PROGRESS OF THE WAR

Dominion, Volume 8, Issue 2442, 22 April 1915, Page 4

PROGRESS OF THE WAR

Amplified accounts of the British capture of Hill 60, near Ziilebeke, in Belgium, show that it was a battle on the scalc of Neuve Chapelle —a shattering stroke at the German line, which, according to one report, hurled the enemy back over a distance of three miles. At all events, tho Germans have been dislodged from an extremely import-tint hill position about three ahd a half miles south-east of Ypres, and in a series of terrific counter-attacks, made at heavy_ cost-, have completely failed to retrieve any portion of their loss. There is no suggestion as yet that the British victory was limited, as at'Neuve Chapellc, by a premature cessation of the offensive stroke. On the contrary, it appears that the attack was driven home with splendid dash, and crowned witli complete success.

Hill 60 stands about two miles cast of the Ypres Canal, upon which tho Allies made their stand during the long months of the winter campaign, so that apart from the strategic importance of the hill its capture marks a definite step forward. Neuvo Chapolle was a stroke at the fortified front, buttressed by Lille, which protects the head of the German main line of communications along the Mouse. The assault on Hill 60, though this eminence lies only 16 miles north-east of Neuve Ghapclle, bolongs to a different section of tho operations. It is a step in the task of thrusting the German right flank back through Belgium to the Dutch frontier. In all probability it will be followed by an outburst of heavy fighting at different points along the thirty-mile front in Flanders from the sea to the Franco-Belgian frontier. A great stir of activity in this front is already reported. Tho inundations which guarded the Allied front during the stationary fighting of the winter campaign- are subsiding, and mention of a Fleet bombardmont of German positions along the coast east of Nieuport affords promise of an advance in that direction.

Artillery no doubt played as important a part in the battle near : Zillebeke as it did at Neuvc Chapelle, but in the reports so far received more prominence is given to the achievement of the British sappers, which paved the way for the grand assault. Thanks to their patient tunnelling, so effective a mine was laid and exploded that the German hill-stronghold was riven and devastated as though by a volcanic eruption, and it was in the crater of the explosion that the British infantry gained a preliminary footing. This sapping and mining is siege-warfare, of course, but on a very different scale to the deadlock operations of the winter months. Tne preliminary sapping (or tunnelling) is an extremely slow and tedious process, and at least one well-known military expert (Colonel F. N. Maude, C.8.) is of opinion that a better and more rapid method of progression will ultimately be adopted. He thinks that instead of driving mine galleries at the rate of a foot an hour it would bo a much better plan to produce the necessary craters by means- of howitzer shells. In the sarno articlo Colonel Maude points out that the holes blown out by mines are mere death-traps for the troops that rush them, unless and until their artillery has secured • a considerable ascenclancv over the enemy's guns and infantry. He goes on to describe an efficiently conducted assault in terms which no doubt accurately _ picture the assault on Hill 60 in its leading features:—

"What happens now is something like this. Before our mines are exploded, our gunners have located and ranged upon every German gun position in their section; then, as soon as the mine is fired, and the crater rushed, every one of our guns turns on the enemy, and covers their, batteries with showers of shell, thus rendering it impossible for them to interfere with our men. in the mine crater whilst they. are engaged in converting the side towards the enemy into a fire position, and helping them to scatter his columns as soon i|s they brenk cover for the counter-stroke that Inevitably follows every miuo explosion, whoever makes it."

One fact incidentally touched upon in Sir John French's dispatch covering the events at Hill 60 deserves special attention. He mentions that on Sunday three Taubc aeroplanes were driven off, in tho Ypres region, _ by British airmen, who then continued their reconnaissance. This incident occurred after the great attack, but it instances the moral ascendancy gained by British airmen, which doubtless was an important preliminary factor in this assault and in every other which the Allies have recently launched on the. Western front. For the time being, command of the air produces its best, fruits on the battle-line in France and Flanders, where efficient air-reconnaissance is vital to both contending parties.; The best proof that Allied airmen have established at least a partial command of the air is that the French and British commanders have been able on a number of occasions to concentrate guns and troops at selected points, and launch assaults at sections of the German line which have been found unprepared and incapable of resisting the shock. On this evidence it is pretty safe to conclude that the ilight of the Taubes, mentioned by Sir John French, is not an isolated, but a typical, incident, illustrating the superiority of the Allied airmen, which is attested in any case by a steadily accumulating volume of evidence.

It has been reported time and ngain that raiding German aeroplanes have been put to flight—-in some cases brought down—by Allied aircraft rising to offer them battle. On the other hand, when tho great raids were made and repeated on the German positions along the Belgian coast, no attempt was made to repel the attacking aircraft by counter air-attacks. Bearing in mind that high-angle pun-lire has proved comparatively ineffective against aeroplanes, whereas if one aeroplane is pitted against "another the better ot' the two is bound to destroy its antagonist or put' it to flight, it can only be concluded that tho Germans abstained from using the best available weapon bccausc they wore doubtful of being able to use it with effect. If this is the actual position, and many reports go lo show (hat it is, it means that. German aircraft are already restricted to fleelr ing surveys, of the Allied position;., with retreat always iu mind, while

their dominant antagonists are comparatively free to suar at will over the German lines, making their observations. Even if mattci'i have not ,vct gone so far as this, every step by tne Allied airmen towards command of the air means for the Allied commanders all tJie advantages resulting from better and more accurate information as to the enemy's dispositions, and for the enemy commanders all the disabilities that result from restricted and imperfect; information. Upon artillery efficiency, also, coinmaud of the air has a supremely important bearing, for air-observation makos possible an efficient direction of fire not to be compassed by any other means.

It is always dangerous to base a generalisation upon detail factors, but events in the Western theatre since the Allies adopted vigorously offensive tactics, nearly two months ago, certainly suggest strongly that the Germans are no longer capable of a powerful counter-stroke. l*ositions of strategic importance havo been wrested from them by tlw French in the Champagne district (at the eastern end of the Aisne front), 011 the approach to Lorraine, and in Alsacc, and by the British in Flanders (as reported to-day), and possibly also at Neuvc Cbapello. The Allies have much more than demonstrated _ against the German right flank (in Belgium) and their main line of communications, and the French arc rapidly paving the way for an invasion through Lorraine, or possibly further north. In faco of this gathering tide, the German retort, if reports can be trusted, has been notably poor and feeble. One incident, their "passago of the Ypres Canal, in Northern Flanders, remains to be explained, but otherwise they have accomplished nothing remotely comparable to the smashing strokes of the Allies at Les Eparges, Ncuve Chapelle, and now at Hill 60. It is too soon to be dogmatic on the subject, but since the offensive takes pride of place in the German conception of war, the existing position undoubtedly augurs well for the future success of the Allies.

. Reports from Pctrograd show that the Austro-Germans arc vigorously pursuing thou effort to picrcu and turn the Russian line'in the Carpathians. It is admitted that the enemy advancing north from the mountains in the direction of Sfcryj (south of Lcmberg), gained temporary possession of a Russian position, but it is added that they were displaced by a counter-attack, For the rest, the Russians report some further progress in the mountains.

The heroic achievement of the naval detachment which torpedoed the stranded submarine Elo, under the guns of near-by Turkish forts, balances to some extent the loss of that ill-fated craft. Making every allowance for the fact that tho boats of the Triumph made their dash at night, and no doubt covered by gunfire, it remains true that they succeeded in a deed which might well have seemod impossible. Searchlights would, of course, be brought into play by tho Turks and the British party, according to the reports, had to face the enemy's lighter guns, practically at point-blank range. That in these eircunistanccs they should have torpedoed the submarine and escapcd with a loss of only one man killed is little short of a miracle.' Only the vital necessity of preventing a still serviceable submarine falling into the hands of the Turks could nave justified such an enterprise being sanctioned, and the commander of the expedition has nobly earned his ,step in rank, and his brave comrades the recognition they are promised. It may appear to leave somo room for explanation that, the Els was not blown up or otherwise destroyed by her own crew, but in the absence of definite information it would be unfair to assume that they were at fault. The captain and three other men were killed, and seven of the survivors were wounded before the submarine was abandoned.

Germany is apparently making strenuous efforts to block trade-be-tween Russia and Sweden across the Baltic, and risking some portion of her fleet with that end in view. Yesterday it was reported that "the German fleet" had laid a new minefield In the_ vicinity _ of the Aland Islands, which are situated 'towards tho northern end of the Baltic in the latitude of Petrograd. To-day a Copenhagen message states that i big German' fleet is guarding the sea off the Island of Gotland, further south, but still a long way north of tho German _ coast. Considering that the Baltic offers a favourable eruiaing-ground for Russian submarines, it is unlikely that Germany would hazard her warships without some very definite object in view. A possible explanation of her naval activities _ is that she apprehends that munitions of war (from America or elsewhere) may be transmitted '1.0 Russia by way of Norway and Sweden. If any such traffic is under way, even a close blockade of the Baltic would not necessarily put a stop _to it, for there is railway communication with Russia around the northern end of that sea.

Sosie of tho later samples of German moonshine flicker very feebly. Tho German General Staff, we are told to-day, has issued a document in both theatres giving the hours of sunshine and moonshine in Paris, Warsaw, and London, "to help airmen in the event of early bombardments, or occupations." . Airmen worth the name do not need instruction under these heads, and if the German Staff issued a whole almanac it would-be no nearer occupation of the capitals named, or Warsaw.

Even the United States suffers froin alarms and excursions in these stirring days. For instance, Mr. Secretary Bryan is at present chasing down a somewhat expansive declaration by Admiral Peary, that the United States is bound eventually to extend its frontiers and absorb the remainder of the continent, tho alternative being extinction. The pith of Mr. Bimn's explanation appears to be that the gallant Admiral didn't mean it, or that ii lie did lie was talking rot. The incident is at least a welcome variation from repetitions erf nauseum of President Wilson's motto: America first, and mediation afterwards.