PROGRESS OF THE WAR.

Dominion, Volume 8, Issue 2389, 19 February 1915, Page 4

PROGRESS OF THE WAR.

Without waiting for the day appointed lor tko beginning of their so-called blockade of Great Britain, some of' the German submarines have already rqsumed their campaign against merchant shipping. A British collier was torpedoed' off the coast of France, north of Havre, and on Tuesday a French steamer was blown up, also in tho English Channel. _ There was, however, a marked difference in the metliods followed in each ease, for while the British collicr Dulwich was attacked and sunk without warning, in murderous violation of the laws of war, the crew of the French vessel .were given an opportunity, of taking to the boats before she was blown up. On tho other hand, thte Ul6, the submarine responsible for tho destruction of the French ship, was .about, to sink a Norwegian steamer when the arrival of some torpedo craft compelled it t,o take to flight. * • * * . * These attacks, preliminary, perhaps, to an extended career of commerce raiding by the German submarines, betray an inconsistency which suggests doubt and hesitation in the German counsels, and uncertainty as to the adoption, of a settled policy in the submarine campaign. The attack on tho British collier Dulwich was plain piracy, and if any of the crew were lost (which the message does not clearly indicate), it was murder as wcli. The sinking of fcbc French steamer, after \wmnc had been given, must

probably be regarded as a legitimate operation of war. As to the, sinking of a Norwegian 'vessel, which Ul6 iiisaid to have contemplated, it would have been at'once piracy and an act of war against an unoffending neutral nation. However, if Germany is still mixing legitimate warfare with piracy, she none the less stands convicted of outrages which place her outside the pale of international law, aud the sinking of the Dulwich, like the- destruction of the Tokomaru and the abortive I attack on tbe hospital ship Asturias, will be listed with the crimes which brand her as an outlaw nation. It only remains that by attacking neutral ships she should antagonise the nations to which they belong, and this, judging by the incident off the French coast, she is still inclined to do, in spite of all the warnings and protests which havo been lodged.

One of the most encouraging things about these latest submarine incidents, is the evidence they afford that the vigilance of naval surface patrols can do a good deal to curb and limit the activities of the under-water craft. Ul6 evidently hacl no recourse but flight beforo the torpedocrs which pursued her after she had sent the French steamer to the bottom, and the submarine which sank tho Dulwich apparently did not venture to attack tho French cruisor which rescued the collier's crew or some of their number. In these cases one ship out of three was saved by the naval patrols, and in future, with armed merchantmen as well as warships to contend against, the submarines are likely to pursue a fairly precarious career.

(** * * The identity of the submarine which sank the Dulwich was not ascertained, but Ul6, which sank the French ship, is one of the smaller German boats. Although a unit in the 1911-12 programme.- she is identical in type with craft constructed in preceding years. She has a submerged displacement of 350 tons, as against a thousand and twelve hundred tons in the case o£ some of tho modern submarines, and her armament consists of three torpedo tubes and two one-pounder guns. She has a speed on tho surface of 13 knots and 8 knots submerged. A submarine of this type would as a Tule be dependent upon taking merchantmen unawares, since she lacks the speed to overtake them if they sight her and beat a retreat. Her two small guns can both be trained forward, mit many merchantmen will now be carrying guns of considerably heavier calibre, and a submar rine chasing on the surface will do so at very great risk.

Another example of what merchant steamers can do in the way of evading submarine attack is furnished to-day. A British steamer, tho Kirkham Abbey, was chased by three German submarines off the Dutch coast for ninety minutes, and got clear away. By steering a zigzag course she foiled the efforts of the German torpedpers.

Some messages to-day suggest that President Wilson is inclined to recede from the firm attitude taken in the United States Note to Germany on the -subject of submarine attacks on neutral ships. Germany, it is asserted, has notified the United States that strained relations _ exist between Germany and America—a decidedly bellicose notification of it has really been made—but President Wilson, though deeply conis determined to prevent war at all costs. This, it is to be hoped, does President Wilson some injustice, for the possibility which has to be faced is that American ships may be lawlessly sunk on the high seas. Toleration of such outrages would involve paying a price for peace which the American nation is not 'likely to pay, whatever view President Wilson may take of the matter. Meantime the Amerioan Cabinet has decided to notify Great 1 Britain of its strong objection to a blockade against foodstuffs intended for Germany. Here the United States Government seems to be clearly going outside its province.

The position has been anticipated and very firmly met by Sib Edward Grey in a reply (published'' to-day) to previous representations on the same subject. _ Besides relying on the fact that it is impossible to differentiate between supplies for civil and _ior military consumption, the British Foreign Minister points out that American exports to neutral countries ha.ve increased, showing that & substantial part is intended, for th 6 enemy. Moreover, elaborate German machinery for the supply, of foodstuffs from overseas has been discovered in the Scandinavian countries and in Denmark. The plain fact seems to bo that the United States has no right to step between Britain and her enemy in the matter of supplies, and has an entirely distinct responsibility where the protection of its own shipping on the high seas is concerned/ There is an implication in the message dealing with the American attitude that Great Britain is more or less responsible for the strained relations of Germany and the United States, but the good sense of the American people' will probably lead them to recognise that Groat Britain has in no way exoceded the acknowledged rights of a belligerent, and that Germany's wild attempt to twist legitimate restrictions upon her sources of supply into an excuse for piratical outrage is without a shadow of justification. * * * * The White Paper issued by Sin Edward Grey, copious extracts from which are published to-day, makes it clear that while Britaih is determined to restrict supplies entering Germany to a minimum, everything possible is being done to limit the loss and inconvenience inflicted on neutrals. Only eleven neu'tral ships are at present awaiting the judgment ol a Prize Court, and Sir Edward i Grey makes the point that ncftitral shipping has 'suffered less from the exercisc of the right of search (though under modern conditions | this frequently involves the necessity of taking the ships into port)_ than from the German practicc of liidiscriminately scattering mines on the high seas. No less than twenty-fivo neutral vessels have -beeii lost from this cause. A liberal conccssion offered by the Foreign Minister is that of releasing arrested ships on bail pending the decision of the Prize Court. ' * # * . Keen gratification will be felt at the announcement that all the aviators engaged in the attack the German coast depots and _ fortifications in Belgium came sately away with their machines. Corsidering the fire to which tlie.v were exposed and the determined fashion in winch they nr<<sscd the attack, tbo immunity enJoyed b.y. the is a most re-.

1 markable tribute to their skill. Any idea that an aeroplane bombardment is a comparatively trivi.il affair will be pretty thoroughly dispelled by tho details of damage done and particulars of the ammunition expended. Tho forty aeroplanes engaged in tho latest raid irooped 240 bombs, each weighing 851b.j an aggregate weight of nearly ten tons. Each aeroplane disposed of abcufc five hundred pounds weight of bombs. Such a bombardment can only be regarded as formidable. Probably no one Zeppelin in the Gorman air fleet could nave done tbe weigh-carrying involved, and in any. case there is no recorded instance of a Zeppelin facing such a fire as saluted the British aoroplanes in, their bombardment of the Belgian coast.

Reports from the Western theatre to-day show that the fighting has everywhere been going decidcdly in favour of the Allies. On the hun-dreii-mile front from the Belgian' coast to the river Oise, the Germans are being harried with artillery fire. Ammunition wagons have been blown up, convoys shattered, and bodies of troops dispersed. Trenches have been captured by the Allies north of Arras, in the neighbourhood of Perthes (at the eastern end of the Aisne front), and progress is reported in the Argonne, between that forest and the Meuse, and also in Alsace. In the Argonne, which it was stated recently would be the objective of a German offensive on a big scale, very heavy German attacks have been repulsed, and the Allies are working forward to new positions. With the coming of. better weather, there appears to be a stir of activity along tne whole front which at any time may open out in a blaze of still greater events. Meantime the Allies are able to present a catalogue of minor successes and forward movements which promise well for the-future., * * * * As yet there is only German authority, for the statement that fifty thousand Russians have been taken prisoner in the fighting on and near the East Prussian frontier, but thero is no reason to doubt that the retreating army has lost heavily, as retreating armies usually do. This, however, is only one side of the picture. Although. they are evidently feeling severely the pressure of the German al-mies pouring out of East Prussia, the Russians are not being driven in rout, but are executing a planned retreat to a fortress line which they are no doubt capable of holding as firmly as they have held their entrenched line in Central Poland west of Warsaw. If the Russians do hold their fortress line, the German offensive from East Prussia will be as complete a failure as the offensive against Warsaw, which has involved an enormous sacrifice of men and material, without 'vitally disturbing the Russian plan, of' campaign.

Meantime the present "difficulties ancl perils of tho Russians are easy enough to understand. They had penetrated the East Prussian frontier at a number of points,, from the extreme north to the extreme west, along a line which trends south and west over a distance of more than two hundred' miles. Now, in face of superior numbers, they are called upon to fall back to their fortress line in Poland, from twenty - to. fifty miles east and south o;f the Ea-st Prussian frontieT. The retreat is through a 1 swampy country of bad roads, but these conditions, ; of course, will tell increasingly against the.advancing Germans as they push forward from their frontier. Before such an attack as the. Germans, are developing, the Russians will necesr sarily have to mass great forces in defence of their fortress line, but though this may temporarily hamper ' and delay operations _ further south in Poland and Galicia, it is not likely to do so for any length of time. Having much _ greater-re-serves of men than their enemies, the Russians can better afford t p fight on an extended front, and it is even possible that, their late tentative invasion of East . Prussia was deliberately undertaken for the pur-, pose of compelling the greatest possible concentration of German strength in that quarter. .

Several messages' _ to-day throw light upon 'the position in the Bukowina region, where for the_ time being the Russians are meeting a pressure only less severe than that which is forcing them back from East Prussia. As most peopleknow now, the crownland of Bukowina is a pocket of land, about sixty miles wide and eighty • from north to south, which dips south at the eastern end of Galicia, between the Carpathians and Rumania. The fighting reported during the last two days has all been in or towards the northern part of Bukowina. No further details are given of the capture of Nadworna (12 miles west of the north-western border of Bukowina), but the Russians are presumably holding positions north of that place. Me. Martin Donohoe,, however. furnishes a vivid account of a terrific struggle in north-eastern Bukowina, where the Russians are holding Czernowitz, the capital of the crownland. The Sereth River, which was crossed by Austro-German columns, runs across Bukowina into Rumania, passing about- 18 miles south of Czernowitz. The Russians, though hard pressed, seem to havo succeeded in maintaining their ground at Czernowitz. In this comparatively remote region the AusfcroGermans are bringing very great force to .bear. They employed three army corps (about one hundred thousand men), well supplied with artillery, in the attack on Czernowitz, and this is no doubt independent of tbo force which captured Nadworna. The latter army -probably sallied out through the passes which penetrate the Carpathians twenty miles south of Nadworna. The possession of_ Bukowina is not in itself of vital importance, but if the Austro-German offensive which is now being, pressed so vigorously were not stemmed, it would eventually threaten the lines of 'communication of' the Russian army which is advancing on Cracow through Western Galicia.

Although the German Zeppelins havo. afforded their enemies few opportunities of putting their fighting capabilities to the tesf, they, seem to have an unlucky habit of coming to grief on their own account. Recently it was reported that one of the giant airships had been destroyed in the. North Sea, and today an Amsterdam messago states that another has been destroyed by an explosion at tho Faroe Islands, the crow of 16 men being interned. Tlie Faroe Islands, which belong to Denmark, lie about two, hundred miles north of the north coast of Scptknd, so that the ill-fated Zeppelin had apparently been out upon it. navd roeounaitoance*