PROGRESS OF THE WAR

Dominion, Volume 9, Issue 2664, 8 January 1916, Page 4

PROGRESS OF THE WAR

Sir lan Hamilton's report upon tho Gallipoli operations is very largely a defence of his own conduct of tho campaign, and in this character cannot now bo subjected to' any final or conclusive test. It stands meantime unchallenged cxcept to the extent— and tho exception is important— that his judgment upon the possibility of evacuating positions occupied on Gallipoli has been put to a practical test, and proved erroneous. There is another matter about which it is not possible to speak as definitely, though it deserves attention. General Hamilton says that from the first he had hoped that the landing of a force under Sari Bair (that is to say, at Anzac) would enable him to strangle the Turkish communications. This seems to raise an important question. Why is it that the hulk of the force available in the opening passages of the land campaign was not employed in this effort _ to- strangle tho Turkish communications instead of in,a frontal attack on the Achi Baba ridge from the south ? There may be a satisfactory answer to this question, but it is not moment apparent. Various considerations may have governed the lines upon which the campaign developed, but it is cleai that in tho opening phases Sir lan Hamilton concentrated much the greater part of his available forces in the southern end of the Peninsula, whereas in the August attack —the last great effort for victory— considerably more 'than half of his army was .thrown into the flank attack upon the Turkish communications from the western side of tho Peninsula. Taken at their face value, these facts point to a'change of plan; but though tho facts are suggestive they are not absolutely conclusive. This and other leading issues of tho Dardanelles campaign will be finally determined only when the whole of the facts . have been much more fully .ventilated than is' possible at present. Sir lan Hamilton's report makes some additions to the issues which await determination. In itself it determines no issues, nor can it bo acceptcd as saying the last word upon any of the disputed questions it treats. As a ikgeviiitiuji uf tins gwiftt battle of August, in .wliiph, the in-,

vading army camc within an acc of victory, General Hamilton's report is chiefly of value as confirming and emphasising facts already known. People at this end of the world may bo pardoned for dwelling upon tho high praise given to the Australians and New Zealanders. All that a commander can say in commendation of soldiers is said by General Hamilton of the Commonwealth and Dominion troops. He calls them over-victorious, and the striking phrases in which he applauds their valour are fortified by a noble narrative of heroic achievement. To linger upon what our own soldiers have done is in no way to depreciate the deeds of their gallant comrades-in-arms. It is .not more clear that the Australians and 'New Zealanders have covered themseives with glory than that they fought in gallant company. • « » * The salient facts of the battle which was fought and so nearly won in August arc by this time tolerably familiar. It was an effort to obtain effective command of the breadth of the Peninsula above the Narrows, and so isolate and invest that section of the Turkish forces holding the strongest defences of the Dardanelles. These cilds would have been achieved had a footing been secured and made good in positions within field-gun range of the Narrows; and according to. General Hamilton that such a footing was not gained was due to the failure at Suvla Bay. The attack in this area should have developed into a powerful stroke against the Turkisfi northern flank, rounding off tho magnificent achievement of the Anzac Corps and other units which attacked ' the Chunuk Ban- ridge, but it failed to materialise, and the whole attack as a conscquence broke down. The failure appears the more ,deplorable from General Hamilton's statement that the Turkish strength at Suvla Bay was believed to consist of under 4000 me-ii. The initial failure of the attack would, of course, give the enemy time to bring up heavy reinforcements.

One of the most interesting facts disclosed by Sir lan Hamilton is that the Russians had definitely entertained the idea of co-operating with the Anglo : French Army in Galhpoh by effecting a landing on the Turkish Black Sea coast, and that their inability to give effect to this intention very seriously affected the balance of strength in Gallipoli. I his is a matter in which significance attaches to dates. General Hamilton states that owing to- the Russians giving up the idea of cooperating on the coast of the Black Sea, several Turkish divisions arrived at the Dardanelles,' and the Anglo-French army was just as weak, relatively to the enemy, in June as a month earlier. There is no need to cast about for reasons explaining the abandonment of- the Russian plan. 'It was in-May that the ■ Austro-Germans opened their great drive through Galicia, arid long, before Juno had opened every man and gun the Russians could muster was desperately needed on the main front. The circumstances ccrtamly afford no reasonable cause for complaint against Russia, but they tend in some degree to rebut the chargis which have been so freely made that Great Britain undertook the attack on the Dardanelles with wholly inadequate forces. General Hamilton takes tho view that victory was missed bv_ a very narrow margin, and if his view is correct, a diversion on tho Black Sea coast might have served to turn the scale. At all events the grounds upon which the Dardanelles campaign rjust be judged are materially j broadened by the fact that a Russian diversion tfas contemplated and would presumably have been made but for circumstances arising in tho Russian main campaign which neither Russia nor Britain had foreseen. #* ' * The Compulsory Service Bill has passed its first reading in the House of Commons by a majority of nearly four to one. This result was reached with 608 members present to vote and 162 absent, and since the greater number _of the absent members are on service it is certain that a. full attendance would have materially swelled the majority 'in-favour of tho Bill. To this extent the position is satisfactory, but while the Bill is assured of tho support of an overwhelming majority in Parliament, its opponents, ana particularly its Labour opponents, are marshalling their forces in a fashion which gives serious point to a reproach uttered by Mr. Balfour. Opponents of the Bill, he said, will convey to enemies and to foreign Powers generally that Britain is a . divided nation. The hope is not yet dead, however, that Labour opposition to the measure of compulsion proposed may ultimately dwindle very considerably. The Trades Union Congress has passed a hostile resolution, with talk .about three .million organised worker's solidly opposed to compulsion, but there is already a great deal of detail evidence going to show that this is a distortion and misrepresentation of the true position. For instance, the resolution, which claims internally to carry_ the unanimous protest of three million workers, was passed in fact by 1,998,000 votes to 783,000 (thesofiguro" indicating the number of union members represented by the delegates), which is very far_ from being unanimity. A Trades Union Congress in any case is not a Parliament, and when they are subjected to a practical test the big figures with which the Labour opponents of the Bill are seeking to support their agitation may prove to have little more than a paper value. That a number of,extremists'amongsTi the Labour leaders are prepared to go to almost any lengths in opposing compulsory 'legislation is not in doubt, but it is another matter to secure such a measure of popular support as would make their agitation formidable to the extent of destroying national unity.

All that is clear at the moment is that Labour is divided. While Mr. Thomas, Mr. Baiisay Macdonald, and others are urging root and branch opposition to compulsion, the wiser leaders of Labour are taking a very different course. Mr. Arthur Henderson, chairman of the Labour Party and president of the Board of Education, has resigned, not because he dissents ir'om the Cabinet proposals, but hecausehe approves the compulsory legislation and proposes to ask his constitutents to support him in that attitude. For anything that appears to the contrary at time of writing, his Labour colleagues. Messrs. G. H. Eouerts and W! Brace, may havo resigned from a similar motive. Mr. Henderson's attitude at all events is clear, and the situation treated by the hostile agitation of a section of the Labour Party is to some extent redeemed by the plain evidence thus afforded that .powerful nfforla am being made .within the party to induce its rank I

and file members to support the only policy which can be regarded as meeting,the emergency by which th» nation is faced in the war. It is noteworthy also that the most extreme opponents of the Bill amongst the Labour politicians evidently fear a general election. Mr. Hodge, M.P., who moved a hostile resolution at the Trades Union Congress, openly admitted that a general election on the issue of conscription "would bo one of the worst days in the Labour Party's history." Mr. Thomas, one of the most rabid opponents of the Bill, found nothing better to say on this subject than that they must ignore the threat of a general election. This looks like pretty definite evidence that the opponents of the Bill are afraid to put their ease 1.0 the test of a popular vote, and unless tlicy arc assured of powerful popular backing their agitation resolves itself into so much sound and fury. * * * » An unconfirmed report from Italv declares that an Austro-Gernian and ■Bulgarian advance into Greece has Central Powers having noi/ified Greece that after the arrests at Salonika they are forced to consider the districts occupied by the Entente as enemy territory. From other sources there is news of an entirely different character. It is stated that the Russians arc developing' apace the, offensive they have 011 a southern, front-, and .that the Austro-Germans are under the necessity of withdrawing troops iroiri, the Balkans and the Italian frontiers, in order to stiffen their defence in the. area of the Russian attack.. General von Mackensen, according to one correspondent, is unable to think about Salonika while hghting desperately in resistance to ! the Russians. So far as the movement of enemy troops from theatre to theatre is concei'ned, the news is more or less speculative in character, but that the Russian offensive on the iong southern front, from the Pripet marshes to Bumania, is being pressed in great force is attested by official reports. Ground has hcen lost by the enemy both at Chartorysk, on the southern fringe of the Pripet marshes, and on the approaches to Gzernowitz, the capital of Bukowina. Though they arc making headway, the Russians have not yet reached Gzernowitz, and it is now cxplainad that the partial evacuation of the place by the Austrians,' reported yesterday, was enforced by the attacks of Russian airmen. This in itself is an encouraging indication of the extent to which the Russian equipment has been improved! Hitherto concentrated attacks by Russian, airmen have been few and far between. As to operations on terra firma, though.th_* Russians have nor- yet entered Ozernowitz they have ■approached it closely, and aro still forging ahead. Capturing Czcrnowitz, they.will cut into an important system of strategic railwavs. and so materially increase the 'difficulties under which the enemy is labouring in his efforts to maintain a footing m the vScinity of the Rumanian frontier. A Messages from New York state that Germany is likely to reject Great Britain's suggestion that the •Baralong allegations and British counter-charges should be referred to An impartial tribunal, and may elect instead to shoot as many British officers and men as there wereGermans in the submarine sunk by the Baralong. If this is Germany's decision, the right policy for Britain to adopt would be, to intimate that the Kaiser and his chief Ministers will be held personally responsible for any such diabolical outrage.