PROGRESS OF THE WAR

Dominion, Volume 8, Issue 2423, 31 March 1915, Page 4

PROGRESS OF THE WAR

Somewhat unexpectedly tho curtain has been officially dropped for a time upon tho scene of conflict at the Dardanelles. A rigid censorship has been established, and, at the request of the British Admiral, "no news will be permitted hereafter"— which means, presumably, until tho Allied Fleet has made an end of the defending forts along the strait, and paid that visit to Constantinople for which the Turkish Government appears to be preparing the mind of its public. The reasons dictating a policy of secrecy are, of course, known only to the commanders who have imposed it, but it is quite possible that the final attack upon tno Dardanelles involves a disposition of naval and other forces which it would be injudicious to make generally known. So far the super-Dreadnought Queen Elkabeth appears to have had a monopoly of the long-range bombardment of the Turkish forts across the Gallipoli Peninsula (as distinct from the close fighting in which tho older battleships of the Allied Fleet have been engaged), but it is quite probable that the later stages of the attack may provide work for other firstclass modern ships, and naturally in such an event their movements would be kept as far as possible secret. In addition, considerable knd forces arc being employed, and this also may furnish additional reasons for secrecy.

If the Turks stand to their guns as well as they have done hitherto, the remaining fighting in the Dardanelles will necessarily be of a hard and desperate character, and the losses will not be all on one side, but considering the scale upon which the Allies have made their preparations the ultimate result can scarcely be said to hang in doubt. The idea that the defences of the Dardanelles arc impregnable has already been exposed as fallacious. As the curtain falls meantime upon its activities, the Allied Fle:t is definitely in possession of nearly one-third of the length of the strait. Along a distance of about lli miles the waterway has been cleared of mine-fields, in spite of all that the defending forces could do to prevent it, and some of the most modern and power-fully-armed of the forts guarding the passage have been practically battered to pieces. The remaining guns of Kilid Bahr, the strong fortress on the European side of the entrance to tie Narrows, were turned upon the Allied warships the other day, but were promptly silenced. Chanak, the corresponding fort on the Asiatic side, is not mentioned in connection with this particular engagement, so that it was apparently incapable of taking part. These two forts were probably as strong as any that guard the Dardanelles, and the guns which reduced them to ruins arc no doubt quite capable of treating such forts as remain in a similar fashion.

Admiralty dispatches have mentioned that special measures are being taken to deal with floating mines and the torpedo-tubes which the Turks are said to have placed at some points along the shores of the Narrows. It has already been demonstrated that floating mines, at any rate, constitute a more serious menace to the attacking warships than the fortress guns. Whatever ma,y be dono to guard against this particular danger, it seems impossible that it can be wholly obviated so long as any portion of the strait remains in the hands of the Turks. There is a strong and constant current in the Dardanelles setting from the Sea of Mannora into the Aegean Sea. It originates in the Black Sea, and is due to the influx of the Dnieper, the Danube, and other great rivers whose waters eventually find an outlet through the Dardanelles. Shakespeare, who so frequently gives proof of a remarkable fund of knowledge, makes Othello say: — Like to the Pontick Sea Whcse icy current and compulsive coursa Ne'er feels retiring ebb, but keeps due on To the ProponticK and the Hellespont, E'en so my bloody thoughts with violent paco Shall ne'er look back. This changeless current through the Hellespont (or Dardanelles) acids immensely to the difficulties of the naval squadron now engaged in forcing the passage by making the danger from floating mines very much greater than it would be in an ordinary tidal waterway, where the mines would bear down upon approaching ships only when the tide was flowing against the vessels. * * * * Onk of three accredited correspondents who are to be permitted to witness the operations in the Dardanelles is Captain Bean, the official correspondent attached to the Australian Expeditionary Force. It is pretty safe to assume from this fact that Australians, and probably New Zcalanders as well, are included in the land forces co-operating with the Allied Fleet.

Taken at its fare value the Puissian report I hat the Germans are in disorderly flight from the River l'iliea means that the tide of war is about to sweep back through CenIral and Soul hern Poland towards the .German frontier, When tho

opposing armies settled down months ago to a deadlock of trench warfare, after the failure of the last great German movement against Warsaw, the Germans established themselves un a line which runs, roughly, north and south through Poland from the Lower Vistula, west of Warsaw, to Uie Upper Vistula on the boundary between Poland and Galiein. Thirty miles west of Warsaw, near its northern end, this line maintains an approximate distance of eighty miles from the German frontier.

A HKTitKAT from the Pilica, such as the .Russians describe, would necessarily vary gravely weaken the position of th.- German armies which hold ground west of Warsaw and in the southern extremity of Poland adjacent to Galicia. The forces holding the Pilica have hitherto performed an essential servico for these armies by linking up and covering their flanks, and a retreat from Pilica would presumably involve a falling back all along the lino;

The report that the Germans contemplate a- great attack on the Western front on the centenary of Bismarck's birth is possibly an attempt to perpetrate a joke, for BISJIAUCK was bom on April 1, 1815. Meantime, while no exceptional activity is reported at any part of tho Western line, there have been very decided hints of big happenings in prospect along the Yser. One interesting item, however, is the statement that the .remainder of the German headquarters has arrived in Tournai. Recently it was reported that the pressure of British attacks on Lille had induced the transference of a portion of the German headquarters' staff_ from that city to Tournai, which is in Belgium, 18 miles east of Lille. To-day's message at oncc confirms the former report, and indicates that the pressure of tho British attacks on Lille —a vital stronghold in the present German line—is being more sevorcly felt than ever.

A sensational but unconvincing story comes from New York to the effect that the Kaiser recently visited the Emperor Francis Joseph, under tiic strictest incognito, and induced him to cede territory to Italy' as tho price of that country's neutrality. The story has obvious weaknesses—one of the greatest being that if the two Emperors had met in such secret fashion- the subject matter of their conference could scarcely have leaked out so soon— and iu any case it rests upon no better authority than other reports which have come through recently that Austria is firmly determined not to cede territory to Italy upon any consideration whatsoever. Not very much importance can be attached to the vague stories mid predictions that arc afloat concerning Italy's intentions, but the statement that the Italian Cabinet has forbidden tho publication of news regarding war preparations is somewhat more arresting.'