PROGRESS OF THE WAR

Dominion, Volume 9, Issue 2819, 10 July 1916, Page 4

PROGRESS OF THE WAR

The Allied offensive is now making vapid headway in both main theatres, and the week-end news 'tells of.a series of enemy defeats in widely separated areas. In Franco, chiefly as a result of a scries of successful assaults by the British troops along the front north of the Somme, ihe great wedge/thrust into the German line has been notably ■ enlarged. Some very heavy counter-attacks have been launched by* the enemy on portions of the front, but these efforts have resulted almost everywhere in total failure, and as a whole they are completely overshadowed by.the successful continuance of the Allied offensive. Simultaneously, the Russian offensivo on the other main front is being pressed more vigorously than ever, and further important successes are recorded. Defeat has overtakon the Austro-Germans in the great battle in which they have been attempting for. weeks to stem the Russian advancc on Ivovel junction, in Southern Russia. Both Austrian and Gorman reports show mat the enemy is falling back on a vital section of this battle-front. 'Whether an attempt will still bo made to hold the Russians on a 'line cast of Kovel is at the moment an open question.

Still further south, in Southern Galicia, the Austrian army, which las been recoiling from one blow after another, is seriously imperil'led by the Russian advance upon the railways striking . south from Galicia into the With matters going in this way in the south, a hint of the enormous power the Russians still hold in reserve is given in the increasing tido of battle along their central and northern 'fronts. As a whole, the news gives botn point and. substance to Lokd Esher's declaration that the game is going fast in favour of the Allies. How long the war can last under the conditions now existing and extending must depend largely upon ,tho enemy's powers of endurance, but the Allies are giving unmistakable proof of their ability, now that the hour for action on the grand scalc has come, to stride from one success to another.

An idea of the issues at slako in the Battle of the Sommc is given in the statement that military authorities in London believe the German lino will be broken if the French seize Pcronne. This is a road and railway junction standing about two and a half miles ahead of the 'line the. French have readied south of the Sommc, on the further side of the river and the marshes which border its course. The penetration of the German line at Pcronne, leading up to a battle under comparatively open conditions, would "have far-reaching consequences, and very probably would compel an cx-'t-endod enemy retirement, both from the northern front and from the

Aisnc. Meantime, it is explained, the French arc at a halt, pending the development of the British operations north of the Somme. South of the river the Frcnch have advanced on a front of about live miles, facing- Pcronnc, as stated, <it a distance of two and a half miles. On the north the Allied front sweeps back to the north-west, and forms the northern side of the wedge which lias been thrust into the German liuc. The operations in which the British troops have been pressing forward successfully since Friday last seem to bo only second in magnitude to the opening assault. Their general' character and the immediate objects aimed at are very clearly explained in the news. The initial assault struck deeply into 'the enemy front, but when it subsided the British forces were established on an irregular line, and a number dl strong positions remained in the hands of the Germans. These positions are now being re"duced in a series of heavy local battles, and the British line is being straightened and strengthened. The gains already recorded seem to cover an area of several square miles.

Though theii\ forward movement in Southern Galicia has been rapid of late, the success of the Russians in that region is not by any means measured by the miles they havo covered. The immediate interest of thp situation crpated centres in the threat to tho communications of the Austrian southern army, and this may be fairly well understood even from the brief reports at present in 'hand. Immediately north of the Carpathians "the 'Russians are closing in upon Delatyn, a railway junction about 20 miles west of Kolomea. Delatyn is important because it commands one of the not very numerous railways passing through the Carpathians from Galicia into Hungary. Ten miles beyond Delatyn another railway runs south to tho mountains, but it stops short on the northern side. The next line actually penetrating the' mountains is sixty, miles west and north of the one which run? south from Delatyn through the Jablonitza Pass, As matters are going with the Austrians it would .probably . be their best policy to retire their southern forces into the Carpathians to defend Hungary from invasion, though - this would involve a westward retirement of the Austro-Ger-man forces further north. As it is, the defeated southern army is being levered away from the mountains, and the flank and communications of the armies further north aro still being laid open, step by step. Tho Austrians certainly seem to be within measurable distance of tho debacle which one correspondent, perhaps running a littlo ahead of actual facts, declares to have already overtaken them. In their present power the ltussians are quite possibly able to continue tneir westward drive through. Galicia, and simultaneously undertake an invasion of Hungary through the passes of the Carpathians. The Austrians can hardly be making adequate provision against a development of this kind, nor, as the campaign is developing, are they likely to lie allowed to do so.

Reports of disorders and demoralisation in the enemy countries must always be read as in a class apart from the official news of campaign developments, but recent reports regarding internal conditions in the Dual Monarchy are so far in harmony with known developments as to roceivo_ in this way a measure of confirmation. To-day for instance tho Budapest correspondent of the Morning Post gives an account of stormy scenes in the; Hungarian Legislature. Apprehensions of an invasion of Transylvania were freely expressed by deputies, together with a demand that provision snould bo made for the defence of tho terri'tory. Voicing this demand the Hun-, garian deputies very probably had ' an apprehensive eye on Rumania as well as on Russia. At all. events, tho Hungarian Premier had no effective reply at hand, and the statement in which he absurdly described the Austro-Hungarian disasters of the past month as "a passing episode," has value only as showing how completely lie was at a loss. No vory confident opinion can to formed as to whether the downfall of the Dual Monarchy is likely to bo hastened by internal disintegration, but Hungary- certainly offers possibilities in that directiori. It is more important, however, that the AustroHungarian forees as a whole are already finding themselves unequal to a strain which is rapidly increasing. Evidence on the point is to be foun:l even in Vienna comvwinques, which are coming to be «x chronicle of letroats, made in face of greatly superior enemy forces, to escape being surrounded, and so forth. Reduced to such a state at this early stage of the summer campaign," the outlook for the Dual Monarchy is as dark; as possible, the more so, of 'course, as Germany has her own hands full both in ea§t and west, and can do little to'sustain her drooping ally.

Russian succcss against tho Austrians, striking as it is, concerns only one section of a mighty enterprise which is expanding with magnificent promise. The increasing disorder of the Austrians will affect tho position throughout the Eastern theatre, and, taking into account the successes lately won in Southern Russia, east of Vilna, and still further north, nothing seems more likely than that the enemy is on tlv* ove of a general retirement. Fear of having his armies outflanked and surrounded will in all likelihood impel the enemy to retreat, but at the same time the relief to be gained in this way is partial. A retreat towards his own frontiers and on the south to the Carpathians will, of course, shorten the enemy's lines of supply, but it is a factor of importance that the effect will be not to shorten, but to lengthen, his fighting front. The opening of the Russian offensive found the Austro-Germans established on practically the shortest possible lino in the Eastern theatre. It could have been shortened by a retirement on East Prussia in the north, but at a cost of laying that province open to invasion. Any extended retirement he may now effect will leave the enemy with a materially longer line to defend th in ai; present, even if no account is taken of the additional length of ' ho Carpathians laid open to Russian attack.