PROGRESS OF THE WAR

Dominion, Volume 8, Issue 2422, 30 March 1915, Page 4

PROGRESS OF THE WAR

I'kcrnt messages clear up sonic doubts as to the lines occupied by l.lic contending armies in Galicia and along the Carpathians. L ; or instance a long silence concerning operations in Western Galicia is broken in the announcement, that the Auatrians are fulling bade from positions westward of "the Dukla

Pass. Assuming that the Russians still hold Tarnow (forty miles east of Cracow), which they captured many weeks ago, they now occupy ii diagonal line across "Western Galicia, forty miles from Cracow at its northern end, and some seventy miles cast of the latitude of that city at the Carpathians, Reference to a conflict near Baligrod, which lies about ten miles north of tho mountains between the Lnpkow aud Uszok Passes, suggests that an isolated Austrian force is at large in that region, and if the Russians have not exaggerated their recent sucecss at the Lupkow Pass, this particular force must be in serious danger of being cut off. Still another Russian victory, leading to large captures of prisoners, is reported at Koziowa, which is situated in tho northern fringe of the Eastern Carpathians. Apparently the Russians for the most part are located in or near the mountains, along an eighty-mile front extending eastward from the Dukla Pass, but the Austrian and Austro-Ger-man forces at some detached points are still giving battle in tho country lying to the north of the principal range.

Very cheerful accounts given of the state of affairs reigning at Ossowiec, the Russian fortress which stands opposite the south-eastern extremity of East Prussia, are chiefly interesting as showing that the German offensive from East Prussia, though definitely stopped for the time being, is not yet finally disposed of. The statement that Ossowiec has been bombarded continuously for 34 days shows, of course, that the Germans axe arrayed against the place in strong force, and have not yet abandoned hopo of breaking through the Russian line and continuing their southward march to Warsaw. Earlier reports to some extent concealed the position and suggested that the Germans had failed to get within effective striking distance of Ossowiec, but it is now definitely shown that the fortress forms an integral part of the barrier which the Russians have opposed to the German advance. From the details given it would appear that Ossowiec is a strong fortress, well able to resist the battering even of the great guns which the Germans have ranged against it, and if this is the case it will, of course, constitute an element of strength in the entrenched position whioh extends from it on either hand.

Anv lingering doubt as to the determination. of the Dutch to maintain their neutrality at almost any cost must be dispelled by the Medea incident. The facts, apparently, are not in dispute. A Dutch steamer, manned and 'officered by Dutchmen, was deliberately sunk by a German submarine after its papers, proving its nationality, had been examined and annexed. It can only be supposed-cither that tho captain of the German submarine was an utterly irresponsible officer or that Germany deliberately sought to provoke Holland into declaring war upon her. Dutch patience, however, is not vet exhausted, and the Government nas been content to instruct its Minister at Berlin to "request" an explanation, which might very well have been demanded.

Many people will share the inability of the London Times to perceive what advantage Germany hopes to gain by her wanton outrage on Holland. It is at any 'rate certain that war with Holland would not- be a case of Belgium overagain. At this stage of the war the appearance of a new enemy with an army of half a' million men is a prospect which Germany certainly cannot afford to despise. It is possible tha,t she is chafing at the'restrictions placed by_ Pijtch neutrality upon the navigation of' tho Scheldt and is prepared to go to war with Holland in the hope of securing a passage down that waterway for her new submarines; but the price would bo a heavy one to pay for such a privilege, even if it were obtained. However, it is obviously in some interested motive of this, kind that an ' explanation must- be sought of Germany's treatment of Holland. So far as morality is concerned tho sinking of the Medea was as intolerable a wrong as one nation could inflict upon another. » * i » Remarkable events at Constantinople aro reportecj by a Daily Chronicle correspondent, 'who states that on Wednesday last the Turkish Government posted proclamations in the mosques of the capital announcing th'a,t Frenoh and British warships would shortly arrive, as the Sultan had opened the Dardanelles to their passage, That the Government clid not carry its announced intention into effect was presumably duo to Genehal von Sanders, who threatened the members of the Cabinet with arrest if they persisted in seeking terms from tho Allied Commander-in-Chief at the Dardanelles. Apart from this assumption of a dictatorship by Genehal von Sanders,_ the posting of the proclamations indicate that the peace party is gaining the ascendancy amidst the anarchic turmoil of the Turkish capital, but such a development of course comes much too late to save Turkey from its impending fate._ Meantime the Allies are methodically pursuing their assault upon the Dardanelles, Bombardment of , the forts has been resumed, the super-Dreadnought, Queen Elizabeth, subjecting them to long-rango lire from tho Gulf of Saros.