NOTES ON THE WAR
The' somewhat alarmist extract from the notes of tho military correspondent of the Times as to the possibility of an attack on England is discounted to-day by the same journal in its leading columns. Ostend and Antwerp, we are now told, could be of no uso to the Germans for the purpose of an attack on England. This, of course, is obvious enough. Even -if the ports named were in every way suitable and there were no other obstacles, two would b<v quite sufficient, (1) the inability of the Germans to take the necessary transports to the ports in question; (2) tho fact that they could not possibly hope to escape the vigilance of the British Fleet. Any attempt to invade England with England alert and on its'guard imiet presuppose that tho British Fleet has wen wiped off the North Sea, In tho circum-.
stances, wo need not bother ourselves further with this phase of the situation.
It is possible that the writer in the Times may have been desirous of stimulating the recruiting movement in Britain, which, according to English files, has fluctuated a good deal. A mistake was made, at the outset in'not asking for more men than wereactually required. The public got an erroneous impression as to the seriousness of the position—in fact; the lethargy of a large part of the population has been quite 'amazing. They do not seem to have realised tho bigness of the issues at stake. Probably people in New Zealand have been surprised to note the large number of members of Parliament and leading public men who have been travelling about the country addressing recruiting meetings. To us here this seems quite superfluous; but it was not so in England. It was not that the people of the Mother Country were indifferent, or any less patriotic than tho people of the Overseas Dominions; it simply was that they did not appreciate the fact that the very existence of the Empire was threatened. New Zcalandcrs in London were staggered at the unconcern shown by the great majority of the people they came into touch with. Now the position is different. The people have been stirred up, aud it is. recorded this morning that Britain now has 1,200,000 men in organised force, and so many more are offering that Lord Kitchener has been forced to raise the standard of fitness required above that of <any existing in Europe.. It would seem that the Germans have been deluding themselves with the idea that recruiting in Britain ha_s been a failure. They have got their answer.
A fortnight ago the British forces in Prance were taken from the task of fighting in the trenches somewhere in the vicinity' of the River Oise and transferred elsewhere. It was stated that they wore delighted"" with the change, hut we were not told what the change was. After the fall of Antwerp the Belgian Army disappeared in the same mysterious manner. Now it has reappeared, well up o,n the Allies' Left in West Belgium. Are the British troops in the same neighbourhood? It would seem very probable, and for several reasons. In the first place, the fighting in this region north of Lillo is very different to the fitjhting further south where the British had been stationed. There is rapid movement here, whereas .further south there was the monotony of trench fighting day after day, with very little change. We can thus assume that a transfer such as suggested would account for the delight of our "Tommies." Then the Germans have been hurriedly rushing heavy reinforcements into this region north of Lille, and it is plain from what has since transpired that they were badly wanted there. This could only be due to the sudden strengthening of the Allies' forces there. Why not by the British troops? Furthermore, despite the arrival of the German reinforcements the Kaiser's,forces were compelled to retreat. This means that the Allies' force must have been an extremely strong one— why not the combined British and Belgian , troops, at least 300,000 to 350,000 men 1
On the- whole this seems a not unlikely thing. Whatever the force may be at the extreme end of the Allies' Left, it is giving an excellent account of itself. Yesterday we had the German line in-the north-west of Belgium extending, from Ostend to Menin, where it turned westward into France, passing just north of Lille in the direction of Armenticres, then southward to' the Oisc. It is much the same to-day, save that the enemy has had to yield ground at several points. Ostend, it is ru-. moured, has been abandoned by them, and it is rumoured also that they have retreated from West Flanders. Another message states that the Allies have driven the enemy back 30 miles; while yet another tells us that a large force of Germans has left Bruges, moving in the direction of France. Out of the sum total of these messages, we can derive much comfort and encouragement. The forcing back of the enemy for a distance of 30 miles-probably refers to operations extending over some days, and has been partly covered by the news of the past week. The real significance of the item lies in the indication it gives of the steady progress made by the Allies at this critical position.
The German retirement from Ostend does not necessarily mean that the town has yet' been abandoned, though it may mean even that. It is possible that the forces there have moved further along the coast towards France to reinforcethe troops in the vicinity of Nieuport, who at latest advices yesterday had lost ground. The probabilities, however, are that the message which reports a. general retirement of the German forces from West Flanders is very near the mark. Apart from the heavy punishment they have received (note the great numbers of wounded arriving at Bruges) it is stated that the -forces nearest the.coast arc now short of ammunition and stores.
In France itself, in the region to the west of Lille, the German forces have yielded'further to the pressure of the Allies, and though the message is somewhat obscure, would seem to have been compelled to hurriedly vacate several important positions, and now oceupV Warenton, which is on tho frontier to the north-west of Lille. Bit by bit thoy are being squeezed back over the ground which a few weeks ago resounded to the tramp of their masses bound for .Paris. To-day, sorely stricken, they crowd back fighting stubbornly, but realising that they, havo failed in their quest. There is little news from the other positions in France at time of writing, except on the southeastern frontier. Here, at St. Die, two desperate attacks have been made by the Germans, but in each case they were repulsed with serious losses. To sum up tho position in the western theatre of war, the Allies have gained further ground in North-West Belgium; in North-East France, and in South-East France. That is to say, that tho squeezing movement on the Wings, which in due course must react on the Centre, is being well maintained, despite tho desperate efforts of the enemy to force back the jaws of the vice which is slowly but surely closing in and crushing them.
FcHTHER confirmation of the Russian success against tho Germans in Russian Poland comes to hand today. ■ The Russians, it will be recalled, took up a strong position along the banks ofthc llivcr Vistula, their lines stretching for something like 250 miles across Poland and into Galicia. There thoy awaited the Ger-
man attack, and met it with deadly effect. At 18 points the German engineers _ threw pontoons over the groat river to enable the troops to cross, and at 18 points a terrific bombardment by the Eussian artillery repulsed the attacks. In East Prussia the operations- appear to resemble those at the Allies' Centre in France, and partake of the nature of a siege, both forces apparently being strongly entrenched. In Galicia the fighting south of Przcmysl still proceeds. The position all round is satisfactory. The official message from Pctrogra'd states that the general' outlook in the eastern theatre of war is hopeful. It is good news.
Signs are, not wanting that Germany has been making very extensive plans to provide for the maintenance of her iood supplies. It would be surprising indeed had she. not before the war provided for the contingency of a blockade of her ports and the suspension of her over, seas trade. Her method would, of course, be to have supplies shipped to neutral ports in the Baltic or to Dutch ports, and then have the cargoes transhipped or the vessels carrying them diverted to German ports. Cargoes consigned to Norway and Sweden could be carried o'n to German ports without any difficulty, so long as tho German Navy dominated the Baltic. The New York Herald states that large quantities of grain and provisions are being shipped to Germany, through Swedish, Danish, and Norwegian agents; and this is supported by information from other sources. Fortunately the law relating to contraband is wide enough to enable the Anglo-French Fleets to take measures to upset this plan. It is imperative that the members of the should prevent food supplies reaching Germany, and tnoso who attempt to run the blockade, whether in neutrals' or enemies' ships, must be prepared' to take the consequences of their action, and risk the seizure of their cargoes.
General Botha's uncompromising reply to General Hektzog's statement that he (Hektzog) had offered his services in the hope that the Government would terminate the Maritz rebellion without bloodshed was the only answer that could be given to such a suggestion at such a time. There is the ring of steel about it—the strength of the strong man who refuses to compromise with treachery and treason. Moreover, he carries the war into General Hertzog's camp, and calls on him to make a public repudiation of the treachery of Maritz. In the meantime the country is solidly behind General Botha, and the German-engineered rebellion in South Africa, like so many other of the made-in-Germany plans of the present war, is crumbling to pieces. Amongst other items of interest in to-day's messages is the reported mining of the Scheldt River (tfie sea entrance to Antwerp) by the Dutch. If Germany intends to try and make Antwerp a naval base, and thus trample on the neutrality of Holland as she did that of Belgium, then the Dutch are not going to be caught napping. Germany at present is hardly likely to attempt anything of this nature—her hold on Antwerp is too precarious—but it is as well to be prepared. News from Peking goes to show that the days of the, German garrison at Tsing-tao are drawing to a close. The Japanese and British forces now dominate the position there, and it is only a matter of hours before the fortress must fall, and the territory pass out of German control. _ The Japanese are carrying out their share of the contract with their customary thoroughness.
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Dominion, Volume 8, Issue 2285, 20 October 1914, Page 4
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1,853NOTES ON THE WAR Dominion, Volume 8, Issue 2285, 20 October 1914, Page 4
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