PROGRESS OF THE WAR

Dominion, Volume 9, Issue 2748, 17 April 1916, Page 4

PROGRESS OF THE WAR

A bare official account is given of what looks like a very fine bit of work by the Anglo-IndianArmy in Mesopotamia. After their recent victory at Umm-el-Henna and advance beyond that place, tho Tigris columns met with 'a check, for which unfavourable -weather conditions were _ in large measure responsible. Floods have inundated the marshy' ground along the river banks, and created obstacles to progress which must make it extremely difficult to get at the enemy in the selected positions lie has entrenched. It would not have been strange if the British forces had been completely held up while these conditions lasted. Instead, they have contrived to, advance on the south bank from a mile and a half to twice that distance, The flood conditions seem to have moderated very little as yet, for Sir Percy Lake reports that the advance was made across an inundated area, intersected by deep and very wide cuts, extending from the river to a. marsh. Like much of the fighting in Mesopotamia, these operations must have been of an anipnibious character, boats and larger .vessels being employed to transport, and some of them to co-operate with, the troops. Necessarily the whole of the area captured would be swept by tho enemy's fire, and the advance must be set down as a very gallant achievement. Such an achievement, in the ciroumstances existing, greatly brightens the prospect of an early I advance to Kut-el-Amara.

While important progress has been made on the south side of the river, the Turks have lost ground also on the north bank, though the immediate cause of their discomfiture in this locality was the flooding of their trenches. A recent message stated that the enemy positions at Sannaiyat were on ground higher than neighbouring areas,'but it is now reported that a gale drove the floodwaters into some of the trenches and that the Turks lost heavily in leav- ; ing these trenches to take refuge in positions further back. To-day's messages incidentally dispose of doubts raised in recent Turkish reports _as to the positions actually occupied by the British force. It was at Sunnaiyat that Turkish trenches were flooded and evacuated, and a British official message received about a week ago stated that the Sunnaiyat position was 12,000' yards in rear of the Turkish front trenches at Umm-el-Henna. The British column on the. bank is there'fore now twelve or thirteen miles distant from Kut-el-Amara, and separated by about half that distance from the main Turkish position at Essinn. Whether the forces on the south bank are as far forward is uncertain. Ground was reached recently from which the British guns could enfilade Sannaiyat, but floods may since have compelled a retirement. At all events, the British have now again advanced on' the south bank in spite of extreme difficulties.

It is a point to be borne in mind that the circumstances now obtaining on the Tigris are very different from those which obtained in Septem- 1 ' ber last year, when General Townshend fought his way over the same ground as a preliminary to his advance on Bagdad. -For one thing the country along the banks of the river was then at its driest instead of being flooded. Also smaller forces were engaged. It was largely by skilful manoeuvring that General Townshend overcame the Turkish resistance irr the region in which it is now being so stubbornly maintained. In reducing Esßinn, he supplemented his frontal attack by turning movements around the marshes to the.north. The flooded state of the country at present makes such manoeuvres difficult, and it is possible also that the Turks aje in such strength on both sides of tho river as to make it necessary that the bulk of the British force should be retained in immediate touch with its lines of communication. The location of a small British force at Kut-cl-Amara should prove a very important factor when the Turks are attacked by the relieving columns in their main position at EssinA. The advantage of having even a small force only seven miles in rear of the enemy's, position is obvious. It is an advantage limited only; in the present instance, by the strength and condition of the Kut-cl-Amara garri-.

General Townshend kept ten thousand men with him when he elected to stand a siege in Kut-el-Amara, and if the bulk of this forcois still afoot and reasonably supplied with ammunition, it constitutes a menace to the Turks which may be expected to take shape when the relieving columns get within striking distance of Essinn. It is very probable that could have cut its way out and joined the relieving columns on the occasion of the attack on Umm-el-Hcnna, but this would have involved resigning Kut-01-Amara to the Turks. As information stood a little while ago this might have seemed a secondary consideration, but the British arc now evidently conducting an aggressive campaign in Mesopotamia in concert with the Russians in Armenia and in Persia. Kut-el-Amara is a strong and commanding position, and the object is not to remove the garrison, but to restore communications and drive the Turks further up river.'

In Armenia, where much larger forces ara engaged than in Mesopotamia, the Turks seem to be faring badlv. News in hand does not permit the same detailed underßtandina

of recent events in the Armenian campaign as is possible in the case of the Mesopotamian operations, but the Russians officially 'epqrt that the Turks, after vainly attacking the Russian centre (west of Erzerum) during the space of six days, and suffering heavy loss, are now everywhere falling back in disorder, and are being ■energetically pursued. Experience has shown that such statements are not made in Russian communiques unless they are warranted by the facts, and the present statement should mean nothing less than that the Turks have been completely defeated on one line, and are under the necessity of concentrating anew on positions further back.

'A report from Geneva, quoting a Turkish'newspaper as its authority, declares that famine and unemployment are rife in Constantinople and other leading, centres of population in the Turkish Empire. _ This is not the first report of its kind received during the last month or two, and there is the less rcason_ to doubt its general accuracy since it is an open question at present -whether the Germans are not leaving their Ottoman i i Allies to their fate. Recent campaign events certainly do not suggest that the Turks arc receiving much German support. They are manifestly in difficulties in Armenia, and there is a strong probability that they will find themselves in no better ease in Mesopotamia when the season of floods,comes to an end. To date Turkey's part in her alliance with Germany seems to have consisted simply in bearing a portion of Germany's war burden, and in suffering heavy losses for Germany's sake. In a country so ill-organised industrially as Turkey, famine would be a natural outcome of the enormous calls that have been made upon her military resources. Germany cannot assist Turkey with/ food supplies, but by rendering military aid and bringing organisation to bear upon Turkish affairs, she could have done much to limit the ills under which her unfortunate ally is labouring. Late events suggest that it has, .instead, been Germany's policy to take all .from Turkey and give as little as possible in return, and if this is the truth it may well be believed that Turkey is now in the grip of internal problems no less threatening than _ the assaults of her external enemies.

The Yser, rather than Verdun, claims attention on the Western front. No very definite change is ob-' servable at St. Eloi, but there is again talk of an impending German assault on the Flanders front which has witnessed the most critical fighting of the war. The latest prediction on the subject, like others which have preceded it, comes from Holland. These forecasts need not be accepted without question, but at the same time they oannot be altogether set aside. Though they have signally failed, in more than fifty days of fighting, to win any decisive success at Verdun, it is not impossible that the Germans may risk a grand assault upon the British in Flanders. If they do it will be established beyond all doubt that they are fighting against time and fear the future, and delay, as much as available knowledge of the position reached in the war indicates that they have reason to.

Eeportb in hand tell- of no important event at Verdun. Infantry fighting has died down for' the time being. A French semi-official review suggests that the German offensive! is betraying symptoms of exhaustion in face of the increasing power of the French resistance, so that the outlook, as far as_ can be judged, is distinctly promising. The French document, it will be noted, passes lightly over the evacuation of the Bethin-' court salient. Perhaps it would be more correct to say that it draws a justifiable distinction between tho evacuation of the projecting angle of ground which was given up by the Frenoa in order to strengthen their line, and the loss of the much smaller area which the enemy directly gained by fighting. The French review contrasts the occupation of five* hundred yards of trenches at tho foot of Dead Alan's Hill, which was all that the enemy gained in his last great assault west of tho Meuse, with the three miles 'on a five and a half mile front gained in the first four days of 1 the Verdun offensive. It is to be added, however, that the Bethincourt Salient, y-vvhich the French 'evacuated either- immediately before the last enemy assault west of tho ■ Meuse or in its opening stages, was a considerable area, though only a fraction of what had been lost on the other side of the river.

It is to be hoped that the exhortation to the German troops which is attributed to the Kaiser is authentic. In it he is made to assure his soldiers that they are striking the final' blow of the war, and that whereas the treaty of 1871 was signed at Paris, the treaty ending this war will' be signed at Verdun. Most encouraging auguries are to be drawn if tho Kaiser is under tho necessity of inspiriting his troops with rubbish of this description, it is interesting to cet against the statement allegedly made by the Kaiser tho particulars supplied by Mr. Warner Allen of the progress made in France in the production of artillery and ammunition.' Mr. Warner Allen officially represents tho British Press at French Headquarters, so that his facts may be accepted with confidence. Considering that France was already organised, when war broke out, to supply tho needs of an active army of upwards of two millions (as army needs wero then understood), the development shown is marvellous. It is the moro marvellous when it is remembered that almost'in the opening days of the war the French were'bereft of a large part of their richest coal and iron-bearing country. The British development in war production is proportionately very much greater than the French, since at the outset of the war we were providing for onlv a small army, and in some details at least it is probably greater absolutely. In Russia also an enormous development has taken place. There is no fact which may bo taken hold of with greater confidence than that Germany completely failed to foresee tho extent to which her enemies -/,'ould succeed in developing their latent resources for tho prosecution of the war. Even tho warmaniacs who dominated and still dominate German policy would certainly not willingly have defied such an aggregation of hostile force as is now being brought to bear against the Central Empires.

Offensive action by the Russians which has been crowned with important success is reported both in the Baltic Provinces, north-west of Dvinsk, and on the southern flank, in Galicia. In the _ former area, where, the German lines are every-wW-a'in t.hn nature of powerful field

fortifications, the Kussians have captured hill positions. The Austrians admit a loss of ground in Galicia, but here events have not yet taken very, definite shape. Tolerably convincing evidence is being afforded that the Russians are no longer in the condition of weakness which made the disasters of last year possible. Apart from their immediate value and import, the recent achievements in Armenia are, of course, Highly significant as showing that the Russians can' afford to divert a powerful body of strength from the main theatre. They are now giving further proofs that they are able, in j spite of this diversion of strength, to hit hard and with effect in the main theatre. * ' •♦• * . .Some expectations hdve been entertained that the Italians, in: resuming the offensive, would concentrate tfheir efforts almost undividedly upon the Isonzo front, but they are shown, on the contrary, to be strongly attacking the Austrians in the Trentino. The latest Rome communique in hand tells of the capture of .enemy positions amongst tha alpine glaciers of the (Adamello zone, which is in the Western Trentino, south of the Tonale Pass. The Daily Telegraph correspondent at Rome reports important gains by the Italians in the Southern Trentino, both east and west of Lake Garda, and at the northern and southern ends of ! the Isonzo front, but in part this renort awaits official confirmation. c • * * • Accokding to a Danish report the Germans are seeking to close the Baltic to British submarines by laying nets in the international waters of the entrances. The violation of international law involved i 3 one that the Banes and Norwegians may_ be intimidated into tolerating, but it is possible that the Germans may find it an easier matter to lay _ the nets than to keep them in position. This apart the British submarines are not under the necessity of passing and repassing the Baltic entrances. Once in the Baltic they can operate from Russian bases, probably indefinitely.-