PROGRESS OF THE WAR

Dominion, Volume 8, Issue 2451, 3 May 1915, Page 4

PROGRESS OF THE WAR

..Fairly full reports are supplied to-day of recent events at the Dardanelles, and they more than confirm what has been briefly said in earlier dispatohes about the success of the landing operations and the part played by New Zealand and Australian troops. Not only has the landing been successfully effected at three important points, in spite of an obsinate defence by the Turks, but the latter have since been-de-cisively beaten in a series of battles, a.nd the .Allied troops have effectively occupied some miles of country bordering the strait. There will be, no doubt, a great dear of heavy fighting yet before the Dardanelles Strait is conquered, but the work has been well begun, * * - * * In this country the achievements of the New Zealanders and Australians will naturally command even more attention that those of the Imperial and French troops, who have also acquitted themselves gallantly in bearing down the Turkish defenco of the Gallipoli Peninsula and the Asiatic shore. The Commonwealth and Dominion troops are working as a oombined force, • apparently without other admixture, and, as the' London Daily Chronicle points out, they have been given the post of honour—threatening the Narrow;!, the forcing of which must be the first main objeotive. Sari-Bair, the point at which they landed, is noli, shown on the map- we publish today, but may be easily located. It lies on the outer coast of the Gallipoli Peninsula, almost directly opposite N'aguru, which is op the Asiatic side of the strait at thfe head of the Narrows. A line carried due west across the map, from Nagura to the outer coast of the Gallipoli Peninsula, touches a slightly projecting cape, on the northern side of which lies the bay in which the Australians and New Zealanders landed,. Kaba Tepe, also mentioned in the messages, is less than a mile to the south. . * "* * # Heading the reports it is plain enough that our soldiers haw been tested in a fashion which leaves no vopm for doubt as to their fighting qualities, Like the forces landing 1 at other points the New Zeatanders and Australians had to assault elaborately prepared entanglements q&d defences stubbornly maintained, but thoir first attack was. suocessful and gained them a foothold whioh has sinoe been materially improved. Landing on Sunday, a week ago, they embarked upon days of strenuous conflict. Beaten off in attack after attack, the Turks on Tuesday morning brought, up a fresh division, its assault being preceded by a heavy artillery bombardment. A fierce encounter followed, but the Colonial Forces once again triumph* ed, and by the afternoon had resumed the offensive. Bearing in mind the reputation of the Turks as daring' and intrepid soldiers, this is a record of achievement of which Australia and New Zealand have right and reason to be proud. "Every advantage of position and preparation rcßtcd with the Turks, and there is nothing to show that the Colonials were in superior force. It is quite possible that the odds were the other way about. In any case, fighting under desperately trying conditions,_ in their first serious encounter with the enemy, the New Zealanders and Australians have borne themselves with valour and determination worthy of veteran troops. * * * * Singled out as they are by their separate and distinguished achievment, the Colonial Forces have not by any means enjoyed a monopoly of hard fighting at tho Dardanelles during the past week. Tho general progress of tho operations is clearly described in a series of messages published to-day, and it is cvidont that considerable headway has already been made. Tho British troops who landed at the toe of the Gallipoli 'Peninsula seem to have had a stern tussle for the possesion of Scdd-el-Bahr, lately the site of a fort defending the entrance to the strait. : The warship gUns hfj-d accounted ..for the fort, out tho position as it remained constituted a.

labyrnth of caves, trenches, and entanglements which the Turks defended_ with tenaoity. Having mastered this position, and occupying a line across the end of the peninsula, the British have now advanced to the neighbourhood of Krithia (shown on the map), about ten miles from Cape Helles. Less is 6aid about the doings of the French who landed on the Asiatic side of the strait, but they plainly have acquitted themselves well, are firmly established, and have repulsed many attacks.

# * * * A very important part 1 was, 'of. course, played by. the Fleet, which covered the landing. It overawed the Turkish warships, which were at the head of the Narrows, but did not venture to advance down the strait, and also greatly assisted the land forces by engaging Turkish mobile batteries arid putting them out of action. An example of the extent to which sea and land operations were interdependent is furnished in the report that a body of five hundred prisoners taken by the French on the Asiatic shore were cut off by the fire of the warships. Meantime, the bombardment of the .forts is proceeding apace, as will be gathered from the fact that Maidos was battered and net on fire by the Triumph. Maidos is on the European side of the strait, near the nead of the Narrows, and almcist opposite the point where the Australians and New .'Zealanders have landed. , * » * * For the time being the Isthmus of Bulair, which connects the Gallipoli Peninsula with the mainland, has dropped out of prominence, but it may oe assumed that a serious landing will be effected there also if this has not already beon done. Otherwise the Turks would bo left an open road for the passage of reinforcements and supplies. Meantime, however, the principal efforts of the Allied land and sea' Forces seem to be directed to the reduction of the Narrows, the contracted and heavily fortified section of the strait which stretches from Nagura to Kephez Point, The successful bombardment of Maidos would seem to indicate that Ohanak and Kilid Bahr, the strong forts guarding the southern end of the Narrows, .have been effectively dealt with in previous bomba.rdments. Nagura is probably, the strongest fort remainingIt is said to have been recently refitted with heavy modern guns, which enfilade the strait in either direction. To the Fleet unaided it would present a very formidable' obstacle, but it is unlikely that frontal attack upon Nagura by the warships will be necessary. Ohanak has already suffered from the long-range fire of the Queen Elizabeth's fjuns, firing right across the Gallipoli Peninsula/and Nagura is equally exposed to this form of attack. Moreover, the Asiatic shore is commanded b ( y higher ground on the opposite side, and when the land campaign is sufficiently advanced mobile Howitzers will doubtless be brought into action to second the work of the warships' long-range guns.

In connection with this section of tho enterprise, the New Zealanders and Australians are likely to play a very important part. _ As has been saia,, they hold a position directly threatening tKe head of the Narrows. Forcing their way across the Gallipoli Peninsula/—at this point five njiles wide—they, would gain a position dominating Nagura and other forts on the Asiatic side, This will presumably involve some severe fighting, but no . doubt it is what tho Australians and New Zealanders are intended to do, while the British main body advances along the peninsula from the south, and the French on the Asiatic coast. When the forts along tho Narrows have been reduced the remaining, conquest of the Dardanelles will be a relatively simple matter. Thare are other forts along the strait, and numerous minefields also to be dealt with, but the strongest defences of the Dardanelles are .arrayed along the shores of the short and narrow section Upon which the Allied land and sea foroes are now closing in, «' • '* ' * * -y Alaeminq possibilities were suggested by the news that the Germans had bombarded Dunkirk, but thoy have been, considerably modified by later details. It, was at first reported that the sholls which carried sudden death and destruction into Dunkirk were sent by a German warship. A Press Bureau correction, stating that the shells came from land guns,' did not improve matters, for it opened •up no less grave a possibility than that the Allied ' line in Northern Flanders might have been pierced by a German assault. Dunkirk, an important French seaport, is 18. miles west and south of Nieuport which is held by the 'Allies-on the coast of Flanders. The bare statement that Dunkirk had been bombarded by land guns might therefore easily , have been taken as implying that the Allied line in Northern Flanders had been pierced and turned. Later messages, however, make it fairly evident that what has really occurred is a. somewhat remarkablo German performance in the way of long-range bombardment. The earliest message reporting the affair is dated at' London on Friday last, and the latest official messages from Sir John French and from Paris report that no material change has occurred in Flanders. Any apprehension that the Allied line has been pierced may, therefore, be safely set aside. *1* * . * Whatever the of the German guns may have been they must have fired at a very great range, for it is not to be supposed that such pieces of ordnance are established very near to the actual fighting line. Had they _ been stationed directly opposite Nieuport the range would have been something like twenty miles, but prpbably they were placed some miles to the south of that place. The lino of demarcation between the contending armies in Northern Flanders (save as regards Nieuport and its immediate neighbourhood) has not been clearly indicated for a long time past, but tho bombardment or Dunkirk strongly suggests ; that _ the line sweeps back, south of Nieuport, towards the Franco-Belgian frontier. This being so the German great guns might easily have fired upon Dunkirk from a distance of considerably less than twenty milos.

, Although it is stated that the bombardment was directed for a time by aeroplanes (which were quickly driven off) it seems to have been of a random character, aimed at the town in general,- and not finding ?ny particular target. To find a big target like a town, even at extreme range, is b,v no means' a difficult feat for modern artillery. . The remarkable thing is that, the Germans should bring such Jwavy artillery into then' ■ Hue iu

Flanders. • The messages throughout speak of guns—not howitzers— and, indeed thers are almost certainly no howitzers in existence capable of the range which must have been involved in the bombardment of Dunkirk. At the same time "the statement that the Germans employed fifteen-inch guns puts a strain upon belief. The sixteen-inch howitzers which wrought such havoc at Liege, Namur, ana elsewhere are pieces of enormous weight. They have to be transported on Bpeciallyconstructedrailwaj trucks, and can be fired only from massive cement platforms to which fchev are securely bolted. A fifteen-inch gun would bo a much longer and heavier piece of ordna.nce than a sixteen-inch howitzer, and would present corrc-. spondingly more difficult problems' of transportation. A month ago the, Paris correspondent of The Times reported, that Nie'uport had been bombarded . with fifteen-inch shells, supposed to have been fired from howitzers. The fact was established, he stated, by the examination of bases and other portions of exploded shells. There can 'be no doubt that the Germans have / a weakness for artillery of the largest size, but it is hardly likely that they would burden themselves with guns of the extreme calibre of fifteen-inches. Even their giant howitzers, apart from their early service against French and Belgian forts, have apparently proved something of a white elephant, Little has been heard of them for a long time past, and they are' probably less useful, in continuous field fighting, than howitzers and guns of more modest calibre. *#* ' * Reports of a somewhat unexpected development in the main Eastern theatre rest as yet chiefly upon German authority, and must be received with a certain amount of reserve. Hitherto, so far as the northern end of tfteir line is ooncerned, the Germans have been • mainly occupied in attempts to strike south and west at Warsaw. They have now, by their own showing, made a sudden advance north from the northern frontier of East Prussia, into the Russian Baltic Provinces. They claim that they-have reached the LibauDvinsk (or Dunaburg) railway on a wide front. This line runs west through Russia, sixty miles north of the Lower,Niemen, which roughly coincides with the northern frontier of East Prussia, from Libau, on the Baltic; to Dvinsk, over two hundred miles inland. Dvinsk is a junction from which several lines radiate. It is further atated by the Germans that they defeated the Russians at i Shavli, which is on the railway, mid--1 way between Libau and Dvinsk, and compelled them' to retreat to Mitau, | sixty miles to the north. •

In Russia the new development appears to be accepted very calmly. The German advance is regarded as merely a demonstration connected with probable movements of the German fleet. It is suggested that Germany, has only embarked upon an offensive in the Baltic Provinces in view of her failures further south, and that she is inspired also by a desire to exert influence upon her neutral neighbours. _ Evidence is as yet lacking concerning the force which Germany has brought to bear upon her new enterprise, but the very rapidity .of.. the. stroke .suggests,. a foray of light' troops' rather than a serious offensive. With her heavy responsibilities in the Western, theatre and the Carpathians, and unsolved problems in Poland, Germany is'hardly likely to venture a nw offensive upon any great scale in virgin territory. Another point deserves special.attenFighting a campaign in the Baltic Provinces, the Russians, besides being close to their main bases of supply, would be served by the best railway system in any part of their extensive territory, and the Germans would be deprived of one of the most- important advantages they have hitherto enjoyed in their various Eastern campaigns—enormously superior lines of communication.