PROGRESS OF THE WAR

Dominion, Volume 8, Issue 2481, 7 June 1915, Page 4

PROGRESS OF THE WAR

A gubat battle, at the Dardanellii is described to-day in an ollicial dispatch from Sin lan Hamilton. It took the form of a general assault upon tho Turkish trenches and redoubts across the southern a.rea of the Gallipoli Peninsula and an almost, simultaneous attack by the .Australians and jjfsw. fcaaknAva.,

who are entrenched east of their lauding at Gaba Tepe. The latter operation was launched on receipt of information that the Turks were drawing reinforcements from the north to strengthen their southern h'l° '- 1 k lcc Allied assault. Ihe ehgagements were fought on 1' riday last. Gexebal Hamilton speaks of the Turkish southern position as being extremely strong naturally, with a deep ravine on one side and the sea on the other. The Allies in their assault wore supported by a, squadron of warships, but even so it is evident that they were faced by a task of enormous difficulty, which makes the victory achieved all the more notable. Apart from its natural strength the Turkish line was buttressed with redoubts and protected by heavy entanglements, some of which have not yet been penetrated. The chief Allied success was in the centre of their line, which has been advanced five hundred yards on a front of three miles. On right and left the line remains meantime as it was ; On both wings trenches were carried at some points, but the regiments advancing, being exposed in flank, had to be ultimately withdrawn.' General Hamiltox ? s dispatch makes no mention of Australian and New Zealand troops in the southern battle; but a contingent of the colonials some weeks ago reinforced the Allies in this region, and there has been no mention of their withdrawal. If they were engaged, it would be towards the left, on the section of the line which bore the brunt of the assault upon the strongest Turkish defences. From the right centre, occupied by a British naval division, the line to the extreme left is formed by British and Indian troopß. The French are oporating on the right. An unofficial message speaks of the Australasians having particularly distinguished themselves in the fighting for the heights of Krithia, but this at presents lacks the authority of the official dispatch.

Though they were rewarded by less substantial gains than were made on the southern line, the Australians and New Zealanders at Gaba Tepe appear to have borne themselves no less gallantly than their comrades in the south. In the first instance they carried, the Turkish trenches against which their attack was launched, but they subsequently had to relinquish a portion of their conquest.

Aa a whole General Hamilton's dispatch goes to show that much desperate fighting still lies between the Allies and the conquest of the Narrows. It is evident that the Turis, besides holding strong positions, are still well supplied with artillery and munitions, and are capable of a desperate resistance. On the other hand, though the gains of the Allies are incomplete and only in part retained, they have.once again demonstrated that they are capable of bearing down the full strength of the Turkish defence. At the point to whioh General Hamilton's dispatch is carried, tho British assault is still being pressed on the left of the line, and no doubt the same applies to the right, where the French strove so gallantly to master the redoubts protecting the flank of the Ottoman Army. * ■* t * Possibilities are things to be viewed and received with caution, but some very interesting possibilities are touched upon' to-day in messages which lack tho weight of official authority, but yet are. distinctly suggestive. In the first place an Amsterdam message declares that Americans in Germany have been warned that official relations between the United States and that country may be broken off within 48 hours, and that they must be in readiness to depart. This may perhaps go a little ahead of actual events, but as indicating that Ger-man-American relations are almost at a breaking strain it is consistent with what is known of the progress of negotiations, _ As reports go the United States, in demanding satisfaction for the murder of the American victims in the Lusitania, is stating conditions which would make a continuance of German submarine warfare on its present lines impossible. It cannot be believed, however, that President Wilson (as one asserts) has declared that i being unarmed, was not liable to capture. She was, of course, liable to capture, like any other belligerent _ merchant vessel, but she was not liable under tEe law of nations to the destruction without warning which cost a large proportion of her crew and passengers their lives. Germany stands convicted, not of attempting an illegal capturo, but of wholesale murder on tho high seas, and it is on this ground that America has been compelled to act. German newspapers have stated that if their country ha? to choose between a rupture with America or an abandonment of the so-called submarine blockade, it will undoubtedly ohoose the former. This is probably true, all the more so as the submarines, though their campaign has not yet oome within measurable distance of crippling British trade, have of late been particularly active. Last week eight ships bound to and from British ports were torpedoed, and tho destruction of several other vessols, including fishing craft, is reported to-da-v. In somo cases the escaping crews were shelled under circumstances which can only bo described as deliberate murder Evidently Germany is determined not to desist from her submarine piracy. Otherwise sho would scarcely prosecute it so vigorously and wantonly parade its worst and most criminal aspects while relations mith Amerioa are at such a delicate pass. if German newspapers and German submarines have fcorrectly interpreted and expressed German policy thon it must be assumed that tt r '! i U m etv, ' ocn Germany and the milled States is imminent.' The only alternative is to suppose that the American Government is prepared to acquiesce in the murder of its citizens in the Lusitania and to incite a repetition of the crime. '

T'iQUAr.r v interesting r.ossibilitics urc raised regarding other neutral countries. Holland is reported to linyo passed a now Bill extending the of the Landsturm to all men ol military age hitherto exempted. This means, if true, that the whole available manhood of the country is hying' requisitioned for military service. Holland has patiently endured gross outrage perIjel.ruled bv Germany against her supping, but as the war develops she is faced hy graver dangers. With (he likelihood that the German armies in France and Belgium will sooner or later be compelled by the onset nf l.he_ Western Allies to draw Jiack to a. line running south from the Dnl.oh frontier, the question arises as to whether Germany would be likely to leave Holland unmolest,-1 cd ou tiho ught flank of hoy bAty&J

line.- With her. peculiar conceptions of international morality, Germany in these circumstances would undoubtedly regard Holland as a, possible gateway for the Allies into the German north-western provinces. It may be added that, given the power, slio would very probably stop the gateway by treating Holland as she has treated Belgium. For the admitted wrong inflicted on Belgium the German Chancellor advanced as its justification that a nation situated as Germany was could study no other consideration than that of hacking its way through, It would bo quite in keeping that the Germans should occupy Holland as a precaution against the contingency of the Allies hacking their way by that route into Germany. It is presumably against the contingency of a German occupation that the Dutch are arming. It need not bo supposed that they are eager to enter the war, but circumstances are conspiring to bring them in. The fact may bo accepted that Germany alone of the nations engaged would cheerfully trample upon Dutch nationality in order to gain her ends, and this in itself should suffice to govern the decision of Holland in the crisis which seems to be steadily drawing nearer.

Rumour is again busy with the name of Bulgaria. On top of stories emanating from Paris that Bulgaria and Rumania have concluded an agreement which will enable the latter country to attack Austria and Bulgaria to attack Turkey, it is now stated that a feeling of satisfaction prevails in Government circles in Sofia in connection with a Note presented by the Entente to Bulgaria a week ago, and further that the concentration of Bulgarian troops on the northern Turkish frontier is causing anxiety in Constantinople. The reference to the Entente Note, which has not previously been heard of. originates with a German paper (the Cologne Gazette). Tho inference is. that the Bulgarian Government is pleased with the view taken by the Entente of its desires for territorial concessions. In this event the menace to T-urkey would follow in natural sequence. At bottom the policy of all the Balkan nations is governed by their desire for national expansion and territorial aggrandisement, a characteristic in which they are perhaps not singular. Consistent as they are, it is impossible to accept the latest crop of rumours as if they were official statements of fact, but it may be said that while the pressure upon the Russians in Galicia somewhat complicates tho position of Rumania- (it also, of course, would make her intervention of greater value), tho development of the Allied campaign at the Dardanelles is a distinct spur to Bulgarian enterprise. And Bulgaria, in the commonly accepted view, has always been a greater obstacle to the general co-operation of the Balkan nations with the Entente than any of her neighbours. Bulgaria's incentive to action is obvious. jit tho same, time it will be wise to tako nothing for granted until her troops have invaded Turkish territory.

The week-end cablegrams show no inaterial alteration for the worse in fcho situation in Galicia. In the north, near the junction of the San and the Vistula, the Russians are driving back the enemy, and they report successful engagements also on the line which now curves round in rear of Przemysl. Russian and enemy reports agree, however, in pointing to the region north of Stryj, sixty miles east and south of Przemysl, as that in which ttio most critical struggle is in progress. Here the Germans are striving hard to force the passage, of the Dniester, and so open the way for an advance on Lemborg in the north. A Petrograd message admits that the Russians were compelled to fall back almost to th'- southern bank of the Dniester in this region, but adds that at the end of their retreat the Russians counter-attacked and rolled back the pursuit. The situation, however, remains, highly critical. A German victory on the Dniester, winning the passage of the river, would go far to neutralise successes gained % the Russians further west, and undoubtedly the resources of the enemy will be concentrated in the effort to obtain such a victory.

Important successes by both British and French troops in Northern Franco are recorded to-day. Tho British have advanced for a couple of hundred yards immediately north of La Bassee, and the French for a greater distance in the subjection of tho fortified villages and other strongholds covering the approach ta Lens, further south, which still en-' gage their principal attention. Hints are advanced that the Germans may shortly transfer troopß from Galicia to Flanders, but it must be regarded as somewhat doubtful whether they will venture to materially weaken their forces in the Eastern theatre for some time to come.

News of the Italian campaigns still relates mainly to the-bombard-ment of outlying frontier forts and minor encounters by comparatively small bodies of troops. No general engagement is yet reported.

' Late German claims that Zeppelins bombarded the outskirts of London have not so far been substantiated, but accounts of more or less futilo raids on the east ancl . south-east coast of England, on Friday night, show that the big airships are still hovering on the outer edge of their task. Meantime some imaginative person has produced a_ sfcory about a gieantic new Zeppelin which is heavily armoured and supplied with fchVee reservoirs for poisonous gas. Fortunately most people are aware by this time that a Zeppelin is an airship lighter than air. Armour as applied to aircraft has not yet got beyond the stage of some light protection on aeroplanes, which a.ro fl.ving-mnchines heavier than air. The objection to sheathing a Zeppelin in heavy' armour is that the armour would constitute a most efficient anchor.