PROGRESS OF THE WAR

Dominion, Volume 8, Issue 2368, 26 January 1915, Page 4

PROGRESS OF THE WAR

After their raid upon the coast of Yorkshire! in which they used some of their fastest and most powerful warships in an ignoble attack upon undefended coast towns, the Germans were warned that they would try this sort of thing once too often. Events in tho North Soa, reported to-day, show that they Would have beon wise to heed the warning. Attempting a second raid of tho same kind with a force of three battle-cruisers, a big armoured cruiser, and a dostroycr flotilla, they have encountered disaster. Before they could reach thoir objective, tho I'aliWs. intwesvitfld &n3 put to flight. In the running fight which

followed the armoured cruißor (tho Blucher) was sunk and two of tho three German battle-cruisers were seriously damaged. Available accounts of the battle leave something to the imagination! but so far as tho leading facts are concerned the reports are definite and officially confirmed. The British force consisted of five of tho latest battle-cruisers, and was commanded by ViceAdmiral Sir David Beatty. the officer who inflicted a naval defeat upon the Germans at Heligoland early in the war.

The Gorman squadron probably set out from Wilhclrashaven, and had evidently got to a considerable distance from its base before it was intercepted, since the subsequent battle lasted for something over three and a half hours. Apparently the Germans were brought to action at 9.30 on Sunday morning, less than two hours after daybreak.. This implies that the British, squadron was splendidly served by its scouts and that its units did some rapid travelling to overhaul the enemy, for such ships as Sir David Beatty brought into action are much too valuable to be exposed for any length of time in the submarineinfested waters of-the lower North Sea. In any case, overhauled the Germans were, and their whole anxiety afterwards seems to have been to escape into the shelter of their minefields. The battle-cruisers got away after a running fight, but the Blucher was sunk and two of the three remaining fugitives were reduced to a more or less crippled condition.

Although the material loss inflicted upon the Germans can only bo regarded sb important, it is even more gratifying that the British Admiralwas able to penetrate the designs of the enemy and inflict a smashing attack upon the raiders long before they had reached their objective. Considering the admitted necessity of keeping capital ships as far as possible beyond the range of wasp attackfij the solution of the problem by which Sir David Beatty was faced must have been anything but easy, but he has solved it triumphantly, and in a fashion that the Germans are not likely to forget. The British victory may be expected to act as a deterrent to future German naval raids. The enterprise of slaughtering non-combatants must needs lose some of its attraction when it has to be paid for in first-class warships. That tho German ships in their latest_ raid had no thought of actual fighting is sufficiently evidenced in their flight before the British onset. The odds against them were, it is true, heavy, but not heavier than the Germans must expect to encounter in almost any conceivable naval engagement during the_ present war unless ono of a very, unimportant character.

Apparently, so far as the Germans were concerned, it was a case of the slowest ship getting tho roughest handling. The Blucher was.a Knot or two slower than her consorts and suffered accordingly. She was nevertheless a fast and powerful ship, and her destruction means a Berious loss to the German Navy. She was built at a cost of £1,349,000, and completed in 1909. Her main armament consisted of twelve 8-inch guns and she was protected with six-inch armour. ' On ner trials she attained a speed of over 26 knots. The other German ships engaged were all heavily armed battle-cruisers capable of steaming at something like 29 knots. The Derflinger, which was only completed last year, and was the newest ship in _ the German squadron, may be a trifle faster. In that event she was probably the solitary member of the raiding quartet which escaped without seriouß damage. The Derflinger carries eight 12-inch guns and is protected with 13-inch armour. The Seydlitz and Moltke, the other two battlecruisers, each carry ten 11-inch guns, and have a main armour-belt eleven inches thick. The Moltke is a sister-ship of the Goeben.

Against this force the British brought five battle-cruisers, all of recent date. Three, _ including the Lion,. which gives its name to a class, are magnificent ships of over 26,000 tons, armed with eight 13.5inch guns, and capable of a speed of over 30 knots. The New Zealand and the Indomitable belong to a slightly less powerful class. Thoy are armed with eight 12-inch guns, ■ and- have a maximum speed of about 29 knots. The benefits attaching to superior force are exemplified in the fact that the casualties on the Lion, which led the British line, amounted to only eleven men wounded. None was killed. The German loss of life was heavy. Apart from casualties on the battle-cruisers which escaped, only 123 out of the Bliicher's complement of 886 are so far reported saved.

Late accounts of the battle show that firing was heard in Friesland, the ships then being north of two of the West Friesian Islands, off the coast of Holland. The fight, however, was a running one, and the Germans would in any case take tho course indicated in retreating to their base, so that it is not yet possible to judge how near they were to tho English coast when they were sighted and chased. Tho heavy German ships were accompanied by light cruisers as well as destroyers, and thero appears to have been some fighting between this section of their force and a British destroyer flotilla under Commodore Tyrwhitt.

Whatever efforts may be made by their rulers to obscure or explain away tho facts, the fight in the North Sea will assist to drive home to the understanding of the German people that their navy has so far proved an expensive luxury.- Except lor a stray cruiser or two still evading pursuit on the high seas, its units are bottled up in harbour. German commerce is swept from the Beas, while the merchant ships of Britain and her Allies are voyaging almost as securely as if peace obtained. Something of this kind the Germans have proDably regarded as inevitable, but it is hardly likely that they will view with equanimity the almost total failure of their fleet to weaken or reduce tho naval forces at Britain's command. German submarines havo accounted for a number of British ships, bub in most cases tho vessels were old and of comparatively little fighting value. The German Navy, on the. other hand, although it has consistently evaded action, except in. the way of wasp warfare, and in tho case of tho victory of tho Scharrihorßt and Gneiscnau over a much weaker British force off Valparaiso, has lost a number of effective ships, including sovcral submarines and heavy cnusoi'S. Tho Bluchor is their most ImnoyfcMfc hm to tata,. fttid B H? *S B a far, nwxfl affective fighting aSW «*"

any unit of the British Navy accounted for by tho Germairs. The laftor have not only failed to reduce Britain's margin of naval superiority, but are faced by a steady, though slow, reduction in the effective strength of their own fleet. Britain can well afford to continue tho naval war on its present lines.

At the moment the Germane appear to have scored a minor success in the fighting near the coast of West Flanders, but it probably docs not very materially affect the general operations. The Allies wero compelled by a strong German attack to ovacuato St. Georges, two miles east of Nieuport, but the Germans have not yet succeeded in occupying the village. Further south, at Zillebeke, two miles south-east of Ypres. and elsewhere, tho Germans have been vigorously bombarding the Allied positions, but_ apparently without result. The position in the Argonne is unchanged. The Allies report that here they are maintaining all positions except at one point, where the Germans have demolished fifty or sixty yards of trenches with heavy bombs. The absence of news regarding the situation immediately east of boissons is good as suggesting that the Germans have not succeeded in extending their foothold on the northern bank of the Aisne, but at the same time indicates that efforts to drive them back to tho position from which they recently advanced have so far failed.

* * * * The French seem to be steadily pushing forward into Alsace. Following upon tho advance which carried them not long ago to the western environs of Cernay, they now report that they are gaining ground at Hartmannsweiler Kopf, three and a half miles north of that place. Hartmannsweiler Kopf is situated in the extreme eastern spurs of the Vosges, through which the Frenoh are advancing,eastward in an extended line, and lies about nine miles north-west of Mulhausen, and about 18 miles south-west of Colmar.

Good news of the New Zealand troops again comes to hand to-day. The Hon. T. Mackenzie, who has returned to England, declares that the members of the Force,in Egypt are in excellent fettle. They were disappointed, ho states, at learning that they were to break their journey in Egypt, but "bucked up" when they learned that they were soon to proceed to the front in France. No doubt the New Zealanders, although they are wintering under much pleaaanter conditions than are being endured by the troops in France and Belgium, will arrive at the'front in ample time to take part in the great effort whioh is to be made in .the spring.

In this connection it is interesting to note that the London Times, which is certainly not given to careless optimism where war preparation is concerned, speaks with prido and admiration of the new British Army whioh has been organised and trained in readiness for the spring campaign. The Times has consistently taken the line of urging the nation to unsparing and hits often complained that too little was being done, but evidently it is none the less on that account deeply impressed with the magnitude and quality of the force which- is destined to .play an important part in the great assault upon the Germans for which the Allies are maturing their plans.

. In South Africa twelve hundred rebels led by Maritz and Kemp (some of the fugitives who recently fled to German South-West Africa to escape capture when the rebellion was suppressed) have been decisively defeated by Union troops at Upington, a post on the border between Cape Colony and British Bechuanaland. Upington lies about 75 miles east of the eastern frontier of German South-West Africa. The attempt of the rebels to create a diversion at this point seems to have been easily checked, but it does not appear that the Union troops pursued their advantage. No doubt they are content to hold the long northern border of the Union territory. Union forces may be advancing north into tho German colony further west, but probably the main attack is hased on Swakopmund, the coast station, recently captured by the British, which is the terminus of railways running into the interior.

The unfortunate Turks seem to bo a prey to every conceivable variety of misfortune. It is now reported from Petrograd that the Russians have sunk a steamer carrying the en-' tire Turkish air-fleet of sixteen aeroplanes. The message, however, is not yet officially confirmed.