PROGRESS OF THE WAR

Dominion, Volume 9, Issue 2577, 27 September 1915, Page 4

PROGRESS OF THE WAR

News contained in' a late message transmitted by tho High Commissioner is the most inspiriting that has oome to hand for many a long day. It tells of a ereat offensive by the Western Allies, probably on a much greater scale than anything of the kind they have yet attempted. Whether or noli it is the opening of the grand offensive so long looked for remains to be seen, but the meagre indications as yet available point to operations of the first ■importance, whioh may easily develop into a supreme test of strength. British and French troops have simultaneously assaulted and penetrated the enemy front, tho British in areas between Arras and the Belgian border and the French on a front of about 25 miles extending frgm the River Aisno the Suippe, about 20 miles west of.the Argonne Forest. The locality of one assault by co-operating British and French forccs is given as' west of Loos and Hulluch. These places aro about .three miles apart, and Hulluch, the most northerly, is about the same distance south of La Bassee, the immensely strong position whioh covers the German main line of communications along the Mouse. The evident intention of the attack is to turn La Bassee on tho south. In reference to this operation it is stated that the enemy positions were successfully attacked. How far the assault has gone there are at present no further means of knowing.

There is mention also of a British attack north of Arras, which gained a footing at several points on the enemy's linns, and in Uie' French ■ attack between the Suinpe and the Aisne the enemy's first-line positions have been captured along practically the whole of tls-j front attacked, a- distance of . about 25 miles, and further progress is being made. Simultaneously land batteries and warships have cooperated in bombarding the German coast positions at Westendc and Middlckcrkc, aud there has been heavy artillery fighting on other sections of the front. On l.licse detnils'it is to be said that the Allied offensive is on a very much greater ■w-slo !hy 11 vuiy (killing 011 tha Wealjiroafc SIMOI? jPPJRMWK wmig,

came to a deadlock on the Aisne. The summer offensive in Northern France was confined in the main to a front of four or five miles. Tho Allies are now "attacking on an aggregate front of DO miles or more. If this is tho grand offensive, and' it is not at all unlikely that it is, it has come, as might have been expected, suddenly. From tho details so far revealed it m'ay be inferred that the Allies have sprung a surprise on tho enemy and launched their attack with shattering effect. The struggle, of course, is only beginning, but it would appear that it has been well and prosperously begun. Tho penetration of the enemy's lines 011 so wide an aggregate front is a positive token to that effect. * «■ * 41 Tiiouan British troops are shown now to bo operating considerably to • the south of the front they formerly heW. the actual _ extent- of their front is not. indicated. Until recently tho southern' extremity of their lino lay opposite La Bassee. In tho Loos-Hulluch attack, only a few miles south of La Bassce, a joint French and British force wan engaged, but tho British attacked 1 also north of Arras, and Arras is about 18 miles south of La Bassee. It_would appear that the British, are not holding a continuous front, but are posted at different sections of tho line, possibly south and east of Arras as well as to the north.

Most of tho war news in hand at time of writing is good. The Russians have not only foiled the dangerous enveloping attack which lately threatened their northern armies, but have taken tho offensive along a great part 'of their extended 'ine, and' we are able to report a series of 1 local victories, some of them important. Comparative' quiet is reported at the Dardanelles, but {he Allied aviators are doing good service, chiefly, it would seem, in direciting bombardment. They have apparently gained comnmnd of the air, for a Paris communique states that Ithe Turco-German aviators have not appeared for some time. There is no official news of the heavy bombardment of the Turkish positions . east of Suvla Bay mentioned on Saturday in an unofficial message from Athens. There has been little news for some days of the_ Austro-Itali-an campaign, but :it is now announced that the Italians have dislodged the enemy from a strong position in the south-east-ern Trentirio, after a week of hard fighting. With' matters in 'this state in the present fighting areas, signs and portents are increasing which point to the probability of. general war in the Balkans at no very distant date. Greece has 'answered Bulgaria's mobilisation by taking similar steps, and though Rumania has yet to show her hand she cannot well stand out of the conflict, if her neighbours oome to blows.

*•• • . The Eastern Campaign, broadly speaking, seems now to nave revert-, ed to the conditions which obtained before the enemy launched his re oent attack in the Vilna region, an attack intended to lead up to the -nvelopment of the Russian Vilna army and others further south. Assuming, that the Vilna attack has failed as completely as reports indicate, the enemy is again in the position of having no immediate prospect of gaining a decision over' the Russians. Had the attack'succeeded it might have been of decisive effect ,on tho campaign, for a not inconsiderable fraction of the total Russian forces was threatened with annihilation, or, at. the least, with serious disaster. As it is, the enemy_ is rctiiiccd to His former al-' tornatives of attempting to hold the Russians in a delaying campaign which would enable him to transfer a- section of his forces elsewhere, or continuing to press them- all along the line in the hope that the opportunity may arise for another attempt to divide their armies and overwhelm them in detail. It has yet to appeal- which course the enemy will choose."'At the moment he is shown to be vigorously pressing the attack in the region of Dvinsk, whioh marks the southern extremity of that section, of the Petrograd railway still in Russian hands, but on most other sections of the long Eastern battle-line the initiative seems to -rest for the time being with the Russians. **' * * :

They report a continuing heavy •battlo south-west of Dvinsk, but a ■hundred miles', further south they have recaptured Vileika, a station on the Moscow railway which was apparently the inost easterly point readied by tho German wedge thrust forward from Vilna. Vileika is 70 miles east of Vilna, but other recent details of fighting in this region make it clear that the enemy got so far east only upon a very narrow front. Late details of tho fighting oast of Vilna suggest that the enemy orred through ovcr-confidenoe and brought insufficient forco to bear. This was indicated in any caso in the failure of the attempt and in tho fact that the Russians were able t0 i. ?T e< ?P awa J'. the enveloping troops which lodged in their rear, but further light is thrown'upon the matter to-day in messag.es which show that, the enemy lost heavily not in men only but in material. In the neighbourhood of Vileika the Russians captured eight g;uns,- including four howitzers; This is particularly noteworthy because it affords conclusive proof that in this locality at all events tho Russian coun-ter-stroko was shrewdly driven home. The capture of enemy heavy, artillery is not to be expected of an' army fighting a , rearguard 'action to cover its. own. retreat, and tho fact that German howitzers were captured Russians and turned upon th&fr former owners shows quite definitely that they not only escaped the-enemy, trap but launched a powerful counter-offensive overwhelming in its looal effect. Other details of the fighting east of Vilna equally support a belief that the Germans paid heavily for their imprudence in attempting an enveloping movement with forces inadequate for the purpose. An unofficial estimate, published a couple of days ago, which set down the German losses in the recent fighting" m the-Vilna rogion at a quarter of a million, must be dismissed as ex-aft-geratcd, but it is not at all unlikely tlint in this ill-conceived enterprise tho enemy suffered heavier loss than he inflicted on the Russians. » k * » Interesting developments are afoot also on that; section of the Eastern front which runs across the great Pripct marshes, east of Central Poland. Official news from both sides shows that the Germans have suffered a check in this region. Under General vox M.ackeksex they are advancing along both sides of tho railway which runs east through tho marshes by way of Pinsk, The Eu&slaju report that the#-have re- j

captured villages, south of the river ' Pripet (south-west of Pinsk), and the Germans that General von MacKENSEN'S advanced troops have been driven back in the area north-west of Pinsk, on the northern side of the railway. A glimpse of the fighting in tho marshlands is given today in a message from Amsterdam, siiid to bo based upon the account of an Austrian soldier. In tho main it reads like a foretaste of the joys promised to the Austro-Germans on the Eastern front when winter sets in. T.ho invading troops are described as struggling along narrow patlis, made difficult by increasing rains. Active 'guerilla warfare by the Cossacks completes a picture of which every detail will be intensified as winter draws nearer. The Austrian soldier's story is consistent with the impression to be gathered from'official messages for some weeks past, that the Russians have not hitherto attempted to oppose in any great strength the enemy's passage through the Pripet marshes. For tho time they haveapparently trusted to the enterprising Cossacks to accentuate the difficulties by which the enemy is already faced owing to the nature of the country. The actions now briefly reported north-west and southwest of Pinsk possibly betoken a departure from this polioy and an intention to resist the enemy's further advance through the marshes, but if the Paissians desire to see the invaders further involved before attacking.them in earnest they still have a considerable margin to come and go upon. Tho Pripet marshes stretch eastward about two hundred miles boyond Pinsk, and the waterlogged state of the country in general makes cross-oommunication extremely difficult. About thirty miles east or Pinsk the east and west railway through the marshes is crossed by another line, which the Russians are likely to defend against the enemy if it is at all It constitutes the most direct railway route between Dvinsk on the-.north and Ro'vno on the south, and if the enemy could capture and use this line he would be provided with lateral communications on the shortest front possible in the Eastern theatre unless he shortens his front by retreating.

The most important local victory chronicled by the, Russians to-day was won in Southern Russia. In that area they have retaken the fortress of Luzk, capturing incidentally 6000 prisoners and much equipment. They are still attacking also in Galioia, but their reports (in hand) are silent concerriing fighting ' on the River Ikwa, some considerable distance south of Luzk, but north of the Galician frontier, in which the Austrians' claim to have repelleda Russian attack. Apart from the battle south-west of Dvinsk; of which the issue still hangs in doubt, this is almost tho only exception (at time of writing) to reports telling of more or less pronounced Russian successes at various points along the Eastern front.' The enemy indeed claim to be making progress in the area north of the Pripet marshes and south of the Vilna region, but in suoh general terms as to largely rob the claim of significance.' As a whole the situation does not promise the enemy either an early decision or an opportunity of withdrawing forces for service in other regions, and possibly this state of affairs in the main Eastern campaign accounts for tho continued .postponement of the Anstro-German attack on Servia, wiiioh on present indications would be likely to set the Balkans in a blaze. On the other hand, it may be that Germany is still by no means certain of Bulgaria's attitude.'