PROGRESS OF THE WAR.

Dominion, Volume 8, Issue 2418, 25 March 1915, Page 4

PROGRESS OF THE WAR.

Few events of any great importance are recorded in to-day's war news, .but such indications as are given of developments in the various theatres of war are reasonably encouraging. A comparative lull appears to obtain in the Western theatre and there is a dearth of fresh news concerning the llussian campaign in the East. ,A very feeble Turkish movement against the Suez Canal lias been easily and decisively beaten off, and the Ottoman main body is reported to be retreating in a state of deplorable demoralisation. The defenders of the Dardanelles are evidently not yet at the end of their resources, for it is mentioned to-day that the forts at the entrance to the Nar rows, which were heavily bombarded by the Allied Fleet last week, are still in a condition to offer resistance. While they are awaiting a renowal of the attack, the Turks have been engaging characteristically in massacring the non-combat-ant inhabitants along the shores of the Dardanelles, wno sought to escape from the zone of fighting to the adjacent Greek islands. *■* * * The interesting statement is made in a message froni Amsterdam that the Germans are withdrawing troops from the_ territory between their present line on the Yser and Antwerp into garrison at the latter place, the suggestion being that if they are dislodged from the Yser they will fall back upon a fortified line running south from Antwerp without attempting to hold the intervening territory. .It is hardly likely that the Germans are already prepared to contemplate a retreat of this character, involving as it would the abandonment of the whole extent of Belgian coast-line still remaining in their hands, and of their hopes of using it as a base from which to launch an attack against England.

An arresting item of news regarding the Western campaign is the prediction of another great battle on the Yscr, where the Germans are [said to be concentrating all available j artillery. While such predictions •have often in the past failed to ma- ! terialise, there can be no doubt that the time is rapidly approaching when the siege warfare will give place m Flanders or elsewhere, to a far more deadly contest. If the reported interview with Sir John French obtained by a French news agency may be accepted as authoritative, the inception of a great offensive movement by the Allies is not likely to be long delayed. _ The British Com-mander-in-Chief is reported as saying that he does not believe in a protracted war. The alternative to a protracted war obviously is a smashing assault upon the Germans in which victory will be purchased only at a terrible cost in lives. With work of this kind in prospect, the Allied commanders are likely to welcome such an effort as the Germans are said to contemplate on the Yser, for failure on the part of the enemy to drive their effort home might very, well afford the Allies the opening for which they are seoking. Still it would not be wise to underrate the fighting strength of the Germansone must face the fact that any material successes of the Allies in the Western theatre of war are likely to be dearly bought. * * * *

The latest effort by the Turks in tho neighbourhood of the Suez Canal can scarcely be dignifiod by tho name of an attack. A thousand Turks approached tho Canal at its southern end, opposite Suez, on Monday morning, and were immediately subjected to a well-directed artill'ery fire, which compelled them to retreat. They fell back a distance of eight miles, and thereupon it would seem sat down to wait for what fate' might send. Next morning a British party sallied out and put them to flight. Some of the prisoners, it is stated, declared that the Ottoman force came direct from Bir-el-Seba (Beersheba), covering the distance in twelve days. Beersheba lies opposite the north-eastern frontier of tne Sinai Peninsula, 150 miles away from Suez, and why an apparently unsupported forcc of a thousand Turks should make this toilsome march to encounter certain disaster at the end of their journey is one of a number of unsolved'mysteries connected with the doings of the unfortunate Turkish army which was assembled for the invasion of Egypt. Tho Turks on this occasion, as on others, were led by German officers, and the only feasible explanation of their hare-brained exploit is that these officers have been instructed to maintain a semblance of activity in the neighbourhood of the Suez Ganal in the hope that British forces will be detained in that quarter which might otherwise be employed in active operations against Turkey elsewhere.

If this is the motive actuating the German officers with the Turkish army, it would seem that they are pretty nearly at the end o! their tether, for such feeble efforts as that of Monday last serve only to emphasise the terrible state of disorganisation which has overtaken the army of invasion. One correspondent, in a message published today, declares that Djejial Pasha has deserted his army, leaving it to struggle through the desert as best it may on its homeward journey. A terrible picture is painted of the privations which the Turks are suffering. Their commissariat" has broken down, large numbers are perishing of hunger and thirst, and their line of retreat through the desert is followed by clouds of vultures.

If the stories concerning the miserable state of the Turkish army of invasion are anywhere near the truth, the commander of that force, Djeiiav, Pasha, must be a person of marvellous effrontery. A late message reports that ho has published a proclamation in Syrian newspapers announcing that he Is making preparations for further operations along the Suez Canal, _ and hopes shortly to be in Cairo. It is pretty plain that he ha:i rather less hope of reaching Cairo than the Kaiser has of reaching Calais.

Coming after the formal announcement of the bombardment and capture of the town, the off-hand Russian statement that "our detachment reconnoitring Mcniel has fallen back into Russia," looks like a somewhat obvious attempt to make the best of a bad job. Previous messages undoubtedly conveyed tho impression that Memel was safo in Russian hands, and was held in some jitrcusVh) and it is auite impossible.

to reconcile the story about a reconnoitring detachment with tho carlior reports concerning the bombardment and capture of tho town. The possession of Momel is not in itself of any great importance, but the fact that the -Russians were unable to maintain their footing there indicates that the Germans still hold the northern part of East Prussia, in considerable strength. However, the Russians claim that they have penetrated tha .northern frontier of East Prussia, some GO miles southeast of Memel, and therefore at a point offering much better facilities for a southern advance.