PROGRESS OF THE WAR

Dominion, Volume 8, Issue 2445, 26 April 1915, Page 4

PROGRESS OF THE WAR

Challenged in a series of terrific assaults on their positions aloiig tho Western front, tho Germans have 'it length retaliated with an effort to smash the Allied line in Belgium, the result being a battle Upon an enormous scale and of murderoiife intensity. . Though news of this great battle —described by one correspondent as the bloodiest in the Western campaign—has only arrived in the week-end cablegrams, it would seem to have opened in the closing days of the week before last and apparently is still in progress,

Some details of the battle, even in its earlier developments, have yet to be filled in, but its leading features aro clearly outlined in the messages as they stand. No definite information is given as to the strength of the forces engaged, but unofficial messages declare that great masses of German troops Were rushed to the Yser front. The tremendous concentration of artillery effected is sufficiently attested iii tho descriptions of the battle as a whole and the same evidence bears Out unofficial statements regarding .the assemblage. of enormous reinforcements, It is pretty clear that the Germans made their preparations upon such a scale that this battle must take rank with the most decisive engagements of the war. One highly important detail deserves special attention. Tll3 Germans paved the way for their assault by casting into the Allied lines great quantities of bombs \ filled with asphyxiating gases, which appear to have had a Very far-reaching effect. The_ use of such bombs is as plain violation of The Hague convention and the laws of war as tho murder of non-combatants on sea and land, of which Germany has repeatedly' been guilty. A few days ago the Germans accused the Allies of using asphyxiating bombs in the self-same locality as they have selected for their assault in Belgium. The accusation, as miight have been expected, was promptly denied. It is now suggested by Sir John French (with every show of reason) that the Germans laid the charge with no other object than that of anticipating and diminishing critioism, in neutral countries, of their own planned and deliberate violation of the laws of war. It is a striking example of the Cold-blooded forethought and calculation which mingle with Vile criminality to givo its distinctive character to German war policy.

Messages so far received indicate that the battle, though enormous forces were engaged, was fought on a comparatively limited front, its extremities north and south being only a little over eight miles apart in a direct line. The actual length of the front, however, is considerably increased by the nature of tho lines held by the Allied defenders of the Yser Canal—these lines extending irregularly, in places, a few miles in advance of that waterway. The northern extremity of the main battle front (as it is disclosed) is Steenstraatc, a village on the hanks of the Yser Canal, anout five and a half miles north, and a little west of Ypres and the southern extremity Hill 60, about, two miles, south of Ypres, from which the Germans were recently dislodged by a British assault. The German objective was thus a forward-bulging section of the Allied line, towards the southern end of the thirty-mile front in Flanders. Comparatively little attention is paid in the official dispatches to a renewal in aggravated Form of tho furious German efforts to recapture Hill (JO, but this appears to have been simultaneous with the commencement of the massed assault on the Allied line further iiorlh. A vivid description is given of tho fearful bombardment to which the hill was subjected by tho Gorman heavy artillery and of tho heroic fashion in which the British clung grimly to their conquest.

In their advance upon the Yser Canal from Ypres northward the Germans gained some partial and temporary success, but an official assurance is given that the main defensive line of the canal iUelf remains practically intact. By their own showing the Germans advanced m t) fi'ijM sptflntlittß ei«Mi from StcwsU'wUe, i/oimhlv.i auuiat-

angles _to the Yser Canal, so that their line must have pivoted in that Village as it swulig in towards the Canal on the five and a half-mile Stretch between Steenstraate and Ypres. It is evident that the Allied troops holding advanced positions were thrust back to the canal and the French had to retreat to the west bank at Boesinghcj about three miles north of Ypres. This means that they now have the waterway protecting the front, as the Allies already have at other points on their line further north, outside the area of the present battle. At. one point, close to Steenstraate, the Germans crossed the canal and captured a village, but only to be subsequently dislodged and driven to the east bank again. Attacks on the British lines oast of Ypres were beaten off.

The broad' result df this tremendous effort by the Germans to break the besieging Allied lines seems to be that they have gained, a mile or two of open country on the eastern side of the Yser Canal, but even this, according to some of. the later sages, is in process of being regained. The prize of battle in any case was the passage of the Yser, and since the Germans have not achieved this they iriiistj Unless they can bdttef. their previous effort, be held to have failed in their object*

One of the most encouraging features of the whole affair is the nature of the communique regarding the battle sent out from Benin. It will be noted that it follows the plan of stopping at the point where Gentian Success ended and German defeat began. Thus it is clailhed that the passage of the Yser waa achieved between Steenstraate and Het Sas (as is admittedin the British accounts), but it : is not mentioned that the attitflk&i's _ Wei'S drivel! back again . arid feraain_ on the wrong side of the Canal. Similarly the i!6)kMiliiiffUe reports the capture of four heavy guns, but is silent ceiilCertlilig the thagnificenfc ■advance of the Canadians in which the guns were recovered: _ Anticipate ing niore substantia,! gaitis the Germans would scarcely resort to halftruths which can serve no'bettcr purpose ( than to delude their own publiCi.

Splendidly as all the forces eri-g-fi-ged appear to havo borno themselves iii stemming. the German effort to pass the Yser, people in the oversea Dominions will take double pride in the heroic achievement of the Canadian Division which is singled out for distinction in the official messages. The Canadians wore posted on the left of the British line, in touch with the French force which apparently met the first fury of tho. German advance and was compelled to retire on the Canal. Their left flank being thus exposed, the Canadians had to retire in their turn,' and in their retreat folii' 4.7 guns fell into the hands 6f the ehctny. It was just such a sitUatioh as tests the fortitude and endurance of tho very finest troops, but the Canadians, inste&d of weakening under the terrific 'strain to which they were subjected, seem only to have been stimulated to new exertions. They cannot have come lightly out of their enforced retreat, but, having regained touch with tho French on their left, they advanced soilic horn's lator, and not only rccaptufed thfe gunsi but took many prisoners. It was a magnificent recovery, in face of the full pressUi'6 of tho German attack) Which Would add lustre.to the proudest traditions of regula-r troops. The Canadians have demonstrated 01166 for all that tho British Dominions, . as well as the Mother Country) can produce, soldiers fit to bear the heaviest strain of battle and capable of displaying Unflinching fortitude and valour under the most trying circumstances that oari Well be imagined.

An unofficial message from_ Athfens declares that a decisive adfcioil has begun in the Dardanelles, but the fact that siich news has been allowed to pass the censorship, while it iB unaccompanied by any official confirmation, must detract to some extent from its value. Taking it for what it is Svorth, however, it confirms the recent German statement that Allied troops have been landed at Enos (on the Aegean coast of Turkey, close to the Bulgarian frontier), and declares that a landing has also been effected at the Isthmus of Bulair, which connccta thc j Gallipoli Peninsula with the mainland,' and_ at Sulvar Bay, ■ onthe northern side of the peninsula, about thirty miles south-west of Bulair. ■ If these reports are correct the campaign against the Dardanelles is already far advanced and should soon lead to definite results.

In the. Carpathians the advance of the Russians upon the Uszok .Pass appears to be at a standstill for tho moment, but they report tha-t the enemy has sustained enormous losses in an offensive immediately north of the . pass. At a little distance to the westward the Russians are still advancing, but here they are in- touch with tho enemy in a subsidiary range, northward of the main Carpathian cha-in. Little indication _ is given of activity on other sections of the Carpathian front or in Poland, but the increasing tension in the Western theatre is_ practically certain to bo aocompanied by similar conditions on the opposite front.