The Dominion. TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 3, 1914. THREE MONTHS OF WAR

Dominion, Volume 8, Issue 2297, 3 November 1914, Page 4

The Dominion. TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 3, 1914. THREE MONTHS OF WAR

We have now entered upon the fourth month of the great war. The position from the point of view of the Allies is decidedly satisfactory, and their prospects'of ultimate victory are certainly, far brighter than those of their adversaries. The outstanding feature of . the first month of the conflict was the_ splendid resistance shown by Belgian troops at Liege to the advance of the German hosts, but after the fall of Liege the invaders moved . steadily westwards, breaking down all opposition by sheer weight of numbers, thougn they had'to pay a terrible price for every step forward. The Allies were gradually forced back to the French frontier, and, still pressing' on, the Germans got within striking distance of Paris. By this time the fighting spirit of the French nation was thoroughly aroused, and early in {September came tho turning of the tide. The Battle of the Marne proved disastrous to tho enemy, and they 1 were flung back from the French capital after a series of desperate encounters, . in which the British troops covered themselves with glory. Both sides sustained heavy losses, but tho Germans suffered far more severely than the Allies. Ever since then the opposing forces have been continuously at grips, and, though the Germans have from time to time temporarily regained a little ground hero and there, the Allies have continuously increased, the advantage which they first secured' at the Marne. Though every inch of tho ground is being fieroely contested tne enemy is being slowly but surely pushed backwards. The German Army has for years been taught' to believe in its. own invincibility, and the retreat from Paris has proved a severe blow_ to its morale. The pick of the Kaiser's regiments have fallen in battle, and' the ( hope and enthusiasm of those that are left have been greatly diminished. They now know -'that they have met their match—and more than their match—and vainglorious references to the deeds of 1870 cannot compensate for or explain away the bitter fact that they have been beaten again and again in 1914. They are still fighting with grim determination, but witfi. the feeling, that they have been given an impossible task. A German prisoner taken at the Yser remarked, "We can do nothing here, yet we must proceed. . . . Weariness, shock, the fear of death, and terrible sights combino to break the soldiers." They are being demoralised;

Some time ago the Kaiser ordered his soldiers to take Paris or die. Tens of thousands of them have died, and the likelihood of Paris being captured is becoming, more remote every day. The latest command is that Calais must be seized at all costs, and in the attempt to get there German blood is being shed like water. In.the Eastern theatre of the war the_ Tsar's enormous armies are pressing forward with irresistible might. They have dealt staggering blows at Austria, and the best German' troops have not been able to bar their path. The latest news is to the effect that the Austro-German forces are retiring from Poland, and that 'something like three million Russians are marching after them. The Germans seem to have abandoned all hope ,of repeating the ' triumph of 1870. The plan of crushing France by a swift and overwhelming blow has utterly failed. The Allies are hitting back with ever-increasing, vigour in France and Belgium, while the -Russians are smashing their way into Eastern Prussia and Austria. From the naval point of view the outlook must be equally depressing to the Germans, for their great fleet _is still bottled up by the British Navy, and Britain and. France are able to maintain their overseas trade, while Germany's merchantmen have been swept off the seas, and her commerce almost annihilated. It is true that\everal ,of our lesser warships have been sunk by German mines and submarines, but our fleet has inflicted more damage, than it has received. We have captured several of the German colonies, including Samoa and German New Guinea; destroyed wireless installations of immense value; while Britain's. Overseas Dominions have qome to the aid of the Empire with bodies of troops and offers of more to follow. .In the Far East Kiaochau cannot hold out much longer against the Japanese and British forces. A few German cruisers on the high seas have been waging war on our commerce with some success, but our losses in this way have been vory small when compared with the total amount of British commerce afloat, and incidents of this kind can have no effect upon the main course of the j struggle, however annoying they may be. Considering the present position as a whole, it is quite clear that after three months' fighting the Germans have lost very much more than they have gained. They have little to show in the way of actual achievement to compensate for their enormous losses in men and money, and the outlook from their point of view is so gloomy that Berlin newspapers are beginning to .admit that things are going wrong, They confess that the struggle is going to be more prolonged tnan was anticipated, and the people who have been buoyed up by false hopes and deceived by false news are now being, advised to husband their resources. The active support of the Porte may stir un a new flicker of hope. It will, however, bo short-lived, and Turkey will bitterly regret her rash decision to help the Kaisisr. The probabilities are that, instead of assisting Austria and Germany, slje will require all her resources to save herself from destruction. Germany's desperate endeavours to extend the area of conflict is an_ unmistakable 3lgn of.distrcM,-and it way hasten .lior own downfall