PROGRESS OP THE WAR

Dominion, Volume 8, Issue 2449, 30 April 1915, Page 4

PROGRESS OP THE WAR

Mention of "the successful progress of operations at the Dardanelles" in the communication of 'the Secretary of State, for the Colonies, conveying congratulations: "to the Dominion, upon the splendid gallantry and achievement of its contingent in co-operation with. Australian _ and Imperial troops, is _ in itself both definite and satisfactory news, but as to the precise point which these ' operations have reached not much has yet been made known. That the landing armies _ had beaten down, the first resistance of the Turks and gained a (ooting both on the. Gallipoli Peninsula and on the Asiatio side at the ■ Aegean entrance to the strait, was made known yesterday. Some additional details regarding the landingwhieh are supplied to-day make it evident that this preliminary achievement was no light matter. Apart, from artillery and rifle-lire, which to some extent would be borne down by the lire of the covering naval squadrons,, thelanding forces had to deal with wire entanglements and other obstacles, including d.-ep piis with spikes at the bottom. These last apparently were located below the tide-line at points where the, troops had In wade ashore from their' boa Is. KviiJfn I l.y I he Turks made their preparations to resist tho lauil-

ing upon a scale of completeness, and on that account the success with which the landing was effected must ill itself bo regarded as a rioidry (.ir series of victories) of tome iuport-

A little information is given concerning the points at which landings were effected, and the positions that have been taken up, and this is helped out by a glance at the nature of the country in which the conflict is located. The Gallipoli Peninsula, from the fortified Isthmus of Bulair to Cape Helles, at the Aegean end of the strait, is 43 miles long. From the inner end of the Narrows, almost to Bulair, it has an average width of about ten miles, but as will be' seen from the map published in this issue, its extremities are much narrower. The Isthmus of Bulair is four miles wide at the fortified line. Almost the whole surface of the'peninsula is hilly. The highest summits reach an elevation of over a thousand feet, but the average is much less and there are probably few positions in the peninsula at which Turkish fortifications could not be reached by the_ guns of the Allied Fleot., Battering • Fort Chanak with' shells hurled right across the peninsula and the strait, the Queen Elizabeth has already given a fine demonstration of what may be accomplished by high-anglo fire when the gunnery is assisted and directed' by aerial reconnaissance. This apart, the hilly nature of the country may possibly to an extent favour the attack, now that a landing has been effected. Some of the highest hills' are situated along the outer coast of tho peninsula. _ Seizing dominating positions in this region the Allies should bo placed to command an advance towards the strait: On the other hand,'moat of the existing roads run more or less parallel with the strait, which suggests transport difficulties at points which otherwise' might appear to fa,vour an invading army.

Some of the principal objects aimed at by the Allied commanders are_ visible enough. Obviously, it is desirable that the Turkish army in the Gallipoli Peninsula, where the main resistance is to be expected, should be as far as possible cut off from sources of reinforcement and supply. It is equally nccessary that the land forces should closely cooperate with the inshore bombarding fleet, which has made some progress in the enterprise of forcing the strait by direct assault. To-day's news shows that both objects are being nursued. The Allies have landed on both sides of the Dardanelles at the Aegean entrance. From Fort Sedd-el-Bahr, at the outermost end of the Gallipoli Peninsula (which here narrows to a point at Cape' Helles) a force appears to have advanced, on a line extending across the peninsula, for a distance of about three miles. Progress here should be .rapid, , for the defences along this portion of the strait have endured the full fury of the fleet bombardment, and have been so far subduedHhat some miles of the strait from the Aegean <end have been swept clear of mines. Little has been heard of the French army which landed at Kum Kaleh, on the Asiatic side of the entrance, but itt ta£k may be complicated by the possibility of 'the Turks bringing up forces through Asia Minor to .assail it in flank. • The task of the Allies on both sides of the Dardanelles will, of course, be to._ advance along its shores, co-operating with the bombarding fleet and. making an end of the Turkish defences as they are subdued, or such defences as may be concealed from of the warships;

Very interesting possibilities are opened up by the announcement that a section of the Allied army has landed near Yeni Keui, on the "outer .:oast of the tiallipoli Peninsula, opposite tho town of Gallipoli. A line across the peninsula at this point is seven miles distant from the fortified line across the. Isthmus of Bulair, hut separated by less than half that distance _ from some of the coastal forts which guard the isthmus on both sides. Gallipoli lies close to the point at which the Dardanelles connects with thfe Sea of Marmora. Mastering the Isthmus of Bulair, the Allies would cut off the Turks in the Gallipoli Peninsula from land communication with'the European mainland, though an alternative route' for the passage of supplies and reinforcement; . woulcL ■ 'still be. open through Asia Minor and across the strait at. some intermediate point.. Comnmnd of_ the isthqjus! is no doubt the object aimed at.in this section of the campaign; but meantime there is nothing to show what progress the Allies have" made there from the outer coast-line. The -landing-point apVears to be the head of a wide valley separated by low hills from the Isthmus' of Bulair and flanked on the other side by higher hills. Landings at_ other points are probably-in the main subsidiary to the main advance along the shores of the strait and the attack towards Bulair.

The rate of progress of the campaign must depend to a very great extent upon the state of the Ottoman defences as regards permanent and mobile artillery and essential supplies, including - ammunition. The fighting powers of the Turks are undisputed. Conflicting opinions have been expressed as to the strength of the Turkish forts and the nature the great guns in position, but the bombardments already carried out seem to show that the guns of tho Allied Fleet are decidcdly superior to those 'in tho forts asjiore. Forts have been put out of a.ction by gunfire, bu,t the three ships accounted for by the Turks were destroyed by mines" and not by gunfire. On known facta it would be'.unreasonable to anticipate any easy conquest of .the Dardanelles. The scale on'which tho Allies have made their preparations affords sufficient evidence of the strength of ths position to be attacked. A r ague rumours are abroad that the Ottoman Government may surrender before the assault is driven homo unless Germany _ or Austria send troops to their assistance. There may be something in this, for the older" Turks hav'e been dragged into .the war against their will. It is no longer open to Turkey, however, to negotiate for terms, and rather than surrender at discretion her rulers may probably prefer to continue the conilict while fighting power remains.

IjiTTLE new light is thrown to-day upon the position iu Flanders. The general effect of the news is to show that a lull has succeeded to the longcotitinned fury of the German initial effort., but there, is no reason to suppose that the lull- is anything but, temporary. A statement by Sir John Kkuncii that the German attack at Ypres has been, definitely stoppedi relates evidently to a local and immediate phase of the operations but in this limited extent is distinctly encouraging. A Berlin communique published to-duy, it will

be noted, lays no claim to positive success, and merely states that British attacks have been repulsed with loss. Elsewhere on the Western front one reverse has been sustained by the Allies, hut it is lv of any great importance. At Beausejour, in the-Champagne district, near the western border of the Argonne Forest, about three hundred yards of trenches were gained by' the Germans, and as yet onLy half of the lost ground has been recovered by the French. . In this- region—one of gently undulating plains, largely clothed in pine-woods—the. French have made slojv but continued progress into the German .fortified lines during the last few months. The Beausejour position includes a small redoubt upon an open spui - , but since this is not mentioned in the message the loss ahcl recovery of ground prouably relates to trenches in advance of the redoubt.

Bather vague storiesi of wholesale movements ot German troops in Belgium are given currency in some of the cablegrams, but they convey little definite information. It is stated, for instance, that such a movement is in progress partly towards the Yser arid partly eastwards—presumably towards the Carpathians; This does not seem very probable._ It is quite likely that Germany is send-, ing new levies east'and transferring seasoned troops to the AVestern theatre, in preparation for an even greater effort than she has yet made m Flanders, but in that case no object would be served by sendirigthe new units in the first instance into Belgium. Despite some optimistic suggestions- that the Gorman assault on the Allied line in Flanders hasspent its force it must be accounted probable that it will ere long be renewed. The broad position is that Germany has gained some ground along the narrow battle-front selected for attack, but- tbe gain was achieved at enormous cost.