PROGRESS OF THE WAR.

Dominion, Volume 8, Issue 2393, 24 February 1915, Page 4

PROGRESS OF THE WAR.

Though the Allies have not in every instance prevailed in the detail actions in the Western theatre reported to-day, they have done so in most cases. Against towards the eastern end of the -Aisne front and in. the Argonne, there is to be set a slight reverse in the Vosges, on the borders of Alsace, but apparently the latter affair amounts only to a temporary check, to the French advance in that locality. Besides gaining ground : in the regions nafned, the Allies have used their . artillery to good purpose in cutting up German convoys and otherwise harassing • the enemy all along the front from the Belgian border to the Aisne, where their line in France turns east. Important progress has been made at the eastern end of the Aisne front, _ west of the Argonne. On a four-mile front (from Souain to Beausejour)' in this neighbourhood, the Allies have captured nine trenches and two woods, and repelled violent efforts, by the Germans to recover the lost ground.

*** * ' ■ It is a standing practice with the Germans when tney are beaten in the Champagne district or thereabouts to bombard Reims. They have adhered to custom on the, present occasion, and their long-range guns levied a toll of victims. The unfortunate citj has been so often subjected to this treatment that it must by this time have been battered almost out of recognition, but the Germans in these _ vicious assaults upon a. place which lies hopelessly out of their reach are simply wasting ammunition, so far as tie military value of their effort is concerned. The heaviest bombardment of Keims makes little change in the military situation. The Allies are firmly established in positions almost due north_of Reims, on the Aisne, and on a line extending eastward to and through .the Argonne they are slowly . forging ahead. - • ■

At Cheppy, on the eastern fringe of the ATgonne, about two miles north-east of Yarennes, the Allies have captured a-trench. Tha object of the heavy German l attacks which have been maintained in this region for weeks past is to gain possession of a road about seven miles long crossing the forest. . It runs west-south-west from Varennes on the east to Vienne-le-Chateau • in the western outskirts of the Argonne, and like every other, road throughthe forest is an important channel of communication. To-day's news shows that the Allies' are established nearly two miles north of the road at Cheppy, and they are also fighting in the woods north of the road through the greater part of the forest, and possibly, also, on its western border, though the position there is not quite clear. At'anyrato, the Germans are definitely deprived of the use of the road, and are steadily being pushed further away from it.

In Alsace there' has been severe fighting on both banks of tho River Fecht, which runs through a valley in the Yosges debouching opposite Colmar, a city lying close to the' lower spurs of the mountains. The French advancc through tho valley has been temporarily checked, the advanced . troops driven back on the' main body, but it is recorded also that the enemy suffered severely in the heavy conflict; which subsequently developed. In spite of many bitter lessons, the Germans persist in adhering to the attack in massed formation, and in this battle its in ofcheiti thftjr losses jrers accord'

ingly very heavy. Elsewhere in Alsace the French have captured a village. The general position in this region has been recently indicated. Nearly everywhere along the Vosges the French hold the heights and the Germans the eastern foothills, while at Cernay (northwest of Mulhausen) the Germans nave been driven back into the plain.

General observations bulk large in to-day's news of the campaign in Poland and Galicia, and the chronicle of actual events and movements is meagre. From both Russian and German sources suggestions come that the great German offensive frojn East Prussia into Poland is slowing down. According to a Petrograd message, experts believe that the activity of the enemy ill East Prussia is a prelude to more important developments in Galicia. Berlin contributes, a characteristically grandiose statement that the pursuit of the Russians in East Prussia has ended. This could be read as meaning that the in East Prussia has achieve'd its purpose in clearing that territory of the enemy, .but there ha-ve been many indications that much more is contemplated, and that the offensive would attain its real objective only if it pierced the Russian fortress line, lying opposite the German frontier, and culminated in an advance on Warsaw from.the north.

That the _ German advance'from East Prussia should show a ten-dency-to slow down as it progresses is not surprising. _ The same feature has characterised each one of the numerous advances which the Germans have made into Poland, and the reason is plain. Fighting on or close to their frontier, the Germans derive' full benefit from their fine system of strategic railways. ' They are able to easily and swiftly concentrate troops and artillery at any,selected point. In to being in convenient touch with . their bases of supply they are able to effect speedy lateral movements which the Russians are quite unable to emulate. As the Germans advance into Poland these advantages steadily diminish. Their passage lies through a zone of war-swept country, which has been several times traversed by retreating armies in the ebb and flow of battle. This territory' was poorly provided in the first instance with roads and railways, and armies retreating through it have successively done their utmost to reduce the facilities for transport to a minimum. Each side, as its turn comes to acTvance,'. does what it can to restore means' of communication, but the process- is necessarily slow. The Germans, as they get away from their frontier, find it harder and harder to transport heavy artillery, afitl the concentration of troops and guns becomes increasingly difficult. No doubt these, circumstances fully explain the partial tailing-off of the German offensive from East Prussia, and the suggestion that the Russians are approaching, or have reached, the point where they will be able to make a definite stand against the enemy as they have eventually done against every German offensive in Poland up to the present time. *' * * *

Possibilities of an Austro-German offensive from the Carpathians do not seem to be immediately threatening to Russian prospects. All recent reports have gone to show that for_ about 150 miles eastward from their fighting line in Western Galicia th 6 Russians are comfortably established in strong positions on ■ th© northern side of the mountains. Repeated Austro-German assaults on these positions have been- repulsed with slaughter. At tho eastern end of their line the Russians have been driven out of Bukowina, and are now fighting in Southern Galicia, but it should not be beyond their to stem the Austro-German advance in this region before .it becomes dangerous to their main plan of campaign, and a late message indicates that they are already doing so. Even if it is true that the enemy ha-s assembled 750,000 men on the Carpathian front, much of this force will be absorbed in guarding the passes along the 150-mile stretch where the Russians are established on or near the northern'side of the mountain range.- Granted the requisite strength, the Austro-German offensive from '' Bukowina ' and through Eastern JSalicia would develop into a great flanking movement constituting as serious a menace as the efforts made by the Germans in Poland to drive- the Russians beyond the Vistula, but it is unlikely that the Germans could spare tho necessary strength for such an effort without seriously weakening the defence of Silesia and their frontiers further north, and all accounts go to show that the Austrians alone are no longer capable of an enterprise of this magnitude.

* * * * Upon the whole, it appears rather more likely, that, the Russians will succeed in invading Hungary than that they will be called upon to repel a great outflanking attack- in Eastern Galicia. In'. Hungary ; at all events, the possibility of invasion seems to be regarded very seriously. The Hungarian military authorities are reported to bo constructing a series of trenches between the Carpathians and Budapest, , and the newspapers, instead of discounting the possibilities of invasion, are.apparently emphasising: the difficulties which will oppose the progress of the invaders after they have penetrated the mountain barrier.

A- late message suggests that on a, front in Poland about 50 miles long and lying 25 miles away from the southern frontier of East Prussia, the Russians have already turned upon their pursuers. They report capturing villages near the two extremities of the line mentioned, which are the fortress of- Lorazn, in the east, and Pmsnysz on the west. The last-named place lies almost- du# north of Warsaw.

-Tacts standing out from the mass of news, comment,-and controversy arising out of Germany's piratical sea-policy are that the menace to shipping is not regarded by Britain more seriously as time goes on, and that is becoming enmeshed m an increasing web of complications with neutral nations. The United States is demanding explanations regarding the destruction of •tCiT American steamer which • was sunk by a German mine off the Ems estuary, and it will be noticed that even cx-President Taft's warning against'the dangers of allowing the Jinjjo spirit to prevail is accompaniecl by a plain hint that grave developments may easily arise. | Studiously cautious and reserved as his pronouncement is, he, emphatically asserts the right of the United States to conduct that traffic in arms with 1 belligerent countries which has been so fiercelv denounoed in J

Nob way is standing boldly to her guns in the matter of the Belridge, a Norwegian steamer which was torpedoed, though not sunk, by a German submarine, in the English Channel. Unless Germany declares filiat the attack was a_ mistake, and gives compensation, it is stated, Norway will claim damages from German shipping in Norwegian harbours. The possibility of a mistake hardly enters, for another message shows that the Belridge, when she was attacked, was flying the Norwegian flagj which was illuminated by electric light. » ' ff » * Italy has an equally grave causa of quarrel with Austria, for it is reported to-day that Austrian .torpedo boats deliberately fired on Italian schooners lying in the Monte--negrin harbour of Antivari, and flying their national colours. ♦ * * * Taking these and other repprted incidents into a-ccount, it seems probable that several nations now nSutral__wil_l, however little- they may desire it, ere long be compelled to join the Powers arrayed against Germany and Austria, in sheer selfdefence.