PROGRESS OP THE WAR

Dominion, Volume 9, Issue 2659, 3 January 1916, Page 4

PROGRESS OP THE WAR

. Two reviews of the war which figure in the cablegrams to-day deserve more than passing attention. One is by Lord Sydenham and the other by the Gorman newspaper, Frankfurter Zeitung. The striking thing about these two productions, written from opposite standpoints and reaching opposite conclusions, is that they both lend very definite support to the idea that the future in this war bolongs to the Allies. The writer of the German article has evidently set himself to make out the best possible ease from the German point of view. Ho takes a much more optimistic tone, for instance, thaA was attributed the other day to Major Moraht, a German military critic of standing and repute; Admitting,_ because he must, that the German intentions as regards France were not fulfilled, and that the Russian campaign has broken off," he yet finds matter for congratulation in the "glorious victory" achieved in Russia and takes comfort in tho alleged fact that tho Gorman armies in the Western theatro fought in October "the greatest defensive battle in history," and in assertions that the Allied operations in tho Near East have gone to wreck and ruin. Russia, it is claimed, has been separated from the Western Powers Dy developments in the Near East, and while he admits that the conquest of Russia is impossible, the German writer concludes by declaring that the Germans and their Allies stand victorious from Arras to Bagdad. 1

« * * * These are ambitious claims, and they are not wholly founded on imagination, but the culminating claim that the Germanic Allie-s stand vic-

torious from Arras to Bagdad is so obviously false that it hardly needs to be exposed. All that the Germans and their Allies can claim, adhering to facts, is that they have not yet been beaten, a very different thing from being victorious. And to this

it may be added that a, summary of tho position which makes no account of the expanding strength of the Allies in the fighting lines from Arras to Bagdad is so weak as to amount practically to the admission of \a hopeless case. The striking thing about this German interpretation of the facts of the. war is that

it relies wholly upon what the Germanic combination has accomplished and upon an -assumed ability on the part of its members to hold what they have won. It is essentially an ex parte statement intended ,to satisfy public opinion at home and impress neutrals and enemies abroad. Yet it does not even attempt to show that Germany and her associates are

ikely to be as formidable in the

future as they_ have been in the past. The attempt is rather to show that Germany can afford to live upon her military past so far as active exertion and enterprise in the war are concerned, and to rely for the future

upon her powers of defence. . Ambitious as they are in one sense, these claims are little better than an admission of half-defeat.

The implied admission of the German writer that the Teutonic Allies are now, broadly speaking, reduced to defensive strategy, is affirmed and emphasised by Lord Sydenham, who reviews the war with the authority of a competent expert. In regard to the events of tho past year, Lord Sydenham docs not mince matters. He frankly admits that for the Allies the year was one of sacrifices and reverses without . successes which

would have afforded adequate compensation. • Yet he considers that the real crisis of the war was passed in September, 1914, when the. German campaign which aimed at the occupation of Paris was wrecked. The Allies, in his view, are able to look to the future with calm confidence because their strength is mounting relatively to that of the enemy and because the eager efforts of the Germans have failed to destroy their unity and loyalty to a common cause.

These simple facts regarding, the increasing strength_ and the united purpose of ihe Allies are tho reply to all that can be affirmed in regard to German prospects in the war. In the past operations of the land war, at a broad view, the honours are with Germany. As Lord Sydenham has justly pointed out, the conquest of the German colonies is practically all that the Allies have to set against the enormous territorial gains of the enemy in Franco, Flanders, Poland, and the Near East. Tho situation is redeemed from the standpoint of the Entente, not by any depreciation o£ what Germany and her Allies havo accomplished, but by a recognition of the fact that to have and to hold aro two different things. Instead of being victorious everywhere, Germany in fact is victorious nowhere, aud the I

superiority in resources which the Allies arc only now beginning to bring effectively into play points unmistakably to her ultimate defeat. No better endorsement of the Allied prospects could be desired than the furious tirade in which the Kaiser declares that his enemies have long given up all hope of conquering by fair fighting, but believe they can still reckon upon tho weight of their masses and the starvation of the German people. The plaint about fair fighting comes as an excellent jest from tho War Lord who set out to overwhelm unprepared enemies, and who has systematically murdered men, women, and children non-com-batants, but there is no doubt that there are good grounds for the apprehension the ICaiser, by inference, admits.

There is interesting news from the Eastern theatre to-day, but not of a nature to give very definite shape to events. Evidently a very great 'battle is being fought on the southern section of the Russian front, but its outcome has yet to be made known. That the Russians should have effected a heavy concentration of men and guns and assumed the offensive is, however, a highly important development. From the particulars thus far supplied, it seems likely that the Russians are

attacking in stronger force and on a more ambitious scale than they have been capable of doing since they succeeded in stemming the Austro-Ger-man invasion. If these indications arc not belied, the operations now under way on the southern front should mark the opening of a new era in the campaign, an era in which • that increase m Russian armaments which is one of the great unmeasured factors of the war will begin to make itself definitely felt. No important success is to be looked for as the result of an isolated Eussian effort at this juncture, but it would be in the highest degree encouraging to have definite proof that the llusarc again in a. position to effectively co-operate with their Allies in the Western theatre and elsewhere. * * * * Foul play presumably accounts for the fate of tho armoured . cruiser Natal, blown up in harbour by "an internal agency." This is not a pleasant naval item with which to open theAew Year. Though armoured cruisers, as a class, have not added to their reputation in the present war, the Natal must be accounted a loss of some importance. Completed in 1907, she was a fine ship of 13,500 tons, very heavily armed. She carried in her main batteries six 9 2ineh guns and four 7.5-inch. Th° destruction of the Natal and the loss of more than a third of her complement does not materially affect the margin of Entente naval power, but it is disconcerting that the precautions taken throughout the Navy against treachery should have failed to save tho warship from such a fate! *| * * Ah other misfortune on the sea is the sinking of the P. and 0. liner l ersia, torpedoed by an enemy submarine somewhere between Crete and Alexandria. A majority of the passengers and crew were lost. Though 1 only brief reports are' in hand as" yet, the essential facts are made fullv apparent. The 231 passengers aboard the included 87 women and 2d children. Evidently, therefore, she was en route in her ordinary capacity as a passenger liner, and the heavy loss of life makes it practically certain that she was attacked without warning. The sinking of the Persia will take its place in a growing list of the dastardly outrages which have become a standing feature of German and Austrian sea policy. It is said (!hat the. news of the Persia's fate stunned America, coming as it did on the heels of the announcement that a settlement had been reached with Austria in the Ancona case. The surprise thus expressed will hardly be shared outside America. Elsewhere it is by this time perfectly well recognised that such limitations as are placed upon murderous attacks by enemy submarines on passenger.liners depend in no degree upon the diplomatic representations of the United States, but wholly upon the preventive measures within the power of the naval forces of Great Britain and her Allies. _As has often been pointed out, it is no reproach to the British and Allied Navies that the anti-sub-marine campaign is less effective in the Eastern Mediterranean than in' more restricted sea-areas. The problem of protecting trade and transport routes in "tho Mediterranean is necessarily much more difficult, and though the Persia is a tragic addition to the list of ships .lost in this sea, it is not to be expected that losses will be altogether avoided while an enemy submarine remains in_ commission east of Gibraltar. All things considered, the percentage cf losses in the Mediterranean has been wonderfully small.

The Adriatic is evidently , a debatablo,ground at present so far as submarines and the lighter kinds of surface warships are concerned, and both sides have suffered losses. The French ■ submarine Monge, rather an old craft as submarines go, but powerfully armed, has been sent to the bottom by an Austrian cruiser. The Austrians, on the other hand, have lost two modern destroyers, units in a squadron which raided Durazzo, and one of their supply ships has been sunk by a French submarine. So far the Allies appear to have had the best of recent exchanges, but rather disquieting accounts are given of the extent to which. Austrian submarines are contriving to interfere with the

transport of supplies to Montenegro. This is serious news affecting the prospects not only of the Montenegrins and the Serbs who are fighting in their company, but those of the main Serbian Army and the Italian expedition landed in Albania.

There is no further confirmation at time of writing of the reports transmitted at the enc! of last week about new British landings on the Greek coast and a French 'andirig on the southern coast of Asia Minor. What news there is implies that the Anglo-French Army in the Balkans is still concentrated in its defensive lines about Salonika, and that the principal immediate object is to further strengthen the defences. One very satisfactory item of news states that General Sarp.ail has interned

tho Consuls of enemy countries at Salonika. This is .a step which should assist materially to protect the Allies against treachery.

A useful accession of strength to

the Allies is possibly implied in the news that Essad Pasha, who has 20,000 men at his disposal, has declared war against Austri*. and Bulgaria. It would be easier to feel satisfied about it, ho.vcver, if some equally satisfactory assurance were given regarding that section of tho warlike Albanian race which Essad does not control. Though he

has done a good deal in the way of repressing disorders since he usurped the supreme authority in Albania, this latest accession to the Allied cause hardly enjoys an undisputed sovereignty. General support by the Albanians would be of much value to tho Allies, since it would make for tho s&curity ot important'lines of coriimunication, but if what has happened is a split amongst the Albanians, one part joining the Allies and tho other joining tho enemy, the total effect may be to leave matters in Albania very much as they were.