PROGRESS OF THE WAR

Dominion, Volume 9, Issue 2808, 28 June 1916, Page 4

PROGRESS OF THE WAR

The sweeping victory won by tho Italians on the Trentino front should finally make an end of whatever hopes the Austrians may have based upon their ill-starred invasion of Italy. To those who have been following the progress of the campaign, the present turn of events will come as no great surprise. The Austrians at first made rapid headway in tho offensive, which they set in motion a little over a month ago, but the situation was quickly transformed as Italian reinforcements were brought to bear. By great efforts the enemy contrived to reach two Italian railhead towns, Asiago and Arsiero, facing the south-east-ern frontier of the Trentino, but having got so far he was brought definitely to a standstill. More than a week ago the Italians regained tho upper hand, and they have since been gradually winning back their lost positions.. By an attack which seems to have been equally vigorous and well directed, they have now materially improved upon these efforts. The enemy has been heavily defeated, and is in retreat from a considerable part of the front to which he advanced. At the height of the Austrian succcss this front was of no great extent. The offensive opened on a front of thirty miles, between tho valley of the Adige and tho Val Sugana, but the mountainous character of tho oountry hampered, freedom of action. As the offensive developed the Austrians pressed forwarcl in the centro, but for tho most part were firmly held on either wing, so that their front narrowed as they advanced. Now that they havo been dislodged from Asiago and a considerable part of the plateau of tho same name, their Tront in the Italian frontier zone has been further and dangerously narrowed. As reports stand, they still hold Arsiero, six or seven miles inside the Italian frontier, but their area of invasion must now be in the form of a comparatively narrow wedge, open to attack on either flank, as well as in front, and in these circumstances a further retreat should quickly become imperative.

It is now possible to say with complete confidence .that tho Austrian attempt to create a diversion at the expense of Italy has resulted in dismal failure. For a time, in tho early stages of the offensive, serious possibilities -were in sight. If the Austrians had been able to bring greater forces to bear, and particularly if Germany had declared war on Italy and taken a powerful part in tho enterprise, the invading armies might have been able to sweep well across tho Venetian plain. Doing so they would havo cut the communications of the Italian armies on the Isonzo front and in tho mountain areas between that front and the Southern Trentino, and the whole Italian campaign would have been dislocated. These were open possibilities until the enemy effort had been measured, as it_ now has been. It is to bo recognised that only lack of force prevented the enemy striking a very heavy and damaging blow at Italy instead of tho comparatively feeble stroke which has now, to all appearance, been effectually parried. The Italian victory is therefore a significant addition to accumulating evidence that the Central Empires arc finding their resources decidodly unequal to tho demands of their various campaigns. Better evidence on tho point could hardly be desired. This is an instance in which an additional striking force of half a dozen army corps might havo converted a risky and unrewarded effort into a decisive victory, which would at once have crippled Italy and robbed the 'Allies generally of powerful co-op-eration at a very critical period in the war. It is certain that the enemy refrained from using a greater forcc only because it was not available.

From the immediate Italian standpoint the outlook is now much better than it was before the threat of an Austrian invasion had materialised. The general Italian campaign is undisturbed, and the work laboriously done last year in gaining a footing well inside the Austrian frontier practically all along the line, has only to a very limited extent boon undone. It is on the Isonzo front, if anywhere, on the forty miles or so of country between j "Monte Nero and the head of the Adriatic, that the Italians may hope to secure decisive results within a reasonable time, and here they retain precisely thesame positions as before the offensive opened, except that they have slightly advanced in the south. Whatever else "it was intended to achieve, the Atis,trian offensive was undoubtedly intended to effect a diversion which would weaken the Italian attack on the Isonzo front, and the effort to this end has failed. The Italians are worse off than they were to the extent that between "twenty and thirty miles of the Trentino frontier has been laid open. But the damage | is being repaired, and in any case I the enemy will only be able to turn I the Trentino to account as a gateway of invasion by massing a much larger force against Italy than ho has been able, to muster in the present enterprise. _ His prospects of | doing ■ so are evidently very poor,. | Means are lacking as yet of striking | a balancc between Austrian and Italian losses in men since the offensive opened. It is known, however, that although the Italians lost heavily whop they were first attacked, they did npfc resign their positions without inflicting -heavy loss upon the enemy, and they have continued Ilia struggle fighting largely under their own conditions. Considering that Italy is vastly better off than her enemy in the matter of reserves, "it would seem that Austria has I every reason to look upon her Trentino adventure as a disastrous failure. , « « * «'

Austrian (lights of mcndacifcy are at times positively sublime. A choice example is the communique explaining that ,thc retreat on tho Trentino front was a shortening of tho line, carried out unnoticed and unhindered hy the enemy. The facts of the ease are now clearly outlined and they are, briefly, that the Italians effected such a tremendous concentration of. men and guns that when the- storm broke over tho devoted Austrians they had to chooso between speedy retreat, or annihilation. Also, the Italians arc closely following the retreat and furiously attacking. If the condition of tho Austrians is to bo measured by tho extent of their departure from tho truth it must be very bad indeed.

A sustained bombardment of the German positions along tho British front, which was noted yesterday as being possibly the prelude to a general battle, has not yet fulfilled its promise t-o this extent. But the

situation is more electrical than ever. Tho bombardment continues, and is reported to have done extensive damage at various points of strategic importance, and it is being supplemented by an extended series of night raids, which have also been crowned with notable success. On, Saturday night tho enemy's line was* penetrated in ten different places, and in every instance the enemy suffered heavy loss and damage, whilo the losses of the attackers wore relatively light. By this time tho scale of the operations lias probably been considerably extended. It is mentioned that an active and particularly successful part was borne in the raiding expeditions by the Minister Fusiliers and Anzac troops. Tho latter are, or were recently, stationed in. the area south of the Flanders bolder and north of the La Basseo salient. The tactics adopted in these nightraiding attacks have recently been very clearly described by correspondents, amongst others, the New Zealand official correspondent. At the appointed moment, tho fire of the bombarding batteries is switched to the flanks and rear of the point selected for attack. Then the raiding party dashes swiftly across jS t o Man's Land and into tho enemy's works, intent upon putting as many as possible of his troops out of action, and doing as much material damage as time will permit. It is jvork in which "both French and 'British troops havo set a very high standard, and one that the Germans, with their tactical traditions of attack in mass, are unlikely to approach.

Dashing night raids are no now thing on the British front, but even from tho incomplete reports in hand of the bombardment and raiding to which the German front is being subjected it is evident that important events are afoot. Visibly the tactics employed arc designed to put a racking strain upon tho enemy, to disturb and damage his organisation, and kcop him in hourly expectation of attack, and yet uncertain where the blow will fall. An item in tho damage already dono is tho destruction of fifteen German kiteballoons and aircraft—a valuable contribution to a procoss which aims at reducing the enemy to a condition in which he will be least able to withstand attack. It seems more than ever probable that the British Army is making ready to striko a full-powcrcd blow, and the conditions now reigning may easily mean "that, tho main effort will be more gradually approached and more powerful when it made than anything of the kind the Allies have attempted in the past. The Germans at times have set a fashion of their own in scattered attacks, but as a rule the essential features of an offensive stroke in tho Western theatre havo been a concentrated bombardment of a limited front, followed by powerful infantry assarts in the same limited area.

I With a considerable margin of strength to work upon, the Allies may be able at this stage to forcc a very different kind of battle. They are certainly not limited by the factors that have ruled in preceding stages of the war, nor aro they restricted to' a simple imitation of German tactics. Already tho character of the British attack, _ as far as it has developed, is suggestive, and 'it may yet be shown that conditions ruling in the Western theatre do not excludo the possibility of a more widely extended battle than 'has been witnessed in that area since the opening months of the war. If a ( serious effort by the British Army is impending, the element of concentration in particular areas must, of course enter, but the stroke when it falls will not necessarily be a mere repetition on a biggor scale of the attacks launched by the Allies last September, in tho Champagne, and in Northern France. It is to be remembered always that tho immediate object is not merely to shift the Germans from one lino to. another, but to compel them to fight at the greatest possible disadvantage, so as to cut down their fighting power as rapidly as possible. Actual events on the British front indicate that this object is being enterprisingly 'pursued, and there is every reason to believe that these events are only a beginning.

It is realised in France, according to the Times correspondent at Paris, that the moment is now closo when the fate of Verdun must be merged'in the general strategic situation. This is a summing-up of the position which does not seem to admit of dispute. If the Allies now persevere for any length of time in their defensive at Verdun without powerfully countering tho German blow elsewhere, the conclusion will be inevitable that they are prepared to see at anyrate tho town of Verdun pass into German, hands. It is not impossible that they intend to fight the battle on its present lines to the bitter, end, though the events astir on the British front are conceivably loading up to a retaliatory effort which will the German blow. There would presumably _bo no better occasion on which to drive home a counter-stroke than with the Germans in the full tide of a desperate effort to master the last defences of Verdun. Cold military policy will doubtless determine tho issue in any case. To tho observing world it would be a tragedy if tho long and heroic defence of the French should end at last in the town of Verdun passing to the enemy, but no such consideration is likely to influence the policy of the Allied high command. It is purely a question of military values and the Germans may yet be allowed to win -Verdun, at a ruinous price.

As it is described to-day the- situation on the Verdun front is in the highest degree tense and critical. The Germans remain established . m a wedge thrust into the now restricted area held by the French ahead of the- town, on the east bank of tho Meuse, and another battle under conditions of unlimited sjiciifice for the sake of local and indecisive success may go far to determine the fato of Verdun. At the moment-, though fierce house-to-house conflict is in progress in Floury village, there is a genera lull both in infantry fighting and bombardment. This may be a refioefcion of present and cxpfictcd events on the British front, but on the other hand it may mean only that the Germans arc making ready for a further effort. Two sections of the Russian operations on the southern front in the Eastern theatre command attention at the moment. From Bukowina. there is nothing but good news. The Russians are now feeling thenway towards the passes of the Carpathians leading into Transylvania, and no more ambitious claim is advanced by the- cnoray than that ho

intends to make a stand on the main ridge of tho mountains, Tlio stato of affairs on the approaches to ICovel junction, in Southern Russia, is less clearly defined. But for the fact that enemy reports have of late been heavily charged with falsehoods, one which states that General Linsingen has in the last ten days captured 11,000 Russian prisoners would have to bo regarded as conveying had news. The enemy account is largely met, however, by a Petrograd. communique published yesterday, which stated very definitely that the Russians were more than holding their own in the area to which the Germau report refers, and that the enemy was falling back. Now there is an ■ unofficial report from Potrograd to the effect that the Russians in this region arc engaged in repelling the attacks _ of superior enemy forces, including heavy reinforcements drawn from the Western front. Taking a line through these reports, it is plain enough that the Russian's are arrested for the timo being on _the_ approaches to Ivovel, but it is highly probable that the German story is exaggerated as to details and overdrawn. Matters are in such a state, however, as to make it seem more than ever probable that the Western Allies are on - the eve of powerful offensive action.