PROGRESS OF THE WAR

Dominion, Volume 8, Issue 2310, 18 November 1914, Page 4

PROGRESS OF THE WAR

"Situation unchanged," to quote the words of a Paris telegram, sums up the latest news regarding tho position in Prance and Belgium. Previous messages indicated that German attacks have been repulsed in the neighbourhood of Dixmudo and Ypres, and that the Allies ha.vo once more assumed the offensive. The French newspapers describe the recent British attack on the Prussian Guards at Zohnabeke as one of the noblest episodes in our'military annals. The Kaiser has ordered his troops to annihilate General French's "contemptible" little army, but the attempt of the Prussian Guards to carry out their instructions nearly resulted in their own obliteration. A desperate hand-to-hand fight ended in the rout of the Germans. Brave deeds like this should receive the fullest publicity. Lord Roberts had episodes of this kind in his mind when he urged that the war correspondents "should be permitted to write up the details of the glorious actions whicE have been fought by our troops in France."' Accounts of encounters like that which took place at Zohnabeke cannot fail to have a stimulating effect on the recruiting movement. » » » » Some very determined fighting is going on between the Russians and Germans in East Prussia, and in spite of strong resistance the Muscovite army is forcing its way forward in the Soldau district. A message from Berlin announces that the Russian army operating in Russian Poland has met with a reverse, and that it has been thrown back on Plock. News from this source,however, cannot safely bo relied upon. German-made reports of German victories have so often proved to bo either gross exaggerations or complete fabrications that the outside world is justified in declining to accept such messages from Berlin without confirmation from moro reliable quarters. * # # *

The economic pressure of the war is being sorely felt in Germany. It was recently announced that the petitions in bankruptcy filed in Hamburg alone since the commencement of the struggle discloso a deficit of no less than £25,000,000, and a message from Copenhagen, published in this issue, states that farseeing commercial men realise that Germany's prosperity is being sapped, and that the prolongation of the war will spell eventual ruin. Britain's sea power has paralysed the enemy's overseas commerce, and effective steps are being taken by British merchants and manufacturm'Si with tbo■ Mswfcßoeo .of tho .Gorarnmenti to suflture Gozmanx'a.

lost trade. Much has already been done in this direction, and a great effort will be made to retain permanently the now markets which are being secured for British goods. It must bo extremely galling for the commercial community of Germany to have to look helplessly on and see their trade passing into other hands. They now realise that Germany has been checkmated, and they put the blame on Britain. The work of years has collapsed beforo their eyes, and the longer the war continues tho more complete will be the ruin and tho more difficult the task of reconstruction. The Copenhagen correspondent of The Times recently stated that tho only trades prospering in Germany are those which are adapted to supply articles useful for military purposes. Purchases of food and clothing have been greatly reduced, tlie publication of books is at a standstill, the trade in jewellery is dead, and the silk industry has been hit with particular severity because rich customers havo been tho first to stop buying.

Checked by' serious reverses on two fronts, and apparently acting upon the maxim that desperate diseases require desperate remedies, the Germans are inciting the civil population of East Prussia- to take up arms and wage guerrilla warfare upon the advancing Russians. If this be the truth—the statement comes from Amsterdam—then the successful invaders of that territory, with the best intention to fight their way according to the strict rules of war, will bo compelled to take extreme measures to protect themselves. The rules of civilised warfare, as recognised and attested to by the great Powers, confer certain rights and privileges upon combatants and non-combatants: civilians are distinguished from soldiers, and the absolutely unarmed neutrality of the former is their only guarantee of safety from molestation. Civilians caught in unauthorised acts of hostility are summarily shot, whilo bona-fide soldiers, who may be captured, are entitled to tho protection mutually agreod upon by the belligerents for the treatment of prisoners of war. If only a small proportion of tho civil population of East Prussia respond to tho invitation of the German. Staff to bocome irregular combatants the whole innocent country-side will be exposed to the rigorous scrutiny and relentless discipline of the invader. Germany has already violated the canons of direct military conduct in the unspeakable atrocities which have been committed in the name of her army in Belgium; her extremity must indeed be dire if she is forced to ask her citizens in East Prussia to commit themselves to a form of warfare which will expose -them to perils—to say nothing of the ignominy—much greater than those which her regular soldiers have to face.' ' ' * * * * The rumours about # mediation are once more being revived, but very little reliance need be placed upon them. Count Seegius Witte (a member of the Russian Council of Empire) has thought it necessary to deny a report that he has been endeavouring to promote mediation in Petrograd. He declares emphatically that Russian public opinion will not agree to the consideration of peace proposals until after Prussian militarism has been crushed. Public opinion in Britain and France is just as hostile to anything in the nature of a patched-up peace, and public men have declared over and over again that the war must go on until the aggressive ambitions of the Prussian military caste have received their death-blow. The Allies have resolutely refused to listen to any suggestions for mediation. It is to bo a fight to a finish. They will not for a moment consent to the declaration of a drawn game, and they have definitely decided that, when the. time for a settlement arrives they will make peace jointly. Germany would like to,divide the Entente Powers, but, they havo agreed in the most solemn manner to act together till the end of the -war, and till the terms of peace are finally fixed. It is their declared intention to march their armies through the streets of Berlin as a demonstration to-the German people that the mana of the Prussian junker has been overr thrown. ' # # # # ■ The report that the Germans are withdrawing troops from the Eastern theatre to reinforce the army in the Franco-Belgian campaign would seem to be justified by recent descriptions o.f tho youthful appearance of tho'latest recruitments for the operations against the Russians, and also the proclamation inviting the civilian inhabitants of East Prussia to take up arms as. guerrilla fighters. Ever since the Kaisee's move against Calais, the battle-front from Nieuport to Arras has been the scene of the most violent fighting, culminating in the battle of Ypres—described as the greatest battle of the war—and the German losses have been truly appalling. Whatever temporary successes were scored, were' 1 scored at heavy loss, and all these successes were subsequently nullified by the recapture —also' at heavy losses to the enemy—of the positions taken. Tho cumulative effect of' these reverses must bo paralysing to the morale of the Germans, and the only effective counter-agent would be a victory or fresh troops in the first lino. It may not be altogether correct to say that the reinforcements referred to are being drafted from the Russian battle-front; it is more probably the case that the interior garrisons are being drawn on in exchange for war-worn troops from the front. » * » .* It is exceedingly probable that the great efforts which the Germans are making to get possession of the coast from Antwerp to Calais are the outcome of an imperative desire to connect up their naval and military operations. Tho Kiel Canal has recently been the scene of unusual activity, and, commenting on this fact, the military correspondent of the London Times states that the time must come when the German fleet will put out to sea with the object of carrying _ out some desperate enterprise, with tho probable co-operation of tho army. When that day arrives the greatest naval battle in tho world's history will probably be fought. The Germans will, if possible, chooso their own time for coming out, and will do their best to take our fleet at a disadvantage; but it may be taken for granted that almost every conceivable emergency has been prepared for by" the British naval experts. Bernhakdi has declared that "the boldest spirit of attack and the most reckless audacity must go hand in hand with tho employment of every means which mechanical skill and the scionw of naval construction and .fortification can. sujajply., This is

the only way by whioh we may hope j so to weaken our proud opponent that we may_ in the end challenge him to a decisive engagement in .the open sea." The people of Germany have recently been showing some signs of impatience at the long inactivity of the great navy from which they have been taught to expect so much, and some attempt will have to be made, sooner or later, to justify its existence. It is certain of a very warm reception when it sails out from its shelter, • for Admiral Jellicoe and his men are looking forward with eager expectation to the opportunity of coming to grips with the enemy on the open sea.