PROGRESS OF THE WAR

Dominion, Volume 9, Issue 2578, 28 September 1915, Page 4

PROGRESS OF THE WAR

6— — On the news now in hand there is no room for doubt as to the character of the battles which have succeeded to, the long deadlock on the Western. front. The Allies have launched an offensive calculated, if it,is maintained in its present scopc arid power, to dislodge the Germans from the line they have occupied so long in France and Flanders. It is much too soon to talk with certainty of results, but already official reports tell of a splendid achievement. Wide sections of the German line have been smashed and penetrated in places for a distance of more than two miles, and the ground won on the attacking- fronts has in almost every niue basn ynbuiiwd- la wmo localities .wMcl; witnessed fc&YX

fighting coineidently with the main attacks, matters remain as they were, but with the possible exception' of a limited front north-east of Yprcs the aim of the Allies in these areas appears to havo been to hold the enemy and use up his reserves rather than'to make headway. Whero they set themselves to break into tho enemy's front the Allies seem to havo practically everywhere sitccecdcd.

A cr.EAit outline is now given in the French and British official reports of the point readied, in the operations opened on Saturday morning, up to the period with which they deal. These communiques must, of course, be regarded as 1 progress reports upon operations still at an early stage. The British attacked both north and south of the Monin road, which runs east of Yprcs, North of tho road they raado no permanent headway, but in the south they gained GOO yards and took 1700 prisoners, 8 guns, and several machine-guns. The capture of the guns shows that tho attack out deeply into tho enemy's line. Tho main .British attack was launched, howover. not in this area, but'south of the La Bassee Canal. Hore tho enemy's trenches were stormed on a front of five miles, and penetrated in places for a distance of 4000 yards. The capture of the western outskirts 'of the village of Hulluch means that the British troops are estabished duo south of the great stronghold of La Bassee at a distance of .three miles. Two miles further south they captured the village of Loos, the mining works round about it, and Hill 70, which stands south-east of Loos and north of the junction of Lens, from which it is distant about a mile and a half. Still further south the Allies have gained the last German trenches in tho immensely strong field-work known as the Labyrinth, which is situated about midway between' Lens and Arras, and almost in a direct line between these places. : Carleul and other jiositions mastered by the Allies are in tho immediate neighbourhood of Souehez, about 4 miles' south-west of Lens. In this area, between the Belgian border and Arras, the Allies have smashed a great part of the fortified bulwark defending an immensely important, network of German communications. They have conquered strongholds,' apparently in a single day, which at the rate of progress of the last offensive in Northern Prance would have taken weeks to subdue, and they are in a position much more favourable to further attack than when they launched their great assault on Saturday.

The Allied offensive has nowhere achieved more , pronounced success than in the Champagne district, north and east of Reims, where the French have broken into the German front for a lateral distance of .15 miles, advancing from a minimum of more than naif a mile to five times that distance. Pressed to the point of breaching the German line this attack would drive across 'the main railways which run from Germany into France through Luxemburg, and the Ardennes, further north, and supply a great proportion of the German • forces to the west. Attacking in France and Belgium, the Allies are smiting , the Gorman invasion on its western faoe In the Champagne district they aro striking into the flank of the invading armies, though there is still the section of the front whioh turns east and south round Verdun, and thence along the Lorraine border into. Alsace, to be taken into account. These are the outline facts of what promises to be the most splendid achievement of the ; wa'r, and is at all_ events the greatest and most effective blow yet struck at the formidable German front in France and Flanders, which has all but defied assault during a year of war.

- There is no complete record as jot of the number of prisoners captuwd by the Allies in their opening assaults. An official message states that the .prisoners, actually counted, captured by the French in the Champagne district, number 12,000, so that evidently the total is incomplete. Nearly, two thousand prisoners were captured in Belgium, and no doubt many more in the more extensive operations further south. < A Router message reporting that 20,000 prisoners have been captured by the Allies is probably -well within the mark, and if tho assault continues as it has begun, this number will soon be greatly exceeded.

Though the outline is a clear one, offioial reports in lvand present nothing more than an' outline, but a glimpse 'of the true nature of this great blaze of battle on the Western front is given in a German message whioh speaks of "severe artillery preparations," lasting at some points for fifty hours, arid of much hand-to-hand fighting. Tho preliminary bombardment was not by any means confined to those sections of the German line selected for attack, and it is perhaps not entirely from a- desire to mislead that the Germans give as much prominence to fighting;' in the region south-west of Armentieres ;and elsewhere —in areas in whioh the Allies evidently sought to divert attention from their real attacks—as to the battles in which they were so heavily defeated. The enemy, howi over, already stand convicted of deliberate deception in: regard to the recent operations. One of their communiques, reporting an abortive British attack south of the La Bassee Canal, is denounced by Sir John French as untrue. It is always an encouraging sign when the Germans take t'o_ disseminating false reports—tho obvious explanation is that they are reduced to attempting to maintain by lies the'prestige they are unable to maintain by force of arms.

Late messages show that the Allied offensive is rapidly extending its effective area, and losing nothing of its driving fore©; In particular tho French report a new assault in the Champagne district immediately east of the area in whioh they have already achiovctl suoh pronounced success. Tho front from Auberive to Ville-sur : Tourbo, along a great part of which they have advanced for an average distance of about two miles, is some eighteen miles long, and extends .westward from the western 'fringe of the Argonne Forest. The enemy had protected his frout in this region with an elaborate series forts and trenches perfected at leisure during months so that the French victory must, be reckoned one of the most "important the offensive has yet witnessed. Sixteen thousand unbounded prisoners were captured in this battle. Both British and French have made further important progress in the area between La Bassco and Arras. There is a German communique in hand now which admits His loss of position at some ficiifitfii aa4 consider*

able losses in men and material, but states that the Allies are no nearer their object of breaking the German line. Still rising as it is in power and momentum, it is impossible as yot to estimate the full importance of the Allied offensive, but it is already possible to very confidently dismiss this German assertion as void of truth.

It would perhaps bo hasty to assume that the Russians are already feeling tho benefit of the powerful diversion created on the. opposite front, but the. latest Pctrograd report points to a distinct reduction in tho Gorman pressure in tho northern section of tho Eastern theatro. South-west of Dvinsk, where a tremendous battle was lately raging, matters are described as "quieter." East of Vilna the Russians have pushed ahead from their late rcc'onquest at Vilcika, and carried villages by storm, capturing hundreds of prisoners and some machine-guns. They have intercepted and captured two enemy. convoyß of artillery ammunition and munitions. Still further south also they have rolled back the enemy advancc for a distanco. If those conditions oontinue, and are found to apply also to other sections of the Eastern front, definite evidence will be supplied that Germany is at length severely feeling tho weight of the war.

As matters are developing bn the Western front, there is every reason to expect that the Germans will find it necessary to reinforoc their armies in that area from tho opposite theatre. The Russians are not in as good a position to take advantage of the conditions thus created as before they lost the Vistula line, but it is a question whether the. enemy ha-s not to a great extent sacrificed the advantages attaching to the possession of that barrier by pressing too eagerly forward in the wake of the Russian retreat. As the AuafcroGerman'armies are now placed they cannot settle down to a y defensive campaign. Taking recent operations as a guide, a continued advance against tho stiffening Russian defence should be impossible if the Austro-German forces aro materially reduced and a retreat is beset with perils. These are the surface features of a state .of affairs in the Eastern theatre which promises to develop very greatly to' the advantage of the Allies both in East and West.

The attitude of Bulgaria, in tie light of current news, may be defined as one 1 of hedging. Statements of Bulgarian origin submit generally that Bulgaria mobilised as a defensive act; it is even suggested that she intended to aid in repelling an Auatro-German Balkan offensive. Reports from other quarters, however, indicate a prevailing opinion that Bulgaria mobilised with the intention of attacking Serbia; though she has perhaps been induced to abandon that intention by the attitude of her neutral neighbours and developments in the main theatres of war, more especially the "Western theatre. In view of these developments and of the fact tha,t Austria is called upon to meet increasing' pressure in the campaign against /Italy,-it is not unlikely that an Austro-German attempt to penetrate the Balkans may now be indefinitely postponed. If matters take this turn there is little fear of Bulgaria turning against her neighbours and the Entente.

The resignation of tho Sheik-to-Islam and another Mohammedan leader, as a-protest against the continuance of the war with the Entente, reported in ah official message, is a significant addition to numerous rccent reports indicating that the leaders'of the Turkish nation are seriously at variance. At time of writing there is no news of events in tho Gallipoli campaign, but what is known of the internal state of Turkey should be an important factor in inducing an early and vigorous resumption of the Allied offensive. It has yet to be seen whether there was any. truth in a Berlin message, received the other day, which statec] that Entente reinforcements to the number of 110,000 men had reached Mudros, but it is riot at all unlikely that there was.