German forces on at least equal terms as regards numbers; but a decisive battle has yet to be fought. What has already occurred has been satisfactory e'nougjr- from pur point of view, but it has been in the nature of preliminaries to the big battle—the biggest perhaps that the world has ever seen. ,_ That >the Belgians have held their' own so 'gallantly against the forces thrown against tliem is a happy augury. It will stimulate arid encourage the Allies, and especially'will it arouse ' the military ardour of the French troops. Where' the great battle will be fought must be_ a matter for speculation. In view of the fact that skirmishing' parties of • German troops have been, able to penetrate so far into. Belgium north of Liege it seems likely that there are not anv very large bodies,of troops there at present,-and that the-main forces arc stationed further south. This would mean that the serious fighting will take place to the south and west of Liege. Possibly we shall have definite-news on this point on Sunday—or it nay come now at any moment. Probably the fighting will extend over several days before.anything decisive one way or the other is learned. It should be borne _in mind that time favours the Allies. Their immediate concern is to olg struct and embarrass tho invaders. The German forces, .on the other hand, must, strive to-strike a vital blow, as speedily as possible. In this v th«! Allies have a distinct advantage.

•Perhaps the most pleasing item of war news'tO'day is the iutimai-ion that the Bwssiaps are now ready to make their forward movement on Austria. The- Russian. Legation., at

Athens is reported to have stated that concentration on the Galieian frontier of North-East Austria is completed, and that an offensive movement against Austria, to coincide with a Servian movement on the Danube, is imminent, This, if true, is, indeed good news.. The most formidable obstacle to a Russian advance westward by way of Galicia is the Carpathian Mountains, which form a natural barrier. There is, however, quite a largo extent of country over which the Russian troops could operate before reaching the mountain ranges, and a strong force of Austrian troops is stationed there. News comes to hand of a Cossack success against a force of Austrian cavalry, wnich is reported to have been practically annihilated. News of this nature must necessarily be discounted somewhat, but the fact that the Russians are ready to move westward in force is of supreme importance. They have a difficult task ahead of them at this point, and there will certainly be heaVy' fighting before they force the passes of the Carpathians. A forward movement in the north against Germany should also be under way. So far there have been skirmishing raids on both sides of the frontier: small bodies of Russian troops tearing up railways and doing damage in German and Austrian _ territory; while German and Austrian cavalr'y haw been raiding towns in Russia. The main bodies of troops, however, have been concentrating, at points some distance back from the _ frontier, and the raids arid skirmishing by the frontier forces are merely a screen to cover their movements, and to enable them to keep in touch with the enemy^

The anxiety of Germany to secure the aid of Italy, taken in conjunction with the reports of German negotiations with Turkey, Rumania, and Bulgaria, serve to emphasise the fact that the Kaiser's plans -are going awry. Having failed in the attempt to terrorise Italy, Germany now appears to be equally unlikely to get help from some of the Balkan States. If-Bulgaria or Rumania could be. induced to attack Sorvia" and Montenegro, a large sectionof the Austrian army now occupied with the Servians might be sent to the assistance of the Germans either against France or Russia. It does not seem very' probablo, however, that Germany will get much from the Balkans, at any rate for the present. The racial instincts of. tfie people, with the exception lof the Turks, rather lean towards the other side, Rumania has' denied that she intends to help the Teutons, and, according to the latest news,. Bulgaria is resolved to maintain its neutrality "despite the suggestion of future rewards'* - from various quarters." ■. Bulgaria and' Rumania probably will be inclined to_ shape their policy in accordance with the .trend of events in the field of con'flict. ' . i

The exposure made by the London Times of the methods of the German Press to mislead .she'' public concerning- the war will surprise no one at all familiar with the influence exercised over German : newspapers by the Government . ■ The newspapers havC:to dp practically .what they, are told, and'say what they fire told to say. For years thoir ! policy has been to exalt the strength and efficiency of Germany's military and naval forces until the public have come to regard them as invincible. The fighting strength ■ of other nations is correspondingly depreciated. Discussing the visit of British warships to Kiel some six months ago, the Berlin correspondent of the Naval 1 and Military Record, referred to this phase of German, feeling. "Hitherto," he wrote, : "the two navies have seen remarkably little of each other, with the; natural result that misapprehensions have arisen on both sides. Thanks to tire patriotic zeal of their newspapers, including' even technical organs, Germans have beon taught that British _men-of-war are inferior in. construction constantly breaking down, -and every respect\far below the German standard of.' quality. The lower deck has been represented 'as a merccnary'bddy'of men who are seeth ing with: discontent, badly disciplined, and far" less selfoespectinp and efiicierit than the German crews. Constant repetition had given the* legends an ,appcafance of truth. T consequence the German .nation as a whole is very badly informed, as t<: the true character of the British Navy, and false ideas of this kind cannot well conduce to wholesome political relations. The present peaceful invasion of the Baltic* by representative British warships is thus serving an excellent purpose'by dispelling suoh mistaken notions, and giving a large number.of Germans an opportunity of judging for themselves what the British Fleet is like'. Their verdict,-as far as one can gather, is in fiat, opposition _to the fantastic pictures of ; .inferior British ships, manned by incompetent seamen, which the newspapers are so fond of coniuring up, .in order to flatter national pride in the German Navy. _ Indeed, many people at Kiel are naively astonished to discover that, in all that outwardly meets the eye, -at any rate, the visiting ships are every bit as workmanlike as the smartest squadron in the Imperial German Marine." The story of the alleged decoration of General von Emmich, by the Kaiseb, • for having brought about the fall of Li°ge, a' story which is reported to have caused much indignation in Brussels, was probably given birth by German newspapers; as also the announcement made some days ago that Brussels had been burned, Antwerp blown up, and the following pronhecy- that the Kaiseti would be at Paris within a week. German newspaper' readers, however, probably have their .own opinion about these flights of fictional any rate, they should be enlightened before the war proceeds much further. > ,

, The reference to "army corps," "divisions," etc., in the cable news sometimes is not very illuminating' to readers who have no idea of whether, an army, corps represents 10/00 or 50,000 men; or whether a division is bigger than a . battalion. Some idea of the. actual numbers engaged in the encounters which areconsfcantly taking place may be pained by a rough understanding of what the various military 1 terms stand for with the different, nations. The basis of the British field', army organisation is a division, tho basis of tho German, F.rench, ' and'. Russian held: army organisation is an army corps. A German army corps is about twice as strong numerically as a British division. It numbers 41,000 men and '144 guns. A French army corps has an establishment of 33,210, men and fvom 120 to 144 gups, A British Army division,,. which numbers 18,670 men and 76 guns,

consists of three infantry brigades of four battalions each, four field artillery brigades,, one heavy battery, one ammunition column, two companies of engineers, one signal company, one squadron of cavalry, one aeroplane squadron, one' divisional train, and three ambulances. The war establishment of ( a British battalion of infantry is 29 officers and 995 other ranks, in eight companies. A British cavalry division has 486 officers and 9410_ other ranks. A German infantry division numbers 16,500 men, n,nd a Gorman infantry brigade 6400 men. A German cavalry division has 4800 men, and a German cavalry brigade 1410 men. A French army corps is, organised on much tho same lines as a German. It contains two infantry divisions, each division consisting of H,3BQymen.-- A French infantry divisiftn contains two infantry brigades. A French cavalry division has a war strength of 4580 men, and a French cavalry brigade a strength of ]00 men. A Eussian infantry division has 17.900 men and a cavalry division men.