NOTES ON THE WAR

Dominion, Volume 7, Issue 2240, 28 August 1914, Page 4

NOTES ON THE WAR

Before we have been able to grasp the meaning of the meagre' particulars of the groat fight between Mons and Charleroi. on-Saturday and Sunday last, news comes to hand of another great struggle a few miles to the west—between Douai and Maubeuge. Reverting for a moment to the MonsCharlcroi battle, it seems that the Germans by sheer weight of numbers forced their way through Chitrleroi and across the Sambre as far south as Walcourt. That is to say, they not only captured Charleroi, but .took possession of the country for a distance of twelve miles south of tho town. This was the position reached on Saturday night. Next morning the French, reinforced by the arrival of the main body of troops, developed a desperate counter-attack and regained practically the whole of the lost ground; tho Germans be.ing driven back across the Sambre and out of Charleroi. Hand-to-hand fighting took place, and the'casualties appear to have been extremely heavy. It is a remarkable thing that despite the long-range rifles and quick-firing guns with which both forces arc armed, there'has been an astonishing amount- of fighting at close quarters during the campaign.

' At the close of .the Hons-Charlcroi battle on Sunday night the' Allies were reported to havo taken up an oxcollent position. So excellent,does it seem to have been , that the Germans appear to havo. diverted'their ' .attack to a new direction. Instead ' of aiming at a south-westerly move- | ment across and along the Sambre at .Mons, Charleroi,. and Namur, they now have swung roun'd to the : west and a big battle is stated to bo ; raging between Douai and Maubeugc. Both' ■ these towns are in France, and the latter is a strongly fortified position. An attack somewhere in this direction was foreshadowed by the news of raiding cavalry operations in the direction of Conde and Douai, while yesterday we wero told the inhabitants of Douai wero removing in a state of panic. It is possible that the now positions which the Allies wero reported to have taken up after the Mons-Ohar-leroi battle were in anticipation of this change of front by the German forces. Douai, which is some 20 miles inside the French frontier, is 38 miles west of Mons; while Maubeugc is just inside the French frontier and 25 miles south-west from Gharleroi. Doua,i, and Maubeuge are nearly 40 miles apart. Broadly speaking then this now battle is being fought over a front of about 40 miles, and from 20 to 30 miles westward of the Mons-Charleroi battle. The fortresses which guard this portion of the Frenoh frontier are Maubeuge in the south and Lille in the north, and they are about 50 miles apart, although their outer forts extend some distance towards each other and so lessen the gap between the two places. It has been generally considered that the invasion of France in this direction is more difficult than by the route down the valley of the Meuse, where the Germans were checked on Sunday: Un,til more definite news comes to hand, however, it would be idle to speculate as to wKafc has led up to the new lino of attack. Possibly it is an attempt to cut through the left flank of the Allies, who aro supposed to have their main forces further south. The latest news prior to the report that the battle had commenced made it clcar that the British troops were in the vicinity of Douai, and tha£ the French were reinforcing them there. They should be in the thick of the fighting.

In Northern Belgium the-Belgians arc showing that thcy_ are still a factor that cannot be ignored by the invaders. While we are told that tho Kaiser has bombastically appointed Ci>»l andy Military Governors of Belgium to administer the country on behalf of Germany, the 'Belgians themselves aro demonstrating that they have yet to he conquered. They have commenced an offensive movement against the German troops left around Antwerp ; have driven them out. of Malines, 15 miles to the south, and forced them to retire half-way to Brussels. A few days ago we received notice - from the local Telegraph Office that cablegrams could not be accepted for Belgium. Yesterday camc a further notification that messages could now ho accepted for Antwerp, Ghent, and the surrounding neighbourhood.' Most convincing testimony that the plucky Belgians had once more regained control of this part of the country.

The offensive movement of the French in tho direction of Northern Lorraine reported to-day is a chcer - ing piece of news, accompanied as it is with the report of the repulse with heavy losses of the German force which attempted to bar its way. General Joffiie is stated to have stopped the pursuit of the flying Germans. It is unlikely that any serious invasion of Lorraine will be attempted at the present juncture. The French troops lie re probably will bo content- to hold their grounds

[ _ Further successes by the Russians in East Germany are recorded today, and the resistless march of the great armies of the Tsar continues. A most significant item from German sources is that which purports to express German views concerning the Russian invasion. Tho Russians, we are told, will ,bo permitted to overrun Germany as far as the" Oder River, by which time the Kaiser and his troops will have conquered Franco and be ready to turn' back J n d face Russia. In other words, the Germans admit that Russia will be able to overrun Germany for a distance of some 240 miles from the point of entry in East Prussia, and will only be checked 3o miles from the capital. What •if the Kaiser finds Franco a harder nut to crack than he expected 1 He has not even entered France yet, and the Russians are well on their way to the Oder. With the weight of eight million troops behind .them', the Russian armies will require a lot of stopping, The resignation of the; French Ministry is merely indicative of the abolition of all party lines in the government of the country, and the establishment of a National Council of Defence to replace tho ordinary Administration. Something of the kind was to be expected. Those in control ■of the country's" affairs have to be allowed special liberty of action in times of national peril, and no doubt the members constituting the Ministry of Defence have been granted special powers to act as the circumstances warrant in conducting the defence of France.

It is interesting to note, now that British troops are on the Continent and may at any time find themselves in an enemy's country, that in 1911 the British Army Council issued special instructions regarding the utilisation of the resources of a country by ■ a force ' operating in an energy's territory. According to these instructions, local resources may be utilised by—(l) Requisitions of supplies, transport, stores, labqur, animals, etc. (2) Billeting., (3) Contributions of money. (4) Purchase by contract. (5) purchase in the open market. (6) Confiscation. Requisitions can only be made for tho needs of the army, and are to be in proportion to the resources of a country. At least three days' supply of food for a household must be left, and rather more than that at outlying farms and villages. Payment will either be made on the spot, or a requisitionary receipt note given, which will subsequently bo tho basis of payment. It is not allowable to- oblige the inhabitants to 'take part "in military operations against their own country, and- excepting in Germany, Russia, Japan, and Montenegro the services of guides may not be requisitioned, :nor may inhabitants of the country- be required to furnish information regarding .the army or national defences. Billeting means lodging troops in houses, either with full, partial, or without subsistence". Bedding or furniture cannot be demanded as a right, but/billeting includes attendance, and, when required, tho use' of ordinary_ cooking utensils belonging to the inhabitants. Contributions of money can only be demanded in order to meet the needs of tho army, or the ; administration of the occupied territory. The col-, lection will, where possible, be made through the civil authorities, and usually on the_ basis of .the assessment of taxes" in force sit the time: Purchase by contract or in the open market is to be avoided if possible, and in regard to'confiscation, private property is immune, and only such public property should be confiscated as can be used in connection with-, military operations.

Mr. Asquith's statement that the British Government does not propose to resume the.right'to capture the onemy's merchandise if carried in neutral vessels shows how uncertain the position is at present with regard to tile nature and obligations of international law in its bearing on modern warfare. In order to resume the rigjht to capture the . enemy's goods in neutral ships the Government would have to go behind the Declaration of Paris, the provisions 9f which were accepted, by Britain in 1856. This Declaration asserts that the neutral flag covers enemy's goods, with the exception of contraband of war; also that neutral goods, with the exception of contraband of war, are not liable to capture under the enemy's flag. Prior to her adoption of the Declaration of Paris, Britain had acted in accordance with the Gonsolato del Mare, one of the medieval maritime codes, which declared that if the captured vessel was neutral and the cargo enemy, the captor might compel the vessel to carry the cargo to a place of safety, paying her the freight she was to have received from the owners of the goods; but if the vessel was enemy and the cargo neutral the owners of the cargo were at liberty to ransom the vessel from the captor and proceed on their voyage. If_ they refused to do so, the captor might send th© vessel to a, port of his own country and make the owners of the cargo pay the freight they would have paid to the original belligerent ownerof the, vessel; but if they were willing to make satisfactory arrangements about the shin, and the captor refused, they could claim from him compensation for damage and he could claim no freight from them. This was the foundation on which the law of capture at sea has been built up. A rival maxim subsequently sprang up of "free ships, free goods; enemy ships, enemy goods." Later on there was a tendency to adopt the former part of this maxim and to abandon the rule "enemy ships, enemy goods" ; but Britain adhered to the ancient law >of maritime capture until she signed the Declaration of Paris.