NOTES ON THE WAR

Dominion, Volume 8, Issue 2272, 5 October 1914, Page 4

NOTES ON THE WAR

Not the least interesting of today's messages are those whieh emanate from German sources, and filter through by way of Holland'and Denmark. There is a marked change of tone in these made-in-Germany" news items. No longer are there stories of great victories and still greater triumphs to come. On the contrary, we are told that official messages admit that the Kaiser's troops may be compelled to abandon certain positions, while the newspapers which publish only what the officials permit them to are stated to be preparing the German people for defeat. This is all confirmatory of the news which, has come to hand from Paris and ' London regarding recent fighting in France. There is a slight relaxing, of the stringency of the censorship this morning, and a few gleams of light are thrown on the situation by the stories of newspaper correspondents which have been permitted to reach us.

"There is no. longer room for misgivings," writes one correspondent from Calais after a tour of the Allies' Left Wing; and he goes on to describe the position at this, apparently, the key to tho whole situation. Tho German Right Wing, north of the Oise, is stated to be in extreme danger between the towns of Lassigny and Chaulnes (about 18 miles apart), due to the fact .that the lines above Chaulnes, which previously faced ■west, now face north-west, having bcon bent back in a line Chaulnes-Cambrai-Valenciennes. A glance at the map_ published in our news columns will give an idea of what this means. A leWi days ago the lines of, the German Right Wing stretched roughly north and south, between Noyon and Arras. On Wednesday last, the date of the correspondent's visit, the line north of Chaulnes had been bent back until it rested on Ohaulnes-Cambrai-Valehciennes, all of which towns can be seen on the map. This means that the extreme end of the German Right Wing has been compelled to give way under the pressure of the Allies' enveloping movement in order to prevent the Allies encircling it. It is not difficult to understand that this must greatly- embarrass the German retreat by narrowing the area over which the troops must move on their way out of France into Belgium; The further back the end of the German Right AYing is pressed the more it must restrict the line of retreat of the whole force north of the River. Oise; and probably also a great portion of the army further south. It is a desperate, position for the German Right Wing, and if the Allies can maintain the pressure from the north-west, then indeed it is difficult to see how this German force can possibly extricate itself save under terrible losses.

In an endeavour to relieve the situation the German Headquarters Staff decided on a step which appears to have increased the dangers of the position. When General von Kluck in charge of the German Eight was found to be hard pressed the Headquarters Staff dispatched to his assistance a large force from tho German Centre and Left, the idea being that with tho help of these additional troops the Allies would be checked. Instead of proving a valuable aid theso troops _ though they afforded temporary relief 'arc now a hindrance, for they add to the congestion of the restricted area, and with their transport wagons help to block the roads already unequal to the tax placed on them. With tho huge armies of modern warfare, good roads and them are required to permit the free and effective' movement of troops with their enormous baggage and ammunition supplies. Large bodies of troops cannot operate successfully under cramped conditions, and with the roads that are • available in bad order owing to tho heavy traffic and recent rains, the large reinforcements sent from the south to General Von Kluck's assistance • have merely added to his difficulties. It seems quite clear that the German' Eight is slowly crumpling uri despite the efforts to relieve the pressure bv fierce attacks on tho main Allied'line south of Chaulnes.

The probabilities are that the whole of the German Armies are now being hurried out of France as rapidly as circumstances will permit, and that the fight which is now proceeding h the outcome of the desperate effort of the force which has been left to cover the retreat. "We know that in the retreat, after the battle of the Marnc the German rearguard made several desperate stands, and assisted by tho weather, enabled-their main forces to take up strong 'positions around whioh the present great battle has been raging for so many days. Now everything points to a further great success on the part of the Allies, but whether they will be able to push their victory right home before the Germans arc able to take up the new position prepared for them in Belgium alorif* 1 tho River Sambre yet remains to be

seen. It will not be at all surprising to find that the reported capitulation of a large part of General Von Kluok's force, which proved to be untrue, was really prophetic, for he will have the greatest difficulty in extricating his force from the positio': now stated to exist, and a substantial section of it may be cut off by the enveloping movement of the Aiiies.

We can leave the position in France with the comforting assurance that all goes well with the Allies, and to quote one of the messages, that "the dcbciclc has commenced." From Belgium there is little news of importanco at time of writing, 'although the fact that a haii'-hoarted attempt is being made to bombard Antwerp is not without | significance. The suggestion that this attack is merely an attempt to coerce tho Belgians and keep them occupied as far as possiblo from the German lines of communication sounds reasonable enough; but if the Germans are strong' enough to keep tho Belgians busy defending Antwerp'there must be a considerable force of German troops there. It is reported to-day that one of the German generals in charge of a force operating in Belgium in the earlier stages of the war lias been suspended, and it is suggested that this aofc is due to the findings of the German Commission appointed to inquire, into the atrocities committed by German trooDS in Belgium. Tho turn of the tide of war may hasten to awaken in Germany those humanitarian principles which she lays claim to as a part of her vaunted standard of civilisation. It must be an unpleasant reflection for the people of Germany just now that her enemies who arc pressing towards her' frontiers on both east and west may retaliate in kind' for the gross outrages committed by German soldiers against towns and citizens in Belgium and France; Happily, tho methods of the Allies do not involve wanton brutalities and the murder of defenceless citizens, nor the ruthless destruction of priceless treasures of art and architecture whose ennobling influence has enriched the whole world.

Turning to the East, the story 'of the war' continues full of good tidings. The Russians, who were faced with a strong German force in the Suwa-lki region, on the Russian side of the frontier of East Prussia, have gained a signal victory. The' Germans have been forced to give way, and although reinforcements have been sent to cover their retreat, the Tsar's troops, under General Rennenkampf, appear to bo pushing homo their victory_ with great thoroughness. In Galieia also the main llussian army is still adding to its triumphs. Two more of the forts at Przemysl are stated to have fallen, and the force which was dispatched across the Carpathians, bent on the invasion of Hungary, is also reported to be progressing satisfactorily. An indication of tho progress made may be gathered from the fact that the Austrians are preparing to remove the seat of Government from Vienna to Prague, which is about as far as they can venture to go without reipoving across tho boundary altogether into. Germany. _ The Germans apparently are seeking to check tho Russian main advance by making a move to cut their chief line of railway connection at Warsaw. This is a bold step, and may prove a costly one to tho Germans if the Russian forces are as strong as has been stated. With the winter comingon, the stoppage of railway' communication, even if only temporary, would be a serious matter to the Russian forces engaged in the invasion of Austria and South-Eastern Germany.

The German warships Scharnhorst and Gneisenau have disclosed their whereabouts in the Pacific in an unpleasant manner. ' A belated message reaches us to-day that on September 22 they visited Papeete, in the Society' Group, bombarded thetown, and sank a little French gunboat, the Zclee.' Papeete, which, is the principal town and port of the Island of Tahiti, has a population , of less than 3000, and is a French coaling station. The Society Islands are, of course, one of the nearest groups to our own island possessions, the Cook Islands, flnd arc included in the regular South Sea Island tours made by the Union Steam Ship \ Company's boats. The fact that the two big German cruisers—the biggest with tho exception of the Goeben absent from the main German fleet—should be cruising amongst the Pacific Islands affords grounds for congratulation that our friends in Australia possess a fleet of modern fighting ships. The flagship' of the Commonwealth Squadron,' H.M.A.S. Australia, is the only vessel in the Pacific capable of coping with theso German cruisers in bqth speed and guns. She could outrange them in gunnery and outstrip them in speed, and s"ome' day, perhaps, she will get a chance to demonstrate this.