PROGRESS OF THE WAR.

Dominion, Volume 8, Issue 2433, 12 April 1915, Page 4

PROGRESS OF THE WAR.

Considering the momentous affairs that are afoot in the main theatres and elsewhere, the war news of the week-end is unsensational, butit tells of some important victories by tho Allies, and otherwise shows their preparations developing smoothly in a way that augurs well for future success.

Not very many details arc given to-day of progress in the Western theatre. Bare indications are given of heavy fighting in the Northern Champagne region and in Alsace, Micro iliu French have made some further progress, from the position they recently captured at Hartmannswcilcrkopf, and arc steadily paving the way for an advance on Mulhausen. The most important success reported to-day, however, has been gained in the region south and qf Viu'diw, fc-lwr. thi? Ffppch are cleaving ft way to MeU &ud Lor*

raine. Their latest victory is the capture of the last of the German positions at Lcs Eparges (about 15 miles south-west of Verdun), a position dominating the plain of the Woevre,- which lies between the Mouse and the Moselle, extending south from a line connecting Verdun and Met?.. The importance of the position in German estimation may .bo gauged from the fact that the victors had to boat off no fewer than fifteen counter-attacks. These desperate counter-attacks upon positions hopelessly lost have been named as a principal cause of the heavy German losses, in the war—losses out of all proportion to those sustained by the Allies. Tho frequency with which counter-attacks were launched at Les Eparges possibly signalises the return of the Crown Prince to tho command of the German Army in that region, for he enjoys the unenviable reputation of having sent many thousands of soldiers uselessly to their deaths.

Indicated progress by the Russians in the main Eastern theatremay bo very briefly summed up today. Between tho Nicmen and the East Prussian frontier major operations appear to have definitely given place to "actions of secondary importance," as might have been expected now that the coming of milder weather has made this stretch of country almost impassable so far as heavy guns and .transport are i oncerned._ No change is reported chewhere in Poland, hut in the Carpathians the Battle of the Passes is not yet at an ond. The Russians report that_ they now hold the, whole of the principal chain, with the inception of one hill position, on a. front of nearly eighty miles fron Volosate, eight miles west of tiro Uszok Pass, to Rafaitova, near the Pantyr Pass, almost due south of Lemberg. This front covers three of the principal Carpathian Passes, ar>d includes also tho rango of- hill positions against which tho Austro-Go' - - mans hurled assault after assault during a period of more than two months only to finally abandon the enterprise as hopeless.

The message quoted indicates that the Russians hold a dominant position all the way along the Carpathians in Eastern Galicia, but ut the same time makes it clear that they have not yet actually penetrated the range in this region. As to the fighting further west the position is less clear, but one mridsago. mentioning an Austro-German offensive from the direction of AleznLahore, is open to the reading that the enemy were worsted in an' engagement on the Hungarian side of the principal range, some distance east of tho Dukla Pass. Plainly; however, the "semi-official" message of last week which described the Russians as gaining a great victory on the Hungarian Plain well to tho southward of the mountains niustnow be dismissed as a work of imagination. All the fighting reported to-day has taken place in or very near to the mountains.

A few lines concerning the Dardanelles, oainpaign which have been allowed to pass the censorship show the operations developing upon a scale of considerable magnitude. So far as the naval bombardment is concerned, .a somewhat belated message states that warships engaged the forts on Sunday and Wednesday last week and set some of the land' defences on fire, while tho French Admiralty reports that minesweeping is proceeding in face of ineffective opposition by the Turks. Greater interest, however, attaches to tho news that the French Expeditionary _ Force has disembarked at Alexandria, where it is preparing to aid the Allied Fleets and the British Expedition. Alexandria is no doubt the base which some earlier messages mentioned had been established by the Allies on the north coast of Africa. Situated on the Egyptian coast, twelve miles west of the Nile Delta, Alexandria has been the _ scene of many_ stirring events during its long history, Dut is chiefly remembered by British people on account of its bombardment by cui Anglo-French Fleet in 1882, the sequel to. which was tho British occupation of Egypt.

Alexandria has a commodious harbour affording ample ' deep-water berthage, and the port equipment includes a large graving dock, completed in. 1905. It is thus in every way suited to become a main base of supplies for the strong force which the Allies will no doubt employ in the territories adjacent to the Dardanelles. The Turks are credited with having at least a quarter of a million men in the -area around Constantinople and. along the Dardanelles,'and since the collapse of tho expedition against Egypt this number may have been somewhat augmented though _ the' campaign against the Kussians in Northorn Asia Minor still imposes a heavy Btrain upon the military resources of the Ottoman Empire. ■ It may be assumed that the Allies will bring to bear a force at least equal in strength to that which the Turks are reputed to have available for the defence of their capital. Though they have encountered one disaster after another since they entered the war, the Turks have not lost the reputation of being brave and determined fighters. '

Revelations concerning the treatment of British prisoners in Germany, which have been made public by the Imperial Government in a White Paper, will furnish any confirmation needed of the fact that it is hopeless to expect Germany to p_ay heed to the standards of civilisation in her conduct of the war. While German prisoners in Britain—even members of the submarine crews which have served their country in ways of piracy and murder—are comfortably housed and fed as well as British soldiers in the field, British prisoners in German hands are being treated in a fashion for which a parallel must be sought in the darkest days of barbarism. It is stated that many of 'them are being gradually starved to death, and aro housed in overcrowded and filthy hovels and in other places confinement in which is necessarily fatal to health. In addition, it is stated that British prisoners have in numerous instances been brutally maltreated by their guards. Reading this report in conjunction with circumstantial Russian stories of the torturing of Russian scouts and other prisoners by Germans—in some instances by German officers—it would appeal' that'the Germans, faced by ultimate defeat, are descending to even more fiendish atrocities than those which accompanied their occupation of Belgium. Responsibility for such deeds as the Russians describe may conceivably rest upon the officers and soldiers immediately concerned, but the treatment of British prisoners ia 3 crime which blackens .llw Uiiuic of Clio whole ualiuu,

Resortikg to such barbarities Germany enjoys one advantage, if it can be so called, in that no civilised nation would stoop to retaliate- with similar crimes. This pitiful advantage is enjoyed by Germany, however, at the cost of losing all titlo to he considered a civilised nation. The German people who tamely acquiesce in such treatment as British prisoners arc enduring in their country to-day arc at best a race of slaves, led and dominated by a set of brutal barbarians upon whom pompous pretensions of "kultur" and the insignia of military rank and power rest as oddly as ' they would upon a legion of apes. So far as may be the wrongs of British prisoners will be avenged upon the battlefield, but Germany's greatest punishment is that her own deeds have branded her as unfit to stand in the company of civilised nations.

Dramatic possibilities, awakened by the sudden concentration of the Italian Fleet, and revelations of a Serbo-Italian agreement have not yet borno fruit, Trat the continued exodus of Germans from Italy indicates that.the situation is as tense as ever. Another indication of the state of Italian feeling is given in the attention which a number of leading newspapers are paying to the stories and rumourc again current that Austria is seeking a separate peace. In the countries 01 the Entente these rumours are not likely to be very- seriously received, but judging the Press comments there is an uneasy fear in Italy that the Dual Monarchy may suddenly withdraw from the conflict on terms jeopardising the success of Italian designs on Austrian territory. This certainly suggests that Italian feeling is hardening in favour of war,, or, at all events, that the withdrawal of Austria before Italy .has time to prosecute her designs in the only possible way would be regarded by the Italians as a desperate misfortune.

Interesting possibilities are opened up by a report in Norwegian newspapers that a British squadron is believed to have attacked German submarines in tho neighbourhood of the Sartoro Islands, off the West Coast of Norway. These islands, situated at the northern end of the North Sea, lie 'opposite a section of the Norwegian Coast deeply indented with winding sounds and fiords, constituting a perfect maze of waterways. Recent messages have reported that German submarines, attempting to use this coastline as abase of operations, have been hunted away by the Norwegians. The present message indicates that the Germans, persisting in their attempt, may have been attacked in their lair British naval patrols, but details, as yet, are lacking.