PROGRESS OF THE WAR.

Dominion, Volume 8, Issue 2385, 15 February 1915, Page 4

PROGRESS OF THE WAR.

Stirring r nows comes to-day of a great raid by British airmen upon Belgian forts and inland towns held by the Germans, the force engaged being the largest ever assembled for such a purpose. The object of the raiders was to harry the submarine bases and establishments which the Germans have, for some time past been developing both on the Belgian coast and inland. Besides using Zeebrugge, Ostend, and other ports as submarine havens, the Germans have been using the railways and canals of Belgium in connection with the transportation of these cra.ft. Some time ago it was reported that a number of small submarines had been carried overland from Germany to Bruges by rail, and taken to the sea along the canals which connect that city with Ostend, Zeebrugge, and other ports. The Belgian coast and the canalised, country lying behind it are thus of very great importance to the Germans in. connection with the submarine "blockade" which they are threatening to develop on a big scale.

Apparently the raid was conducted quite openly, the aviators trusting to .their skill and courage to pull them'through. _ There is a picturesque description of the aeroplanes crossing from the south-east coast of England, strung out like a flight of wild duck. Making their attack they were assailed with every anti-aircraft weapon that the Germans could bring to bear, but they did their work and came away' without loss of life, though two machines were damaged. _ Taught -by the experience of previous raids, tKe Germans kept their submarines concealed, but much damage was done to buildings, including the Ostend and other railway stations. In that particular part of Belgium the railways will be much used in the transport of supplies for refitting and repairing submarines, and the damage will doubtless have its effect on the submarine campaign, though none of I these vessels were thelnselves exposed to attack.

It is significant that no German aircraft appear to have sallied out to attack the raiders, and the fact bears out the assertion often made that British and Frenoh aviators have established a complete' moral ascendancy over their German antagon-' ists. German aircraft have done a good deal of raiding, but they have very often been met and repelled by Allied aircraft in inferior strength. They have been very useful to German comnianders, no doubt, as scouts and so on, but departing from routine they-have achieved fiothing much better than tho stealthy raid by Zeppelins upon undefended towns in Norfolk. The Allied airmen, on the other hand, have to their credit quite a long list. of bold attacks upon German strongholds and military depots of various kinds, of which this dash by thirty-four aeroplanes and seaplanes upon the subbarine area in Belgium is the last and most striking. No doubt this is only a step towards even groater things. In spite of all their boasting ; about giant airships, the Germans' up to the present occupy a position of relative _ insignificance I where aerial warfaro is concerned.

Apart from the big raid, several achievements by Allied airmen arc reported to-day. A party of five airmen bombed an aerodrome near Mulhausen, in Alsace, and a British aviator is reported to have bombarded a fort at Antwerp, killing 35 German soldiers. Successful attacks of this kind are now of almost daily occurrence, and evidence is piling up which jjoes to show that while the Zeppelin is a fighting-machine of doubtful value, the aeroplane and seaplane arc very formidal le engines of war. The big German airships have not only accomplished little in actual use, but are liable to destruction by aeroplane attack, even when housed in their sheds. The damage that the Allied airmen aro able to inflict; upon the German establishments and depots of various kinds, however, sta.nds second in importance to the fact that they seem to be in a [air way to establish a command of the H.ir tiiroilar to that which the .Allied fleets kid upon th& tea,

The aeroplane renders its supreme service as an instrument of scouting and reconnaisance, since by its aid movements and dispositions of troops can bo detected which before the days of air-scouting could have been easily conducted in secret. Anything that tends to limit the activities of German airmen is therefore of even greater importance than tho damage that can be inflicted by aerial bombardment, and it is here that the superior courage and address of the Allied airmen is likely to tell most severely against the Germans. There can be no doubt that tho usefulness of the German aviators as scouts has already been limited to some extent as a result of tho relentless vigour with which they are pursued on every possible occasion by their Fre>nch and British adversaries. It is none the less true, of course, that such an atta-ck as has delivered upon _ the submarine area in Belgium is of very great value and importance, as tending to confuse and obstruct the pr&parations of the enemy-

Although it may be in part intended for. enemy consumption, the llussian statement concerning the retirement from East Prussia; and the reasons upon which it is based, wears the appearance of an honest presentation of facts. At first glance the retreat from East Prussia into North Poland looks like a confession of Russian weakness. It is a development that ill some respects means going back to the position reached on September 20, when 'a German offensive from East Prussia (following upon the Russian defeat in that territory at the end of August) .was decisively stopped on tho line of the Niemen (which marks the western boundary of Poland), about 50 miles east of the East Prussian frontier. Now the are again to fall back towards this lirjc, and it is possible that the retirement will also affect the operations along the East Prussian frontier, where it trends south-east. How far these latter operations are affected is. not yet clear, however. It is reported today that actions of small importance have been fought on the East Prussian front from the Lower Niemen to tho Vistula. This relates to a front of more than 150 miles, where tho East Prussian frontier and a short section of the frostier of West Prussia, join the northern frontier of Poland. Along this line the Russians are apparently still on or near the German frontier.

So far the Germans are shown as advancing .from East Prussia . into the fifty-mile strip of territory, most of which is included in the northern extremity of' Poland. Lyck and Wilkowvszki mentioned as indicating the direction of the German advance, are sixty miles apart north and south. Lyck is thirteen miles inside the East Prussian frontier 1 at its south-eastern extremity, _ and Wilkowvszki 60 miles north, is in North Poland, 12 miles east of the Prussian frontier. . The concentration of a German army of about 200,000 men is stated to be the immediate reason for the Russian retirement, and unless this force is augmented it may be supposed that the German offensive is directed mainly at the portion of North Poland from Wilkowvszki to a point opposite Lyck.

Russian fortresses stand opposite tho East Prussian frontier in a I chain extending from Kovno, in the north, to Novo Georgiersk, on tho | Vistula, about 20 miles north-west of Warsaw, at distances varying from 20 to 50 miles, and it is under the shelter of these forts (apparently as yet only the forts in the northern part of the chain) that the-Russians are now retiring. Kovno, at the northern end of the chain, is a firstclass fortress standing fifty miles east of tho East Prussian frontier at its north-eastern • extremity and Grodno," eighty miles south of Kovno, is fifty miles east ,of the south-eastern extremity of East Prussia. Both forts stand on the Niemen, ' and the Russians are no doubt preparing to draw their enemy to this river in the hope of repeating the defeat they inflicted upon a German army, directed by General von Hindenberq, which reached the Niemen in September last. # i * , * * As has been said, the retirement from East Prussia wears the appearance of going back to tho position reached in September, but in the interval important developments have occurred further south. The German armies in Central Poland, launched in a great offensive movement against Warsaw (which, if it had succeeded, would have compelled a general retirement of the whole Russian line) have been several times decisively-de-feated, and now seem further off than ever from attaining their ob--jcctivc. Faced by failure in this quarter, and by the solid pressure of the Russian advance towards Silesia through Southern- Poland and Galicia, the German commander yet feels compelled to devote'a considerable part of the strength at his command to an offensive from East Prussia whioh at best is not likely to serve any more valuable purpose than that of protecting that territory from invasion. This great distribution of strength does not promise well for the success of the German plans. Instead of being lightened, as it might have been by the success of such a movement as was directed against Warsaw, tho pros sure imposed by the Russian armies is heavier than ever. The Germans aro now called upon to concentrate in defence of East Prussia, as well as in defence of Silesia, and the offensive against Warsaw hangs in suspense. In this widely-extended fighting the numerical superiority of the Russians is bound to tell, and, as The Times military correspondent points out, the, failure oi the Germans to achieve some decisive success in tho Eastern theatre has not only involved a heavy loss of men and a loss of prestige, but will complicate the German position- in the west owing to inability to transfer men from east to west. This aspect of the position is, of course, heightened by the necessity of employing a big force in East Prussia and North Poland, which will no doubt have to bo increased as' tho operations proceed.

That the Russians, with heavy fighting in prospect, should retire for a time before the enemy, is in keeping with the policy which they have pursued .since the war began. Similar retirements preceded the smashing defeats which they inflicted upon the right and left wings of the Austrian Army, and upon the Germans at the Vistula, and more recently along tho Bzura and llawka Rivers, west of Warsaw. From the outset it has been the immediate purpose of the Russian Commanderj in-Chief to defeat the armies'of the 'enemy in the field, and he has done I it on a number of occasions with Lramtu -that already, juujcaj,' to bo

almost paralysing in the case of the Austriaus, fchougn the Germans arc not yet reduced to such straits. One obvious advantage that tho Russians gain by drawing the enemy into their own territory is'that of neutralising to some extent the poverty of the Russian commanders in means of communication, and especially strategic railways. German territory is gridironed with these lines, while Poland by comparison is bare of railways. Fighting in Poland tlx: Germans to an extent share this disability. with tho Russians.

No big developments are recorded to-day in the Western theatre. Heavy artillery bombardments aro roported at many points of the line, but these are doubtless a normal feature. Near La Bassee, in Northern France, where a tense struggle has lately been in progress, the position seems to be practically unchanged. The close and desperate nature of the fighting in this region is indicated in the statement that the Allies are still holding a trench one end of which was blown up by a German mine. In the Vosges mountains the French have captured a hill. The attack, made in a snowstorm, is described as a brilliant feat of arms carried out at slight loss to the attacking party.

Tor, the scene of & small bnfc decisive engagement in the Sinai Peninsula, lies on the eastern side of the Gulf of Suez, near the head of the Red Sea. The Turkish force of two hundred men which attacked Tor was evidently very badly led by. its German officers since it was annihilated at a cost to the British of one Gurkha killed and another wounded. Some further interesting details are given of tho recent fighting along the Sue! Canal, but there' is no news of any fresh activity in that quarter. •