NOTES ON THE WAR

Dominion, Volume 8, Issue 2278, 12 October 1914, Page 4

NOTES ON THE WAR

It has been plain, enough.for the past day or two that the Belgians were in an extremely difficult position at Antwerp. _ Despite their splendid efforts against the attacking forces, the fine city behind the forts was gradually, being destroyed by the heavy German siege artillery; and even if the forts held out the city would be left in ruins. As a matter of sentiment it would have been a magnificent achievement for Antwerp to have held out to the bitter end; as a matter of common sense and practical warfare it would have been a useless sacrifice to subject the city to further bombardment without hope of any material gain thereby. The Belgians withdrew from their capital, Brussels, without attempting to , defend it, and thereby saved it from destruction,' and reserved their forces for the struggle in another field of action. Now the forces have been withdrawn from Antwerp, and though the city is in the hands of the Germans and the forts vacated, and the guns no doubt rendered useless, the troops have marched off to do battle elsewhere against their hated foe. The people of Belgium have suffered so terribly that it is something of a relief to feel that the citizens of Antwerp have been spared a further period of dreadful suffering and hardship by tho'.coui's& that has-been. taken.' Their'soldiers will continue to fight on, but in the open field, and they will not suffer the added horror of.:knowing that their women and children are being subjected to the terrors of bombardment in a beleaguered ' city with all its accompanying agony and distress.

But while the Belgian troops have been now withdrawn from Antwerp tbey first demanded a , terrible toll of the enemy. In the days preceding their retirement, they have fought with all that high courage which characterised their efforts at Liege and during the subsequent stages of the war. Eaoh advance of the Germans has heen bitterly bought. As in all their important engagements, the German troops attacking Antwerp bave continued to advancp id close formation, and regardless of the enormous sacrifices of life thus entailed. The Belgians have again and again mowed them down in thousaucls with machine guns and artillery. The dykes, are told, were filled with 1 the German dead. The weight of numbers and superior artillery enabled the Kaiser's troops to maintain the attack, but what a price the. German people have had to pay for tho brutal attempt of their arrogant war-lord to trample underfoot this gallant little nation ! So far as its effect on the'war is concerned, the capture of Antwerp can maice little difference. Should Germany attcn:i;t. to use it as a naval base, then she will be guilty of a \ r*-ach of neutrality with Holland. She may, however, find it useful as a means of securing supplies by sea through neutral vessels should they' prove clever enough to elude the cruisers of the" British Fleet.

Since' the" above was written news has come to hand that the British Government sent some- 10,000 of the Naval Forces to assist the Belgians,, iu the defence of Antwerp. The chief purpose of this force probably 'would be to cope with the big guns of the- enemy, which seem to have outranged the Belgian artillery. The message states that the British and Belgians could have held the German's in check for a longer period, but that it' would have served no good purpose in the general plan of campaign. In weighing results in this great war, it should be always borne in mind that too much importance should not be attached to engagements which, however much they may fill the oye at the moment, do not affect the main Elan of campaign. A section of the ritish Force was cut off from the main body during the retirement, and crossed the frontier into Holland. Under international law, as between neutral and belligerent States, these troops on 'entering neutral territory would be required to lay down their arms, and it would bo the duty of Holland to intern them; that is to say, bold them in honourable detention until the termination of the war. In 1871 a force of 85j000 French troops, retreating before a stronger German ai'my, crossed the Swiss frontier, and were interned until the close of the Franco-German War. Reverting to tho British troops in Belgium, a fact which cannot be overlooked is that Britain continues to transport troops across the Channel apparently without hindrance. The presence of this British force, coupled with the fact that the Belgian seat of Government has been removed to Ostend, would seem to indicate that an attempt will be made to hold the Germans at bay at Ostend. to which port further British reinforcements could be readily dispatched.

ing since the 4th. instant confirm earlier messages of the aggressive riH'Vcment by the Germans and the successful counter-attacks by the Allies, which recovered the lost ground. Chief interest still centres in tho North-Eastern corner of France, and so far as can be judged from the news available, the Allies are a little more than holding their own. Their plan for the time being appears to be to fight a waiting battle, and exhaust the enemy; but ready to seize any opportunity that may present itself to gain ground. The latest message to hand mentions that a_ppreciable progress has been made in the south as well as in the north.

The news that the Eussians arc within thirty miles of Thorn and within 90 miles of Posca/in strong force comes as a pleasant surprise. \ybiJix we have been hearing of Eussian success further north along the frontier of East Prussia and further south in Galicia and Hungary, there has been little news of the Central army of late. Now comes the news that this force, a million strong, is marching along what is geographically the shoitest route to Berlin. Thorn and Posca are the two strongest fortresses barring the way of this army of invasion, but the task ahead of it will not be an easy one apart from these strongholds. The country leads itself to defence, and the river Oder in itself will be a formidable obstacle. Elsewhere the successes of the Russians continue.'

The achievement of. British aviators in again dropping bombs on tho great Zeppelin sheds at Dusseldorf is disposed of in a few lines in our cable news, but it covers a feat of skilland daring which would arouso admiration even in times of peace. Apparently-on this occasion the efforts of the .airmen were crowned with a certain measure of success, and at least one airship seems to have been demolished. The natural conclusion to be drawn from this exploit is that if British airmen are able to drop bombs on towns in Germany, the German airmen should be able to do the same thing in England. -It is probablo that the British aviators have been operating with seaplanes, and that they have started out oh their adventurous flights from a vessel stationed in the .North Sea. This would shorten the length of the flights. But the Germans are in a position to operate from Belgium, .which would moan a flight of from ISO to 200 miles to London, plus the return journey should they be lucky enough to return. The flights that have been going on' no doubt have been of a reconnoitring nature; and directly we may hear of a flight in force, and possibly of a great battle in the air between squadrons of aeroplanes and airships. The experience of the war so far has shown that British aviators and British aeroplanes are capable of more than holding their own with the enemy, ■and while the enemy's airfleet may from time to time do a little damage no serious results need be anticipated from raids of this nature.

It may seem a little superfluous on the part of the Russian Press to suggest that it is necessary that the Allies should have a definite agreement that peace will not be permitted until the menace of German militarism is-crushed. -At thc.-.same time it is just as well that there should bo a clear understanding now in order that there may be no room for future differences of opinion. It would be a tremendous blunder if Britain wcro to agree to a patchedup peace which would leave Germany in a position to renew the confiict in a few years' time. There can b'i no permanent peace in Europe as long as Germany is strong enough to give the Kaiser and his advisers any hope whatever of becoming the masters of the world, and the nations of Europe realise this full well!

The death of the King of Rumania, which is recorded this morning, may have an influence on .Rumania's attitude towards the Powers engaged in the war. The late liiNG pHARLEs was a Prussian, second son of Prince Karl Anton of HoHENZOLLEKN-SIGMAKINGEN, aud his sympathies have always been with .Germany. He wa-s an officer in the Prussian Dragoon Guards when elected Prince of-Rumania in 1866, After the compulsory abdication of his predecessor, A few years after his election, the Franco-Prussian War broke out, and the sympathies of the people of Rumania were strongly in favour of France; but Prince Charles sided with his own race, and for a time the relations of the people and their ruler were much strained. At the outset of the present war, Charles (who, in 1881, on Rumania becoming an independent Kingdom, v/as crowned .King) showed a marked sympathy with the Austro-German Alliance, and here he again came into conflict with the views of his subjects. Rumania had declared her neutrality, but had made it cloar that if any departure therefrom took place it would not be on the side of Austria and Germany. The King, however, had expressed himself, to the opposite effect,, and a cable message some days ago informed us that he wished to abdicate; while later came the news that he had produced a treaty which committed Rumania to assist Austria and Germany. Apparently this treaty was not recognised by the Parliament or ■ people of Rumania, and it may be that his disappointment at the turn of events hastened the old Monarch's end. His death may remove an obstacle to a clearer understanding between Rumania and the Triple Entente.