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PROGRESS OF THE WAR

The burden of Lord Kitchener's latest message is that men are needed in greater numbers than ever. Until' recently there has been ,"a' satisfactory and constant flow of recruits," but of late there has been a slackening in Great Britain, and it is imperative:that it should be overtaken. Most important of all limitations in regard to material; have- been.' surmounted, and arms and clothing are available to convert all recruits'into efficient soldiers. Read in its widest sense, this may mean that the munitions problem -has been overcome oris .in a fair way to be!overcome, and, if this'-'is the position, Britain has passed one of the milestones on the road that leads to victory. In* any narrower sense, Lord Kitchener's announcement would have little meaning. Provision of the• arms and_ clothing 1 of the individual soldier. is only an-initial contribution to. the strength and efficiency of amies, and unless the an-, nouriroment . relates in a- wide sense, to military equipment—covering artillery a'nd munitions as well as uniforms and rifles—it is only true in a very limited sense that; limitations in regard to material have been sur-' mounted. It will be'noticed that on this .point the 'Times' military correspondent (Colonel Repington) appears, to be at issue with the Secretary, for' War. He declares that owing /to thp failure to secure an adequate supply of munitions, millions of British and Russians, available to fight, are riot in the firing line. In such a conflict of. state-, ment and opinion most' people,'' no doubt, will'prefer to take the word of the greater and responsible authority, but such a-conflict is only possible _ because :of the policy of extreme' reticence which the Imperial Government and military authorities have adopted.- ■ • •

As it stands, the appeal of the Secretary for War mayJ.c'aAtSe New : Zealand and some : of . the other Dominions to reconsider ; their position in regard to the recruiting and dispatch of expeditionary forces. The attitude of the New Zealand Government, after- recent consultation with the Imperial authorities, seems to. be that the need is' for a sustained and "continued effort, and that it is being met meantime satisfactorily. ' This may appear to be out of accord with Lord Kitchener's appeal, .which implies - that every available man should enlfet, and be trained as'soon as possible.' ' On this other hand, in this same speech he states that it is the policy of the British military authorities to "gradually increase our. effectives." The final result is to leave the position more or less obscure.

Just why the important conference' of Ministers lately held' in France has been made the subject 'of' a public; announcement affords some scope for speculation. ■ Possibly it was considered impossible to hide the fact that such a conference had beeri held. .That the assemblage portends some great move by the Allies or preparation for some such move'may be.taken for granted. It is -not for nothing that the British and French Prime Ministers ; with their respective War Ministers, the British First Lord of the Admiralty, and the French Minister of Marine, General Joffre, and Sir ' John French (besides other Ministers, including the Under-Secretary, who represents the Frcnch in London) meet in a single council chamber. The absence of any mention of Italian representatives is notable, but it is safe to assume that Italy occupies no lonely position when the western Allies plan concerted action. ■ On the contrary, the appearance of Italy in the war opens up. possibilities of greatly extended action.

The broacl position ; at the moment is that Germany is 'outnumbered on both main fighting fronts, but enjoys an important strategic advantage in being able to quickly transfer troops from one front to tho other. The advantage is impaired more ; or less by the continuous pressure maintained by the Western Allies and by Germany's failure to strike such a blow at tho Russians as would reduce them to comparative inactivity, but it exists. On the other hand it is evident that with Italy, as an Ally, France and Britain enjoy a wide freedom of action against, which Germany may find it very difficult to provide. There is, for instance, nothing . to prevent tho transfer of Italian troops to France, to co-operate with the French and British armies in that theatre, or tho' transfer. 61 British, troops to It&ly. ta coj9Ep_ratc Italiaaa

in an invasion of Germany by way of the Tyrol. The south-eastern frontier of France marches with that of Italy, and there are at least two through of railway besides those which pass through. Switzerland and arc not available. To suppose that advantages of this kind lending themselves to concerted action will not be ma-do uso of in somo way would be foolish, and it is extremely probable that the recent conference in France had some bearing upon the matter.* Whatever line of action the Allies may ultimately adopt it must be cleaV that the cooperation of Italy gravely threatens Germany's prospect of being able to fall back to 'the shortest possible line on'and ahead of her Western frontier, and so prolong tho war to its utmost limits. Such a- line would' be difficult to break, but, like any other line, it could be taken in flank, and the. gateway for a flank attack is. through the Tyrol. The extent to which-the Allies are able to'develop'their advantage of position must, of course, depend, like every other move in the war, upon thoir- state of preparation, but the advantage in itself is- undoubtedly great, and it may be assumed that it will- be turned to account sooner or later. . . . * * * * The victorious termination of tho campaign against German SouthWest Africa is .doubly welcome at a time when events in, and in relation to, the main theatres of war afford some ground for suspense if not. foranxiety. In itself, the invasion of the greatest of the German colonies was a formidable undertaking, and its difficulties Were magnified by" attendant circumstances.- Military preparation figured almost as conspicuously in the administration of German South-West Africa before the war as in that of the Fatherland itself. As .one writer put -it not long ago, in this colony Germany had prepared for war .both in stores and- in men and also by bribery, intrigue, and : espionage. - It is believed that the'military forces'of the colony were provided with ,130 pieces of field and position artillery, including two batteries of six-inch guns. They had several aeroplanes-, one of which flew over. Cape Town early in the war. There, were about ten thousand men trained to arms in the colony, and the' Germans had to bring in addition 18,000 reservists from South America. Had their plans worked out successfully, a force of 28,000 men would have been available to aid the widespread rebellion which they hoped, to foment in the South African Union by .playing upon Dutch susceptibilities. The outbreak of war found the_ German plotters still . lacking their expected reinforcements from South America, but their plotting, as it worked out, exposed the South African Union to much more serious pcjil than has threatened any.other British Dominion since the war beThe rebellion broke out according to the German programme, but it was comparatively a flash, in the pan, and found avmajoi'ity of the population, Dutch Yas' well as British, firm in their loyalty. It is an admirable answer to German plotting and intrigue that the man. above all others responsible for suppressing the futile rebellion and for the much greater .and more difficult' achievement 1 of conquering- German South-West Africa, is a Dutchman.

Br thi-s achievement, crowning as it does a'fine record of . national and Imperial service, General - Louis Botha , has earned a proud-position as a soldier-statesman of the Empire. : The; combination of- soldier and is rare :in modern times, and it is rarer still to find a man capable as General Botha is of playing the double-part with distinguished ability. Having overcome the. forces of disruption in his oirti country, he has now. captured the strategic base from which the Germans hoped to dominate Africa. British people everywhere will be quick to admit that what (General. Botha has done for the Empire could not have been , better done by any man of British blood, and that'few •could have done it as well. 1 Apart ii6m its significance as marking the triumph of one system of Imperial colonisation over another, the campaign in German South-West Africa has been beset throughout |jy difficulties which: only_: splendid resolu-. tiori in the invading forces . could have overcome.The' Germans had made every preparation and accumulated ample stores of military"; material,'in _a territory which naturally lends-itself to defence. It is bounded along the coast.and on the south by. wide belts of desert country, opposing a serious-obstacle to invasion, and, - with standards akin to those they observe elsewhere, the Germans resorted to such discredit-, able practices' as that- of poisoning wells. ' Overcoming all difficulties, General Botha's forces, after doing some wonderful-marching, completely encircled, the'enemy, and the German surrender Was practically unconditional. The total strength of the force surrendered is given as 204 officers and 3166 men, with 37 fieldguns. The original German force, as stated, was ten thousand men or more, but batches of prisoners have been captured from time to time, and there have been, some war' losses. It is possible also that some, of the settler-reservists who formed a considerable part of. the German force were permitted rto .return to their homes before the final stages of the campaign were reached.: Having oompleted the campaign beyond its own bprders, South, Africa is now preparing to send large forces to Europe., . • -

Permanent link to this item
Hononga pūmau ki tēnei tūemi

https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/DOM19150712.2.17

Bibliographic details
Ngā taipitopito pukapuka

Dominion, Volume 8, Issue 2511, 12 July 1915, Page 4

Word count
Tapeke kupu
1,595

PROGRESS OF THE WAR Dominion, Volume 8, Issue 2511, 12 July 1915, Page 4

PROGRESS OF THE WAR Dominion, Volume 8, Issue 2511, 12 July 1915, Page 4

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