PROGRESS OF THE WAR
The position reached in the war could perhaps not be better stated in a few words than in the remark made - in ' one' message to-day that the initiative on all fronts has rested ■ with the Allies since the German' failure'.at Verdun. At first sight'this claim "may seem to take a good deal' for granted, but oil examination it will be found to cover-the facts, with exceptions so unimportant as to be hardly worth mentioning. That tho initiative rests definitely' with' the Allies in both main theatres and in Italy is self-evident. Since their failure at Verdun the Germans in the Western theatre have been fighting under conditions set and determinedby the Allies, and there is not tho slightest reason to believe that- they will ever be able to alter these conditions. It- is eqjially apparent that they have lost freedom of action in tho Russian theatre. Good grounds exist.for believing that their plan was to .maintain a sound defence on the southern section of the Eastern front, and' launch an offensivo towards Petrograd on the nortli. They believed, or at all events nrofessed to believe, that their lino would stand firm against all that the Russians might attempt. As recently as May .-this year, the late Count von- Moltke declared, in an •interview granted, to the Hungarian ■newspaper Avilar/, thatHhc Russians Were unable to assume a gen'cral offensivo, and that the lines of
the Central powers in Russia- could not be breached.. In the- event the Austro-German armies have been broken and rolled back,, and are threatened with' overwhelming disaster, on" the Southern' Russian front, and they have not been able to strike an effective blow in the northern section 'of the Eastern theatre, where, if anywhere, their action would "tell. Though matters are not so_ far advanced, on the Anstro-Italian "frontier's, the.initiative. in .that- theatre also' has 'manifestly, passed from the enemy.- The Austrians staked heavily- upon an attempted invasion of Italy, and the failure of this enterprise gives the Italians full freedom to. concentrate chiefly upon their-main offensive front—the line of the Isonzo— on which the enemy; though strongly .established, fights at "a less pronounced advantage than on' other sections of the. front.'
■ Recent events in- the main' campaigns supply- an overwhelming body of .evidence that, the enemy has completely lost the initiative he exercised, in earlier stages of the war. This.means, in a word, that he must bear up as best he can against .the .blows of the Allies, without hope of regaining that freedom of action and freedom in the choice of -an objective which' enabled him.; to. .employ.. his available force' to , the', best.' advantage/ The progress thus -far- made -by the Allies -is measured, ;not' by the extent of territory they have captured or recovered, _ but by the fact that the enemy is -immobilised and finds himself Compelled to conform to -the pace and movements of the' Allies, and to fight in the place and at the time they select. The desperate; counter-attacks in which the enemy has indulged' so '-frcb'ly in the. Somrne battle, and to which he has now resorted in an attempt to stem the Russian southern offensive, serve only to emphasise the extent to which he is thrown back upon the defensive; and finds his freedom of action restricted. '
It is ..highly' . probable; that by their prodigal .expenditure of lives in counter-attacks, the Germans are sacrificing, tho one great advantage open to armies fighting on. the detensive—that of' inflicting disproportionate .. loss on the ; attacking forces. .The evidence is not in hand which would -make it possible to compare the total Allied and-enemy losses in the Somme battle" from its opening to the present stage, but it.cannot be taken for granted that Allied losses'have exceeded those of the enemy, and tho volume' and frequency of the generally futile German counter.-attacks "have.certainly affected, tho balance, however it may turn in 'the aggregate, materially. in favour -of - the. Allies. It has been contended in general terms that. losses are likely to fall most heavily upon the:side taking the offensive, but the contention is subject to a number of important reservations. A pronounced superiority of artillery, on the side of the offensive may in itself, for instance, serve to reverse the scale of losses. Another condition of a ■ defensive successful in the sense of inflicting more than proportionate loss upon the attacking enemy was brought out prominently during the course of tho struggle at Verdun. There is at least semi-official authority for the statement that the Germans suffered much heavier loss in developing their offensive against Verdun than the French did in resisting their onslaught. But this result was achieved by pursuing tactics in absolute .contrast to those ofv the Germansin.' the .Somm'e battle. .Tho French kept tho balance of losses on the right side by gradually yielding ground, and as a rule avoiding costly counter-attacks, and it is reasonable to suppose that the opposite tactics of the Germans have lccl ito an opposite result.
. There is in any case an ultimate limit, to tho contention that losses are likely to fall most heavily upon tho attacking, armies. It would he absurd to suppose that any such rule applied during lengthy periods of the Russian offensive.. It opened with a most effectiyo anT devastating bombardment-, and in succeeding stages enemy prisoners were herded in by the ten thousand. We ifiay be quite certain that th.s total Russian losses since the offensive opened have been very considerably less, than those of the enemy. Tho position in the Western theatre is not as clearly defined; but although the totals of Allied and German losses arc. not known, it .follows inevitably from the tactics they are' pursuing that the losses of-the Germans are very much higher than would bo suffered if. they were free to . practise -the same economical tactics as the French did at Verdun. The enemy's choice of tactics is, cif course, dominated by the fact that he is not free to relinquish ground with the same equanimity as the French did in their defence of the famous fortress lines. The Germans are wasting-thousands of-lives in vain efforts to roll back' the Alliedoffensive, not as a matter of choice, but because the progressive penetration of -their front exposes them to on increasing risk of even worse disasters. The Germans, -it is plain, arc already paying the penalty that is involved in loss of the initiative, though they" are. far from, having paid, it in full. ... ...
• What loss, of initiative -means to the enemy will only appear in full pleasure when the: Allies have set their forces in motion in'the Balkans, as well as in the main theatres and the .Middle East. There is not yet any definite news of .events on the .Salonika, front, but manifestly it rests with' the 'Allies to make, -the next move., He.re, as. elsewhere, the enemy is condemned to-plajfla -defensive part,, conforming to such action as the Allies may t ; ak6/
Measured by' their results, French attacks at Verdun have how tained_..an_ importance which lift's them definitely out of the category o'f. the intermittent fighting which has been-in progress on-that front "during the last few weeks. The later attacks have gained the village of F-leury. and some neighbouring ■ground, making in all no inconsiderable part of the wedge which tho Germans thrust into the French lines cast of the Meuse in the last big effort of their offensive. ' Since Tuesday, 1750. unwounded Germans have been taken prisoner on the east bank of the Mouse. It is eviclent that times' have changed at' Verdun, but how far the French intend' to develop their -present operations remains to be seen. | Apart from these developments at '■ Yercliiir, 'not much- news of events in the land "war'is in hand'at the moment of 'writing.' Only minor and routine, operations are reported oil ■ the ' Somme front, and official ■news from Eussia is confined to the statement- 'that' desperate■- fighting
continues 011. the. Stochod. line, in Southern-, Russia, In Armenia, the Russians- report an advance towards Diarbekir, on the" Upper Tigris, and the capture of many prisoners. This may mean that important developments are in progress. Allied warships have bombarded Turkish positions on a,-section of the Asia Minor coast, And landed a-detach-ment t-o further the-'work of destruction. The place-names given cannot be located (n available maps, but the affair is possibly one "of a series of raids intended to scatter and disconcert the alrsady -burdened Ottoman forces.
Most of the recent messages dealing with the German submarine campaign have thrown little light upon the methods pursued by. the underwater ..pirates, but to-day an outrage of the'very-worst type is reported. Survivors from the It-al-. ian mail steamer Letimbro have reached Malta with accounts of the destruction of the ship by an enemy submarine,-and-.-the murder of many of her'passengers and crew by.gunfire. Tho Letimbro carried 113 passengers, including " wotnen and children, and not only.. was' tho ship shelled—apparently without being given a-chance to surrender— but her boats were shelled as they were being lowered, and five were smashed. Thus far ony. .28 survivors are accounted for out of a total complement of 170 in passengers and crew.. To the Allies this is another atrocious crime to be set' down to Germany's * account for a future -reckoning, but it is possible that the outrage has a.- 'momentous interest for America as well ' as for the Allies. When President Wilson carried his controversy -with Germany . to something like-a .settlement it was by presenting-a -demand that Germany should forthwith abandon her ruling methods of submarine warfare against passenger and freightcarrying vessels, on pain of a severance'of diplomatic relations.' Germany agreed that in future her sub-., marine warfare against merchant vessels would be conducted in the same manner as if the submarines were cruisers. Her accompanying request .that in return,for. tlio "concession,". America should make.fresb effort to induce England to modify' her blockado' of Germainy was answered by a, very plain intimation from the American - Government- that respect by .the German, naval authorities for the rights of American citizens' on the high sea's was in ho way -contingent-.upon the conduct of any other Government as affecting neutral .rights..., If President .Wilson'intends to'stand iip to this position the Letimbro outrage "should make him ready to force the issue with Germany. It is not reported, at-time''of writing,, whether there were ..any. Americans aboard tho Letimbro,. but the American Note which has been quoted in substance demanded an abandonment of tho methods of submarine warfare which have now in the most flagrant, fashion been revived. Even if the United. States Government ■takes the matter up, however,, there, will no cloubt be controversy and "delay. We may expect a denial 'from .Germany that the guilty sub-marine-flew her flag, and it'is even possible that an attempt may be made, as was done, at least once before, to. fasten the crime upon the Turks.
Permanent link to this item
Hononga pūmau ki tēnei tūemi
https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/DOM19160805.2.39
Bibliographic details
Ngā taipitopito pukapuka
Dominion, Volume 9, Issue 2842, 5 August 1916, Page 8
Word count
Tapeke kupu
1,819PROGRESS OF THE WAR Dominion, Volume 9, Issue 2842, 5 August 1916, Page 8
Using this item
Te whakamahi i tēnei tūemi
Stuff Ltd is the copyright owner for the Dominion. You can reproduce in-copyright material from this newspaper for non-commercial use under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International licence (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0). This newspaper is not available for commercial use without the consent of Stuff Ltd. For advice on reproduction of out-of-copyright material from this newspaper, please refer to the Copyright guide.