PROGRESS OF THE WAR

Dominion, Volume 9, Issue 2794, 12 June 1916, Page 4

PROGRESS OF THE WAR

Foe tho timo being the honours of the war aro with .Russia. While tho Western Allies, as news goes, are .persevering in their steady defensive, and the Italians on tho Trentino front are struggling to mako head against an Austrian onslaught which has lost little, if anything, of its original power, the armies of the Tsak are continuing their drive between the Pripet Marshes and Rumania in a tide of victory which is bound to tell with permanent effect on the war. There is ample and unquestionable _ evidence that a success of magnitude has already been achieved, and at the same time there is every indication that the force of the Russian drive is far from spent, and that further important headway is likely to be made before the enemy is granted even a temporary respite., The enterprise takes "shape as' a simultaneous forward sweep of armies at iriany points along a front of 220 miles. Tho full extent, of the territory which is already affected is even greater. In their offensive the Russians are fighting for the mastery of the whole extent of country between the Pripet Marshes and the Carpathians range on the southern frontier of Galicia and Bukowina. In addition to the general forward movement on this extensive front there is a particular threat to the enemy on either flank. A turning movement is developing against that section of his front which reaches to the Rumanian frontier, and a general survey of the position, ' which accompanies the news to-day, indicates that there is a similar threat to the rear and communications of Austrian forces established in the Pripet Marshes, on the north.

Ejjtbupeises of this magnitude are not always pressed to an early conclusion, and it has still to be seen whether the enemy is capable of making head against the Russian southern armies by weakening his forces elsewhere. Up to the present, on available information, his efforts in this direction have completely failed. An official message states that fresh . German troops have been transferred to the area of conflict from the north, but that in spite of this accession of strength to the enemy the Russian advance continues. This is important news, because it is quite certain that if the enemy plans were working smoothly German troops would not bo moved to the south, but would be employed in the Baltic Provinces, in creating a diversion calculated to compel a transfer of Russian strength from south to north. The Russians, in fact, are at once setting the pace, And dietoting the field of conflict. Very possibly the German measures are influenced in part by the heavy defeat lately inflicted on tho High Seas Fleet. Though the Russian Navy in the Baltic is formidably reinforced by British submarines, it is likely" that if better fortune had attended Germany in naval war land and naval operations would havo gono hand-in-hand in tho further

prosecution of the Baltic campaign. Now we have the high authority of the British First Lord of the Admiralty for the statement that Germany will be unable for months to come to undertake any organisecT.naval effort either in tho North Sea or the Baltic. This state of affairs may well -have influenced the change of plans indicated in the transfer of troops from north to douth, though tho change is directly, and perhaps chiefly, due to the vigour ot the Russian offensive. There is news to-day of an attempted German offensive, not in the Baltic Provinces, but somewhat to the south of that region, in tho area east of Vilna. ■ Though made in considerable strength, the attack seems to have been pressed with no great power, and it was decisively repelled. This tends to bear out an opinion that the enemy's -plan of creating a powerful diversion in the north has, for the time at least, gone awry.

That there is an intimate relation between the most widely-separated operations of the war is again illustiated in that the Russians attribute their success in part to the mistaken policy of the Germans in withdrawing two divisions from the southern .section of the Eastern front for service at Verdun,' and another to the .Trentino. ■ Though they arc still defending at Verdun, the French are none the less effectively co-operating with their Russian Allies. Tho Germans would take new and heavy risks if they attempted to transfer strength from the Western theatre to Russia, at present, it seems to be no part of the enemy's plan meantime to draw the much-needed reinforcements from the Trentino. A correspondent at Rome reports, it is true, .that four Austrian divisions in tho Trentino have started for Galicia, but official, and therefore more reliable, 'Italian reports state that instead of being weakened the enemy has been reinforced on the Trentino front.' No other conclusion seems possibW at the moment than that the Austrians still entertain hopes of winning some important success in Italy before they are compelled to slacken in that theatre in order to mass strength against tho Russians. Though this policy involves a continued heavy strain upon the Italians, it is as likely as not to work out in the end very much to tho advantage of the Allies. The Italians admit a short retirement on the Asiago plateau at the end of a protracted and desperately-con-tcsted battle, but there is no reason to suppose that their defensive resources are likely to give out. So long as their dcfcnco holds good they are co-ojoerating more effectively with their Allies and particularly doing more to help the Russians than if thoy were themselves acting on tho offensive.

As to the character and magnitude of tho Russian success there is no_ room for doubt. Tho talo of prisoners now stands at well over 80,000, and it is estimated that between a quarter and a third of the original Austrian effectives on the battle-front have been piit out..of acton in one way or another. 'This means that enemy casualties under all heads, during the period of something less than a week covered by the reports, total between 160,000 and 216,000. Even the larger number would be too low to bear a natural relation '"to the established total of prisoners captured, but that there have been some wholesale surrenders of Austrian Slav regiments. This v has disturbed the normal proportion of prisoners to dead and wounded, but even so it is probable that tho enemy's total losses in- tho. period covered by current reports have been nearer 200,000 than 160,000. The _ Russians have other trophies of victory to show in a largo number of guns and a great' quantity of war material.

But the weight and power of the Hussian drive are most impressively attested in the particulars given of territory gained and the conditions of the offensive as far as they are disclosed. Though the Russians as they advance are faced by a, great number of strong fortifiqd positions, the offensive is rapidly, taking on the aspect of a great manoeuvre battle. This appears definitely from the fact, stated in the communiques, that in many sectors the cavalry led the attack and made considerable captures of guns, ammunition, aucl material. Under the conditions, that exist the enemy retreat is likely to be extended. Meantime wo have it that the Russians have forced and crossed • the river barriers on which enemy has been established for months, and no doubt intended to remain Established for a long time to come. News that the Russian vanguards are within twenty miles of Lem"berg is, at time of writing, unofficial, but it receives a measure of confirmation from the statement of the Russian Embassy at Rome that "tho enemy front has been broken for a length of 90 miles 'and to' a depth of <10 miles. The situation in general holds out excellent prospects, and may be expected to. develop favourably. The Russians are shown to be striking vigorously forward, with the cavalry working ahead. Tho enemy will have to put forth tremendous exertions to bring such an onset to a halt, and if he succeeds to that extent he will only do so at th'o cost of serious detriment to his undertakings elsewhere.

Aff "attempt, in the present state., of information, to'penetrate in any comprehensive way the complicated and rapidly changing aspects of this great and widely-extended battle iwoulcl necessarily be abortive, but one important detail in its development may be noted. A conspicuous element in the Russian movement is an advance along the north bank of the Dniester. ■ Here the Russians are making_ headway in a fashion which is rapidly carrying them well to the westward of the enemy forces south of tho Dniester whose lines extend still to Czernowitz and the Rumanian frontier. An advance under these conditions is very greatly assisted and facilitated by tho footholcl which < the Russians gained south of the Dniester, in March last, .by ejecting the Austrians from tho strong bridgehead fortifications of Uscieczko and driving'them across the river. In Austrian hands Uscieczko was a gateway for a flank attack on 'troops attempting just such an advance as the Russians are at present making along the north bank of the Dniester. The position is now very _ completely reversed. The Russians have extended, their footliokl south of the Dniester as well as to the north and matters are in train for a southward drive against "the Czernowitz communications.

A somewhat uneasy tone is observable in unofficial French comments upon the later developments in Verdun battle, but at tho same time it "is pointed out that in spite of the loss of Fort Vaux formidable barriers still oppose the enemy's progress towards .the town of Verdun. Bearing in mind that the enemy must be looking to political rather than military results in liis increasingly costly efforts to reach that goal, no reason appears for departing from an opinion that ho is playing a ruinous and losing game. Though there have been unsuccessful attacks;by the Germans west of the Meuse and a slight loss of ground by the French on the northern front, on tho other side 1 of tlje river, west of Douaumont, news in hand tells chiefly of heavy bombardments, which are no doubt the prelude to further infantry attacks on a big scale. On tho British front the state of affairs is normal, our armies adhering to a defensive in which scope is found for tactics-cal-culated fto excessively annoy the enemy and keep him on-lie strain.

On occasion the Allies have occupied portions of Greek territory in furtherance of their anti-suljparino campaign, hut tho occupation of the island of Thasos seems to be a move with a very definite bearing on tho land campaign. Thasos, am extensive island nearly as big as Lemnos, is only 16 miles distant from ICavala, and is separated by a strait six miles wide from the nearest; point on the Greek mainland. It is thus admirably suited to .be a base of operations against the Bulgars who have entered Eastern Greece, and its mere occupation is a threat which will make the Bulgars uneasy and affect their plans. There is little other news from Greece except a confirmation of the report that a partial demobilisation of the Greek Army has been effected, but the fact that the Government in protesting against the maritime restrictions has tendered an assurance of its good faith indicates that the measures taken by the Allies are serving their intended purpose. The assurance at the same time suggests that these measures wero not taken before they were necessary. Had the Greek Government pursued an honest policy it would have been under no necessity of asserting its good faith. : "

Notable progress is reported by the British forces in East Africa. An important section of the enemy is established on the railway which connects the inland station _of Moshi, *near the British frontier, with Tanga on the coast. To-day's news is that an attempt by the enemy to hold a defilo on the line of this railway, formed by the Pangani Biver closing in on a mountain range, has been defeated. Wilbelmstahl, the placo of which the British troops aro in sight, is a station c'n the railway 130 miles below Moshi and about 70 miles from tho. coast. The drive down the railway has thus progressed so far that the enemy forces based upon it are within sight of disaster.