PROGRESS OF THE WAR

Dominion, Volume 8, Issue 2324, 4 December 1914, Page 4

PROGRESS OF THE WAR

The.fog of war. has . apparently descended upon, the /operations in Flanders and Northern France, for despite persistent rumours of an important battle the situation is stated to be still-obscure. A French comtnujiiquc details' a series of encounters along the battle-f rbrit; but makes no/reference to anything approaching a formal b'sttle.' An attack by the enemy at Sainte Loi, south of .seems to have, developed into something more than a minor enthat is to say, by comparison with the magnitude of the major, battles lin this , titanic war. The' British front, according to the observations of The Times's military correspondent, has now been contracted,and. occupies a mucb more secure position than before,' -when its attenuated line was exposed to' very seribus'_ datiger,' being only saved from disasterJby the. heroiq valour of the troops, assisted hy the paralysing tactics, of. the Indians in their night &t'tkcka." » » » a 'The march of ,in . Poland leaves the Russians' itill masters of the situation, Jor Respite the modest statement in the' official report from Petrograd that the issue of the conflict js f still undecided, it is clear th'stt the German offehsivo movement has been utterly broken, and that the only issue .remaining to be decided. •is whether the enemy's commanders will bo able to extricate their- armies from the cut de- sac into which, they have apparently rushed in time toevade capture. On present, the.position of at least;. a.., portion, of , General von Mackensen sLcentre.., armies would seem .to be hopeless,' and that .only, a remnant of that portion can poissiply., hope to escape. In the south, ; the Russian." advance upon' Cracow has reached Wieliczka, Eoveh miles and a half ,south-;east of Cracow, which is now partially enveloped,., the enveloping . movement Having, aspreyipuily reported,'.effected the severance 'of the communications of the Austrian armies with their German allies. It is now officially announced that the New Zealand and., .Australian Expeditionary Forces are in' Egypt': Turkish troops have already reached the Egyptian,frontier,, and at least , qne.:angagomen{'iasV£Men- : :placo.. It will be the duty of our men, if necessary, v to assist in repelling the Otto; man in'vision,' a'nd during their; stay in the land of tHe Phaeaohs their military training will be completed.' At..t.Hq, ( present .moment, they, can, do good .work' f6f.tHe\Emplre ih'Egy'p't', and Lord Kitchener is strongly of" opinion that a stay in that country for a while would be in the best interests pf ; the men,themselves, as,tent life, in mid-winter in England would be' very trying after a- long tropical voyage. When their training has been finished they':'will go _on to Europe and fight alongside the other British troops. Our men will be, stationed where they are>. most needed,- and that 1 is the first consideration. . . ••,•■• ; A.newspaper correspondent who has been allowed to pay a visit to Kiel "is permitted to tell the world," so a cablegram informs us, "that Germany is rapidly enlarging her submarine fleet, and now claims to have more vessels of that class than Britain." No one is inclined to dis-pute-the statement that Germany is. buildirig submarines as quickly ..as she cah< butitm'ay also be taken for granted-that Britain is not idle, and it is quite certain that Britain- can build faster than her enemies. There is good reason to .bqlieve; however; that Kiel is in a state of great' activity, and that preparations are being made to strike a direct blow at England. We are told that submarines, 7 and waterplaneß,' and -floating batteries'.,.are '.being., built, in feverish haste. _ Invasion, naval raids, and Zeppelin'attacks have.all been predicted. It was recently stated that. Germany-was constructing a powerful fleet of new,, Zeppe-, lins to be used for dropping bombs in' and ,for, n shelling, ourfleet,.,.,. There is probably,, a, .lot of exaggeration in. these! rumours,' but it is by no means unlikely, that .the enemy -is' making- preparation's. |o]r a sensational. attack', oh Englarid, j possibly by Bea.and, air simultaneously. ~ it .»' #.; #~;,' „ /The naval correspondent of ,*Thc Times .declares that"it ,is .always possible, .that, „ when. every, hope' ■ of ,qb.taining. decisive victory, "on..the Continent, is-.-.gon'e,; an attempt may. be made by the.Germans to throw troop'? • upon .the. shores,of. Britain'.. •, It' is natural to' .expect.,that,.such., an at tempt' ( would ,be preceded.-,by,a,sea battle rather than that it. should take' place,simultaneously with the issue of the fleet from ; .the' enemy's)ports. But the not likely, to sail ,o.u.t'. in, force. un'til. the existmg margin.of superiority.oi.thq,British Navy, Has been very.materially reduced. This margin is, however, as great at the present.time as it was at the outset of, the, war,' in' spite of the, continuous' activity .and daring exploits" of the Gorman submarines: ~•'•'.

• .Referring ,to the. submarines, The Times, correspondent states, that the part they-will play in .a big engagement at sea is yet unknown, but this at least is certain, that wo' have a larger number than the'enemy, : .. and. our personnel, with a higher,training, .is assuredly as active and as daring as theirs. If Zeppelins get across the Channel they will not.be ■allowed to 1 have it all their own way. They. will .bo ..by, British airmen, and it .is stated that _ "ttie cxtremo'vulnerability of .the airship aflti.the .essential lightness of,.her armament —although, it ■is , heaviqri than that of the aeroplane—should render hev, chances small whei she' is attacked with Vigour by several hostile.. planes,'',., As Mr. Runciman recently,,, remarked, Britain has courageous m6n in the Flying.; Corps,,,who, have,-already.paid' their.reipiJotßlfo: sheds' of. and thojr have "pledged.

themselves to a still more courageous feat if the Zebpelins reach England, They will dash their machines right; through the airships, even if both; aeroplane .and Zeppeliii are brought' to earth as the ipsult. Nothing would do more to stimulate recruiting than an airship raid on London* e it. s a The capture of De Wet will no' doubt prove the beginning of the end of the South African rebellion. The vigorous measures taken by General Botha to suppress the tion hold the movement in check from the outset, arid the rebels soon began to see that their cause was hopeless. Nothing' in the nature of a general rising took place, and the 3 trouble was confined to a compara-' tively small group of irreconcilables.'; The Government forces hunted the; rebels from point to point, and De l Wet's following began to desert him.Here and there the insurgents made' 1 ' a stand, but the Government had'i the trouble wll -in hand, and De' : .Wet and his men were' at length forced to .see that the revolt was a' complete failure. Now that their leader.'has been captured the disheartened and disappointed rem-' nants of the movement may be ex-, pected to ; surrender or melt away.j The Government of (South Africa/ will then be free to'turn its atten- 1 .tion to the conquest of adjacent Ger- ; man territory. *#* « ; The French newspapers express] great satisfaction at the visit whichi King George has paid to the fronfc.N The King's presence in the fighting"; lines was a practical proof of his: sympathy for his soldiers and of his 1 , desire to see for himself that every-; thing possible is being .done for their!; welfare. From the commencement of' the war His Majesty has taken the'', greatest pains to acquire direct per-: sonal knowledge regarding the'' health, training, arid equipment of • his troops,' and, how he has made' himself acquainted by personal in-| spection with tho soft of life Tommy; Atkins lives when actually in warfare.. The King's visit is sure? to have. given great encouragement to the British 1 soldiers and their; French comrades. * ft .»; . * , The ways of Kin'g George are veryi, different from those of Kaiser Wiw' liam. The. French newspapers lay; stress on ihis fact; ; and contrast huf unobtrusiveiess. with the theatrical- 1 ism of tho German, Emperor. "" TheKing uh'd'erstan'ls the British tem* perament perfectly, : and knows how to say and do the right thing in tho right way at the right.timo. He does' not make boastful and. bombastic', speeches',' nor does he make any claim;; to know, all things in heaven and;' earth, or to, be an expert in all, trades and professions. He is conj ten to behave in a mariner befitting!, an English -King. \lt is- imp'ossiblo, to imagine King, George, addressing such words as these to his troops:! t","Eemem'bßr l you, are,, the,-elect,;people. The spirit.of tlie.Lord.bas; descendedupon, me because I am the Emperor of thej, Germans. I am the instrument of th«|; Almighty. I am His. sn;ord, His repw eeiitativo. Destruction, and death to aU who resist .my will; destruction and death! to those who : do not believe in my mission; destruction aid- death,,to cowards* May'- all the- enemies of. the German people perish. God demands, their God, Who speaks through me, commands' you to execute His .will."' ']:'. The above is the'text' of a mation by the Kaiser to his Army*, on. the.occasion.-of a.,recent,visit to the Eastern' front. ; Such sacrilogio'ug' 'bombast may not" be offensive to German e.ars, but it certainly does nob' accord with- British' conception's o£j kingly dignity. * » * * President Wilson recently . acw dressed the Kaiser as "a friend',tc[l a friend." ■ Such mildness does noft find favour with the President of the Carnegie Institute (Mr. Wood? ward) whose reply to a German fessof.'s manifesto was published ;ir| our cable colurhns. yesterday.... Mr*, Woodwabd speaks' with scathing! frankness: "We can only exeorata your Emperor, who has driven troopS to, slaughter their brethren and .6* slaughtered in .this, bloody arid un'i speakable conflict.".' Such plain! speaking is quite a refreshing cotu tr&st to President Wilson's lainq attempts to say things about the wa'rj which will not give offence in Ber*j Hn. Me. Woodwahd'b outßpokeri words recall tho lines written .byj Mao'ad'lay in to's eßsay" on Frederic. the Great: , , ,_ N_ ] The -King of Prussia had fully deter! mined to commit the Ereat crime of viol lating his plighted faith and of plunging) all Europe into a long and desolating'" war to extend his dominions. On .the head of Frederio is all the blood shed inj a war which raged in every quarter of,' the globe, and in order that he mighy: rob a neighbour he had promised to de% fend,,.blacK men fo,ught 4 on the coast of Coromandel, and fed men scalped each) other.-by the Great Lakes of Notts America, ' \ It is one of the present Kaiser'js| : fixed ideas that the mantle of eric -the Great has fallen - on, h'ilj, shoulders. A_ correspondent ■of th& Spectator points out that' ay's words might have been written} to-day, arid they, show tbaf thjo Hm henzolierris' have always been thef curse of Europe. - .} ! '•-.- • ... ■ •■■■ *, f: * '-• ...J • I The, German Crown, Prince; is feX ported to have inforiried an AmerlA can interviewer that, there is no: War Party in Germany. Probably; the interview is the outcome of a feitf tile imagiriation, on the part' of :anj American, newspaper reporter, bui is\ the Crown Prinoe did.make the] ; remarks attributed to him he migbjj as, well have said that there. is. nqj.) war..and, that the,,world,,.is merely) : experiencing an ( unpleasant dreanfj, One wonders whether r.tho. ~Orowk> PRiNCE'ever heard ,6f BERNHARgiy oil Treitsohke,', .arid their, .talk imposing Gefman. "culture',' on "they other decadent and enfeebled pec-'* pics.'.'. Perhaps the Prinoe would) tell us..that the Kaiser was, joking}' when;in the year 1900,. on the occtp siori of the coinplction. of ,a fort* ho said:'. "I christen thee Fort Haeset, ler. Thou wilt be called upon, to' : : defend,the conquests of Germany,' upon her .Western foes." ~, This if is quite. in keeping, with Bernhardl'b declaratibn that "France must bo s's completely crushed that she can! never again come across oiif .path'.'J The Crown Prince ,is on much su'reii ground whea he state's that Germanyii is fighting for her existence. Ofj course sha, is. But she is fighting for ,hor existerico only because .shal deliberately plained to take awajs; the .existence of,,other States. Shej is like an armed burglar fightintf) for lifo against tho police. ■&