PROGRESS OF THE WAR

Dominion, Volume 8, Issue 2367, 25 January 1915, Page 4

PROGRESS OF THE WAR

Nobler work in tic air is reported to-day than the stealthy raid by Zeppelins upon undefended towns and villages in Norfolk. Both sides have been active, but the particulars supplied indicate that the Allied airmen have once again demonstrated that they are decidedly superior to their German opponents both in attack and defence. The raid made by two British aviators upon Zeebrugge is an effective rejjly to the Norfolk raid, and stands in honourable contrast to that disgraceful affair. The little Belgian port of Zeebrugge is now a stronghold pure and simple, defended by powerful batteries and used by the Germans as a base for their submarines. The British aviators, both of whom returned safely, damaged a submarine lying in the port, and it is believed tnat they killed a number of gunners in the batteries. The superior $kill of the British aviators is evidenced in tho fact that Commander Davieb got clear away from seven German aeroplanes which surrounded him in a reconnoitring flight made bj him prior to tho raid. Though slightly wounded on this occasion, he was one of the two aviators who subsequently made a successful attack on Zeebrugge. ■* * * * A dozen German aeroplanes bombarded Dunkirk on Friday morning, and besides damaging a dock shed and t'hc United States Consulate, killed seven people and wounded twelve others. 'The raiders did not get off scot-free, however, for they were pursued by French, British, and Belgian aircraft, and one of them was brought down by the British over the Belgian frontier. * * * * Still another exploit recorded today is that of a French airman who dropped several bombs at Bruges. Aviators in tho Paris camp are reported to have sworn to ram any Zeppelins attacking the city, though this would necessarily involve the loss of their own lives. No doubt this heroic sacrifice is looked to as the final resort, but a collision involving mutual destruction does not by any means exhaust the possibilities of aeroplane attack on Zeppelins. The aeroplane is a much faster and handier craft, and under reasonably favourable conditions aeroplanes should be able to destroy the relatively clumsy airships by dropping bombs on them from above, or otherwise, without sharing their fate. * * * *

Recent messages regarding _ the fighting in France and Belgium, and in particular the official summary published on Saturday, make it plain that the German offensive has everywhere been definitely stemmed except, perhaps, in the near neighbourhood of Soissons, whore the position remains, more_ or less in doubt. Generally speaking, tho Allies are firmly holding stronglyentrenched positions against which the Germans periodically hurl heavy masses of troops in vain attempts to break through. To-day's messages tell of the continuation of these attacks, but they appear to have been uniformly unsuccessful and it is recorded that in a number of cases the Allies retorted with vigorous counter-attacks. The Germans have lost some ground east of Lombaertzyde, on the Belgian coast, close to Nieuport, and it is reported that the Allies have made slight, but important, progress at other points, notably .at Festubert, two miles west of La Bassee, and in the Woevre district whero they are stated to be threatening the German communications with Metz.

Broadly speaking, however, a siege war continues in which tho Allies are apparently capable of holding their own indefinitely while the Germans are sacrificing many men in fruitless attempts to break through the stubborn barrier of troops and trenchcs which blocks their advance. It is not suggested, of course, that the Allies will be content to let the conflict prooeed on its present lines for any great length of time. Already they are advancing slowly at somo points and all the time they are preparing for the greater effort of thrusting back the German invar sion which as yet has only been checked. According to the official summary which we have mentioned the Allies have only to prepare with tireless patience and the German defensive will be broken as their offensive has been. The great difference at tho moment between the fortunes of the two Armies which are struggling so desperately for mastery in France and Belgium seems to be that while the Germans are making a free call upon their resources in their unremitting attacks upon the defences of the Allies the latter are not wholly extended in repelling these attacks, but are steadily building up their strength for the offensive movement to which their plans are directed.

One cablegram to-day gives the substance of statements by two French generals who were interviewed in Paris. These officers agree in stating that it is no longer in the power of the Germans to advance, and one of them (General Dukbal) declares that tho Allies could break the German lines at any time. This is perhaps unduly optimistic, but still it is clear that the Allies are more than holding their own in sioge-war with the Germans. To have stopped the German advance is in itself a great achievement, and nodoubt only a sufficient body of reinforcements is required to cap it with the greater achievement of enforcing a German retreat. At, the same time the statement attributed to General Durbal probably paints tho situation in too rosy a light. Loud Kitchener was reported recently to havo said that the war woulcl "begin" in May, and whether or not ho made the remark it is doubtless the ease tliat a great deal of preparation still lies ahead of the Allies before they make their supreme effort to drive the Germans back into their own territory.

Foe months the French had to stand on the defensive in the Woevre district, where the Germans, earlier in the war, thrust forward a wedgo of troops and gained a footing on the western side of the Meusc at St. Mihiel, which stands about midway between Vemun and Toul. St. Mihiel is the point of a wedgeshaped "pocket" which broadens out towards the frontier on tho cast. The base of the German operations is the fortress of Metz, 35 miles north-east of St. Mihiel. For a long time tho most easterly point reached by tho French force oppos ing the German wedge was Thiocourt, standing about 13 miles east-north-east of St." Mihicd, but lately they have been iraking headway north of Pont>a-Mousson, which lies eight miles further east, ancl it is now reported that the German communications with Met/ have been narrowed down to one road, and that the loss of this road would mean the instant cutting off of the enemy's force in the St. Mihiel pocket, and the defeat of their efforts to encircle Verdun.

Ohe message showing the position of the opposing armies west of the Argonne indicates that the Allies have lately made progress north-east of Reims. Leaving the Argonne, the line passes Ville-sur-Tourbe, 24 miles west of the outlying Verdun forts, and then turns north-north-west to Vouziers, which is 18 miles distant in that direction. Vouziers, also, is IS miles north-east of Reims. Beausejour, which has been tho scene of a great deal of fighting recently, is a farm on the line between Ville-sur-Tourbe and Vouziers. Ville-sur-Tourbe is in the hands of the Germans, but. the French now hold the crest of a plateau stretching north from Beausejour to Vouziers. * * * * The Germais have recently _ been vigorously assaulting the positions held by the French in the Albertregion, about fifty miles east-north-east of Soissons, but the French, who occupy in this "quarter a plateau commanding important roads and threatening the German line, appear to be maintaining an unshaken defence. * * * * There is a comparative dearth of news from the Eastern theatre today, but continued fighting is reported in North Poland, along the Lower Vistula, and the Russian force threatening Hungary has now reached a point within four miles of Dorna Vatra, where the borders of Bukowina and Transylvania meet the frontier of Rumania. The Russians are also preparing to advance down the Bistritz Valley, which runs south-east towards Dorna Vatra, with a view- to cutting off the Austrian defending force hom Transylvania and driving it into Rumania. * * * * Apart from tho fact that his I treachery has resulted in his final expulsion from the kingdom of which he was the nominal ruler, the ex-Khedive of Egypt seems to have fallen between two stools. It is now stated that the Young Turks had it in mind to elevate Enyer Pasha to the throne of Egypt, so that any dreams of an independent kingdom which the ex-Kiiedive may .have harboured were apparently not [shared in his behalf by his fellowconspirators. Fortunately the aspirations of Envee Pasha are not likely to bo put to any very serious test, for while many conflicting stories have come to hand about the Turkish force destined for the invasion of Egypt, they have nearly all agreed in describing it as illorganised and poorly equipped for its task. Within the Ottoman Empire things seem to be going from bad to worse. The statement that the Turkish heir-apparent is at the head of a growing movement in favour of a speedy peace is not improbable, for the Sultan himself is believed to have favoured a neutral policy. It "was Enver Pasha and his associates of tho Young Turk Party who forced their country into war. Control has now passed _ from this faction to the German military dictator of Turkey, Marshal yon der Goltz, who is reported to be imprisoning aIJ open advocates of peace.