PROGRESS OF THE WAR

Dominion, Volume 9, Issue 2651, 23 December 1915, Page 4

PROGRESS OF THE WAR

Much that bears upon the central issues of the war is contained in the speeches by Me. Asquith and Mr. George, reported at length to-day, and there is an unmistakeable note of promise in the indications given of the fashion in. which Great Britain is meeting her heavy resijonsibilities. The great question at the moment is whether the war is to be brought victoriously to an end within a comparatively limited period or is to extend indefinitely, and though events alone will finally answer this question the hope of victory in 1916 receives no plight support from the evidence now afforded of the magnificent strides Great Britain has made in military preparation. The total of one and a quarter million British soldiers in all theatres, given by Mb. Asquith, may seem at. first sight disappointing, but these forces are undoubtedly backed by great reserves at • a more or less advanced stage of training; they almost certainly exclude Dominion and Indian troops, and behind all are the levies made available by the scheme which Lord Derby." has carried through appar-. ently with a very large' and gratifying measure of success. The particularsr given by Mr. Lloyd George of the progress of munitions production are no less impressive _ than what is known about the fashion iu which! British manhood has rallied to the call to arms. Mr. Lloyd George is making a call for additional 1 labour in the war factories, and Mr. Asquith is appealing to men of military age for urgent_en--1 listment, but the broad indications given to-day_ and recently • are that Great Britain is at last i putting something like her full weignt into the land as well as the naval war,, and the fact is rich with promise for the outcome of the coming great offensive. > # # » Apart from what he had to say about the development of the national effort in the war, Mr._ Asquith was able to make the highly satisfactory announcement that at the recent military conference _ in Paris certain important conclusions were reached with absolute unanimity. ■ This is to be reckoned a milestone, in the war, and it implies a 1 remarkable development of effective co-ordination, considering that the Entente Towers, thougli united against a 'common enemy ,_ have each, of necessity, individual interests to consider and serve. Mr. Asquith's announcement is an assurance that the Allies are taking all possible measures to use and apply in the most effective way the mighty force they are throwing into the scale against Prussian and are working out thoii'_ plans in harmonious accord. Obviously this factor of co-ordinated effort,and loyal adherence to a common plan is a factor no less important than placing adequate forces in the field and ensuring maximum efficiency in the war factories. The only alternative to the harmonious co-ordination which Mr. Asquith declares to be an accomplished fact is the penalty of weakness which inevitably attends upon disunited effort. In Mr. Asquith's estimation th,e Allies have established such conditions as will enable them to counteract the advantage possessed by the enemy in his undivided war-control. _ This is a supremely important achievement. I*■ * * * The account given by_ Mr. Lloyd George of the manner in which the production of war material and munitions has been expedited and increased is a tale of wonderful achievement which is in a fair way to be capped by ; a still greater achievement. In the September offensive tho British artillery expended an enormous, quantity of shells. These wore the result of four months' careful husbanding, and the whole was made good in a month. Soou Great Britain will be in a position to replacc such a quantity in a single tfeek. This means that the production of shells, 1 which Has been progressively and rapidly increasing ever since the war began, is still being doubled and doubled a"flin. It need not bo emphasised that such a production opens up spacious possibilities of assault upon the German line, assault on such a scale as would reduce the great thrust of September to relative insignificance. # #

maining problems of the war production he has beon appointee! to control, but it is evident that the goal he has set himself to attain is the maximum production of war material of which the nation is- capable by bringing its whole available resources into play, and that already he is well on his way towards this goal. It is likely that the labour still_ needed in the war factories is in sight. Otherwise the Minister,of Munitions would scarcely have so openly confessed the clamant need for additional labour, which he proclaims, As regards the. past state of unpreparedness of which Mil. Lloyd George gave some further glimpses, no such satisfying conclusion is possible, but whatever the errors and failures of the past have been it is clear that they nave now to a large extent been surmounted. The task of apportioning responsibility for past failures to realise the true importance of high-explo-sive shells and machine-guns and some other details of material and equipment may now safely be postponed to the future. It is much more important meantime that under the conditions of war production created under the administration of Me. Li,oyd George there is not likely to be any recurrence of the shortage of shells and other material which so gravely handicapped the British armies in earlier stages of the war. » * # »- It a distinct tribute to Mr. Lloyd George's administration, and a proof of efficiency going hand in Lhand with hustling' energy, that along with an enormous increase in I aggregate production there has been a material reduction in the proportionate cost of production. The cost of 18-pounder ammunition —the ammunition fired by the standard field gun of the war—has been reduced by forty per cent., and proportionate savings have been effected in other details of production. In the ordinary way production on a big scale is usually more economical, proportionately to output, than production on a smaller scale,_ but such a result was not of necessity to be expected in the rapid extension, and in a great degree improvisation, of war industries that has been effected in Great Britain and tho considerable economies- mentioned seem to afford notable proof of sound administration. **- * * I A highly important development in the Balkan campaign is reported by Mb. Martin Donohoe. The Russians, he states, have captured Varna, one of the Bulgarian ports in the' Black Sea, after laying the town in ruins by bombardment and inflicting heavy loss upon the garrison. Taken as it stands, the message would imply that the Russians have at length undertaken an invasion of Bulgaria, but news so important must await confirmation. Mr. Donohoe is a correspondent of standing, and if he has reported the occupation of Varna as a fact the authority is good, but he may quite possibly only have passed on a rumour, as a rumour. Varna is situated near the northern extremity. of the Bulgarian coast, about a dozen miles south of the Rumanian frontier, and if . the Russians have really selected it 'as a landing-place _ thenaction does not necessarily imply abandonment of their lately reported intention of advancing through Rumania. On. the' contrary a, land- s ing at Varna might very'possibly 1 be' undertaken in conjunction with an advance through Rumania. Varna is tho terminus of a railway which brings it into touch with both the Bulgarian and Rumanian systems. If tho Russians, as stated, are invading Bulgaria the lull which has lately obtained in the Balkans is likely soon to be rudely dissipated, and it may be necessary to revise the opinion oxpressed 'in a Salonika message to-day tha.t though the Allies are being rapidly reinforced at that port it will be months before they assemble such a force as would enable them to take the offensive. » . *. * * Specific details of the losses attending the British withdrawal from the western zone of the Gallipoli Peninsula fully confirm the impression that the withdrawal constituted a wonderful feat possible only under conditions of perfect naval and military organisation. No lives were lost, but two soldiers and two naval men were wounded. With the exception of a relatively small quantity of stores and six guns, which were destroyed, the whole fofrce and its equipment were removed in perfect security. This is indeed a feat worthy to live in history along with' the heroic .landing/ it * * With an exception in regard to one important detail, no further light is cast at time of writing upon the. new conditions created by the withdrawal, at the Dardanelles, or elsewhere in the Near East. The exception is a statement by Mr. Asquith that the withdrawal from Suvla and Anzac does not involve a similar operation at Capo Helles, where the naval and military force commands the entrance to the strait. Official sanction is thus given to a statement of the position which yesterday rested on surmise. *.* * « That, the people who write the enemy communiques would make the most of the British withdrawal from Gallipoli was to be expected, but to judge by the samples of enemj ports cabled to-day they are making poor and even clumsy use of their opportunity. There is a German wireless message which states that the booty secured at Suvla Bay is "immeasurable." This is almost true, though not in the sense intended, because with the exception of the "relatively small quantity of stores" mentioned by Mr. Asquith there was no booty to measure. The rest of the German story is that a thick fog enabled the enemy to escape. As a whole it can only be classed as feeble.' The Turks con tribute _ a some■,what more ambitious effort in mendacity—an elaborate story of a great offensive upon which their troops, who had been, for months eagerly awaiting the moment for action, entered with immense dash. Even in neutral countries which are inclined to favour Germany, tho true facts of the withdrawal are no doubt by this time fully known, and these samples of enemy fiction should serve a aiseful purpose in assisting to cover their authors with ridicule. a * it » News from the Western front tells' of intense fighting in which the Allies havo gamed some'ground, notably in Southern Alsace, where they havo taken enemy works by infantry assault.