PROGRESS OF THE WAR

Dominion, Volume 9, Issue 2824, 15 July 1916, Page 8

PROGRESS OF THE WAR

Noi long ago Labour organisations in Great Britain were induce;* to postpone until the end of July tho holidays which would normally have been observed at Whitsuntide. • It was. suggested at llvj time that in' procuring the postpoDement the Imperial : Government was taking an easy method of avoiding controversy, and that it anticipated such circumstances arising before the postponed date arrived, as would make any halt in the production of munitions unthinkable. It is now plain that this was what the Government had in mind. With the Allied offensive in full swing, Mr. Asqtjith is able to announce without any beating about tho bush that tho Government proposes to postpone all holidays, not to any specified date, but indefinitely. A few mouths, or even weeks, ago such an announcement would have provoked a storm, of controversy, but with the grand offensive under way it will doubtless be received, as it should be, in a spirit of loyal determination to second .to the utmost in workshops and.war factories the gallant efforts of the armies in the field. Tho Imperial Prime Minister has chosen his moment well for calling upon the'nation'to throw, its' whole, weight into! the; war. The' attack, has been brilliantly begun', and it rests quite as much upon tho army of workers of all degrees as upon the armies iri the field to press jit to'a triumphant'concliision.

Even a lirief stoppage in the war factories would work out in a very serious loss of fighting power. This will be realised from the statement by .Mb, Lloyd George, appearing to-day, in which he tells of tho enormous strides made in the production of war munitions in Great; Britain since last year, ilt is evident from the. particulars he skives, that the retiring Minister of Jtuni-. tions and the great industrial army he has ably organised have hust'.ed ito some purpose. .' ..The', particular's speak for themselves. ' "At the present time, besides turning out-hun-dreds of guns and howitzers evevy. jnonth, the. British factories ore turning out every week twice as,- .much ammunition (apparently up to field-gun shells), and three times the quantity, of hea.vy. shells; .fired in the grand .offensive of September ltet. And even from -this , point production is rapidly increasing'. Mn. Lloyd George speaks also in general terms of the success of French munitions .production. Of this no late details are available, but it is jenown. that-,the production of munitions has-expanded' enormously in .b ranee during the war; in spite of the fact that a great part of the French- coal and iron fields are in enemy occupation. Undoubtedly the Allies .are incomparably better placed- to-day. jtliair '. they were in September last; and no" single factor tends more to ensure their ultimate victory than the success with which they have attacked and solved the problem of munitions production. Mr. Lloyd George is on firm ground when he says tlmt the lesson of the present war is that more munitions means more, victories and fewer , casual ties.'

_ There is no relaxation of tension in tho Western theatre, but reports in hand disclose no noteworthy departure from the general trend that has been in evidence for some time past. It is pretty plain that it rests with. the. Allies to make . the next big move. Meantime, 'though-- -the. Battle of the Somme has 'dgcUncij' to some extent, it is by no means atan end. The British troops-have been,-.-heavily ■ • engaged, and Sir Douglas H.ug reports. that : they have appreciably .advanced at various points.' According to a German report,-. French attacks .south of .the Somme have been defeated with sanguinary loss, but German reports of late have been untrustworthy, : arid there is reason to suspect the latest addition to their number. In their victorious advance the F.rench mastered a series of very strong positions, and it is not at'all likely that they are now wasting men in ineffectual attacks. . The German attack. on the eastern .section of the Verdun, defences seems after all to have -been-an isolated effort. At time/of writing there is no word of its having been followed up, and as it took shape it stopped definitely short of even a local success of any importance. The Germans may .tr'y-again,.-but they have little encouragement to do so.

'Additional light is thrown to-day upon, the prodiqidiis efforts the Germans are making to retrieve the Austrian collapse in.Southern Russia, and. prevent the-Russians reaching Kovel junction, the capture of which , would • be the first step towards. dividing the Austrian and German armies. ; Mn. Hamilton Fyfe, a well-known correspondent, states that he has semi-official information that seven' German army corps lwvc been detached from other fronts to supnort tlv> attempt to stop the Russian southern armies. Four of these corps, it is said, have been transferred from France, arid the rest from the central and northern sections of the Russian front. This is striking news, if true, and means that the Germans are. taking desperate risks. • Tlio Allied' offensive in'the Western theatre is only, beginning, and .this is not a gond time for the enemy to weaken his lines. As to the Russian northern and central fronts, drawing reiiiforcenients from that quarter means denuding a front alreadv too thinly manned, and one which at any moment may witness a general ■battle.

According to the Timrs's military correspondent, the Germans in April last had on their front of over 450 miles from Riga to the. River Pripet, 48 divisions of infantry and ten of cavalry. This means about 1.200,000 men in all, and rather more than half that number of combatants, which would provide on an average 1300 combatants to each mile of front. This is very far from being adequate in areas in which the Russians may at any time attack in strong force. In April, according, to Colonel Rf.pington. the Germans had practically no reserves on this north and central front, and it is rather unlikely that any have, been provided since. The withdrawal of three army, corps would therefore -mean robbing the line of. just about onc-tonth of the already inadcauatc combatant strength allotted to it in April. The presence_ of the transferred corps, or what is left of them, in the south, will, of course, give the Russians a harder task in ..that' quarter. But General Brusiloff's armies, arc still making headway in' the' south, in spite .of-.tho. enemy re-' inforccmcnts, and -the' Russians, .ar.e. not restricted to developing their

offensive only in Southern Russia and Galicia. They have lately been developing increasingly powerful attacks in the vicinity of Baranovitchi junction, north of the Fripct marshes, and Baranovitchi is just about as important to the enemy in relation to the defence .'of his central and northern fronts as Kovel is in tho south. To endanger Baranovitchi for the sake of stiffening tho defence of Kovel is therefore a policy of robbing Peter to pay Paul. It is a fair inference as matters stand that the Russians have tho situation reasonably well in hand in the south, opposite Kovel, .and are facing an increasing'opportunity in the north, opposite Baranovitchi.

The latest official report in hand speaks only of artillery fighting on the Stochod, which would indicate that ■ the violence of the battle has for the moment in some degree abated. Meantime, it is to be romembered that each. succeeding stage of this great battle has terminated iii a marked advance by tyie Russians''towards their' objective. They now nold both banks of the Stochod River, east and north-east of Koyel, for a considerable part of its length. Little moro "than a week ago if they were over the .Stochod. at all it was at one point only, on the line of the Lusk-lvovel railway. The steadily developing success of tho Russian armies is tho more impressi've in view of the costly and desperate efforts—vividly described to-day—which the enemy hasmadO' to bring tliem to a stand.

Not for the first time there are predictions of early revolt in Bulgaria, and it is stated that tho Opposition expects to turn out tho Government within a. we.?.k. This is news'of uncertain value.' There is 'aniple , 'justificat'ibri''for'"a popular uprising- in Bulgaria/ but, • iir a country mobilised -for war and .standing.in. the relation of satellite tp a greater military Power,, a popitfar uprising is not easily con■tfived. «■ | * . . ..*■ ... » _ Several trawlers and fishingsmacks have, been sunk. by. .a Gerixian_ 'submarine 'off Whitby. ) This possibly means that the piratical campaign] is to bo resumed' on''its .former.- lines. ■ .Germaiiy .desisted from, unwarned attacks on-. ..merchantmen .0ut...0f. a . fear that ,to continue' woijld"'mean a, rupture of relations with America. A return to piracy would imply that she now feels so desperate * as., to. . .view., h prospective Dre-ak, with America with comparative indifference. Also, .it ex-pbse- 'the miich-adve-rtised 'trip of tho Deutschland across the Atlantic in its true proportions, as .'i thing of no importance. If Germaiiy forces the issue with America--as sne must do if she resumes the piratical campaign— she will bo unab.U> to trade with that country even-by an occasional submarine.- V ■

According to the New York 'American, the German transAtlmtic submarine carrier will include on its passenger-list two citizens of the United States. 1 Therein lies the cunning of'the Hun'.' Most of the troubles that have afflicted the German Ministry for Foreign' Affairs''"during the war have arisen from difficulties created by the German submarine commanders in. sinking vessels .ca.rrying'xitizens of the (Jrited States, rer contra, .the German Government, no doubt, now perceives a means, of,placing similar v/oiries upon' tbe'shoulders of .the j British Foreign Office: •' If- the Dft'iits'chland carries, citizens o.f •. the ;®iiitecl States,. obviously the..British' wiulMps whith.;Sr6?waiting: fqr .her \viH be faced with a delicate "problem. ...The. return voyage ; ,of • 1 the D'outschland will be distinctly interesting.