PROGRESS OF THE WAR

Dominion, Volume 8, Issue 2372, 30 January 1915, Page 6

PROGRESS OF THE WAR

According to the Daily News correspondent at Athens, tbo Turks aro planning an advance on Egypt in three lines, the first near"the coast, the second twelve miles inland, and i the third further south. Except as | regards the coastal route, these indications are vague, for the inland routes will necessarily run at varying distances from the coast, owing to physical features of the desert east of the Suez Canal. It is also stated that German engineers are constructing a light railway and keeping pace with the advance, 'in order to supply the troops with water. If anything of the kind is really being attempted it may be taken for granted that the advance will bo extremely slow. » * * * The only existing railway available in furtherance of the invasion is the Mecca railway, which starts out from Damascus and runs south through Syria cast of the Dead Sea until it turns into Arabia and pursues a course parallel with the coast of the Red Sea. The lino is a good one, built and equipped under German supervision, possibly with a strategic purpose in view, but in its nearest approach to the Egyptian frontier it is more than fifty miles east of Akabah, on the eastern side of the Sinai Peninsula. At the same point (opposite Akabah) the railway is about 185 miles east of the Suez Canal, and further north the distance between the railway and the Canal iB greater. _ The task which the Turks, or their German helpers, are said to have undertaken is therefore that of constructing in desert territory a light railway which under the most favourable circumstances would have to be some two hundred miles in length. Apart from military considerations, it is extremely unlikely that the Turks are in command of the, resources which would enable them to achieve such a feat in engineering construction. It is a factor, of course, that the line-would oither have to be provided with special rolling-stock or built of a gauge and strength which would enable it to bear the rollingstock used on the Mecca railway. All things considered, this Btory of enterprising railway construction is hardly more convincing than the German fable (manufactured for Arab consumption) about the aeroplane which flew in at the window of Buckingham Palace and carried off the King. * * * * If the Turks do attempt the difficult feat of building a railway across the desert, nothing is more certain than that they will not be allowed to build it in peace. Following either of the inland lines indicated to-day, the railway would be within easy striking distance from the coast, and so long as warships and their guns are available the British forces can use that coast route at their pleasure.

Admiral Beatty's success in intercepting the German raiding squad- , ron _ emphasises the fact that submarines, although they can and do hamper naval operations, are powerless to stop them altogether, even in sea areas within a comparatively short distance of' their base. In the North Sea battle the German submarines were necessarily left a long way behind the battle-cruisers,, for no submarine afloat is capable, even when travelling on the surface, of anything like the speed at which a fast cruiser steams. In spite of some recent tall talk by the Germans about super-submarines, a squadron submarine capable of keeping pace with a battle squadron is still a dream of the navaL,(jesigners. Some of the latest British submarines are capable of <a speed of twenty knots on the surfaoe and twelve submerged, but many of the older though still serviceable boats are a long way short of these speeds. It is doubtful if the best of the German submarines are as fast as the latest British boats, but even if they are they are quite incapable of accompanying and protecting a battlecruiser squa.dron like that which raced out into the North Sea on Sunday last, and back again, at a speed of closS on thirty Knots an hour. In almost any imaginable naval 1 battle on' a big scale submarines would only be able to take part if the bigger ships succeeded in luring the enemy within reaoh. The pursuit of a beaten enemy is thus beset nowadays with complications from which it was happily free in the days when' under-water warships were unknown. * * * * From' Admiral Beatty's report it is clear that the immediate cause making it necessary to break off the engagement was the presence of the enemy's submarines and not the fact that the retreating ships had reached the German minefields. No doubt if the submarines had been eliminated, the British ships might have risked the mines, but the presence of the submarines compelled a halt in the pursuit. Evidently in this instance the German submarines were left in the line of route followed by the battle-cruisers on their outward journey. Since they were planning, not a battle but a raid, to be followed in any case by a speedy retreat to port, no other course was open to the Germans, but in actual naval battles, if any such are fought before the end of the war, the judicious placing of submarines may bo a very important factor in determining the -result.

Meantime lack of speed seems to be the principal shortcoming of the submarine and until its present speed has been greatljr increased the big battleship and the battle-cruiser will probably continue to hold their present dominant place in naval warfare. At tho same time it has to be admitted that the submarine, though it has not yet made the existence of tbe big battleship impossible, has already revolutionised the conditions of naval warfare and naval blockade as they aro being carried on in tho North Sea A naval officer writing recently to a friend in Australia characterised the position in the North Sea as "humorous." He pointed out that the waters of the North Sea were swarming with submarines of both sides, neither of them in a position to attack their enemy prototypes.,.- Necessarily, tho presence of the submarines imposes some restrictions upon the movements, of surface warships, but Admiral Beatty's dash at the German raiders is the most'striking demonstration yet afforded of the fact that the repressive influence of the submarine is, after all._ limited. It is quite possible that if the British squadron had not been saddled with the task of escorting to safety the battle-cruiser Lion and the destroyer Meteor, which were crippled by German fire, it might not so willingly havo relinquished the pursuit of its prey. That Htibmume attacks can k aucoMaijiUl wuded off bi a pro*

teefcing screen of destroyers has been demonstrated on a number of occasions in the British naval bombardment of the German positions on the Belgian coast, and was even more, strikingly demonstrated in tbe naval raid on Cuxbaven. •** * * War news relating to the Western front available to-day oonsists mainly of a sort of washing-up statement regarding the activities which marked the Kaiser's birthday. The Allies are able to announce with pardonable pride that, although the enemy made great efforts on this German day of days, and launched many attacks,, they uniformly failed to make good. Operations on the whole front, according to the official report, favoured the Allies. The Gorman attacks were repulsed, the Frenoh are progressing, and m Belgium several of the enemies' trenches were demolished. Tho net result of the birthday operations must be a , bitter pill for tne Kaiser to swallow. I * * * * Recent Trench progress seems to have been made principally in the Vosges and in Alsace, but details are lacking. The positions west of Graonno (22 miles east of Soissons), which have recently been hotly contested, are firmly held by the French, | but there is still an absence of news regarding the position immediately east of Soissons, where the Germans I have reached, the bank of the Aisne. The continued dearth of news from Belgium bears out reports that operations along a great part of the line in West Flanders are suspended /or the present, owing to inundations. if * # * Details are given to-day of the engagement at Givenchy. on the La Bassee-Bethune Canal, about a mile and a half west of La Bassee. It is described as the biggest affair in,I which the British have recently been engaged. The Germans found a passable nighway through an inundated area, and by a sudden onslaught j penetrated tbe British defences. Their tenure, however, was short. Reinforcements were quickly brought up and a counter-attack was pressed with great gallantry. Some of the British troops waded knee-deep through a marsh, exposed to a heavy fire. Hundreds of lives were lost on both sides, but in the final event the British not only regained,all that they had lost, but are said to be now breaking new ground. * * * a A late message regarding the fighting in the. neighbourhood of La Bassee shows that the Germans made a big effort to pierce the Allies' line at this point, and it is stated that the assault was witnessed by the Kaiser. If it was, the sight must have been anything but a pleasant one to him, for the plans of nis commanders seem to have been anticipated in practically every detail. Save at Givenchy, where they secured a temporary advantage, the Germans, were outgeneralled at every point. In any case, they suffered a staggering repulse, and their ambitiously planned enterprise was a dismal failure. * » * * The commander of a Turkish army corps has been executed, at the ihstance of Enveb Bey, for blundering at Kara Urgan, on the northern frontier of- Asia Minor, where the Turks were heavily defeated by the Russians. This seems to be a fine example of the actual criminal executing a scape-goat, for before they were beaten at Kara Urgan the Turks were crushingly defeated at Sarikamysh, in tbe - Russian province. of Ears. Their commander on that occasion was Enver Bey, and it'is quite evident that his blundering ineptitude in_ leading his troops into an impossible position contributed directly not only to the disaster at Sarikamysh, but to the subsequent defeat at Kara Urgan, when Enver Bey had laid down his command and gone, though not to hide his head, at Constantinople. Probably there are not many countries in the world except Turkey where it would be possible for an absolutely discredited general not only to retain the reins of power, but to order the execution of comrades braver than himself, who remain in the fighting line.