PROGRESS OF THE WAR

Dominion, Volume 9, Issue 2852, 17 August 1916, Page 4

PROGRESS OF THE WAR

The Russians are still pressing hard upon the enemy armies, which arc retreating in the direction of Lemberg, but the item of chief interest to-day, so far as tho Easteru. campaign is concerned, is a movement in the south, which immediately threatens the Jablonitza Pass, and possibly portends an invasion of Hungary. Tho Russians have captured tho town of Jablonitza, immediately north of the pass, and as reports stand are still advancing. The importance of the latest move is ail the greater, since the Carpathians are penetrated, near Jablonitza„ by a railway which links the Galician system with that of Hungary.. -At an earlier stago of the war th& Russians had to gain a much moro extended foothold on tho lino of tho Carpathians before attempting an invasion of Hungary. But in their present strength, relatively to the enemy, on the southern front, and with Rumania hovering on the brink of decision, tho circumstances are considerably altered.

ArART from this development in the Russian campaign no extraordinary event in any of the principal theatres is reported at time of writing. The Italians arc still making good headway on the Isorizo line, and reports from the Western theatre indicate a situation broadly unchanged.

A most impressive account of the progress made in the production of munitions in Great Britain is given by Lord Montagu of Beaulieu, who recently succeeded Mr. Lloyd George in the office of Minister of Munitions. It is an accepted fact that no combatant country in a war like tho present can be too well provided with munitions, but the Minister's statement brings out very clearly the absolute contrast between the conditions which ruled at tho outbreak of war and those which obtain to-day in regard to munitions supply. In 19U the British war factories were not eve'a able to supply in any adequate measure the material needs of an army of half a dozen divisions. Today, with a great offensive in progress, before which the enemy's strongest defences are crumbling, the weekly output of munitions is keeping pace with the rate of consumption. There is no n'.ed to traverse in detail the particulars supplied by the Minister of Munitions. They tell their own _ tale, and show in a word that Britain, already largely independent of foreign supplies, is in a fair wty to become completely independent of outside aid, not only in meeting the exacting demands of the wsr where her own armies are concerned, but in very largely assisting her Allies. * $ * * • The achievement of Franco in tic department of munitions production is in sdmc respccts even More wonderful than that of Great Britain. France, it is true, entered tho war with an army on the Continental scale, but her military authorities had hopelessly underestimated the quantities of munitions that would be required, and in labouring to make the shortage good she was terribly limited and hampered by the fact that her territory occupied by tho enemy contained the mines from which had been drawn three-quarters of her coal supplies and four-fifths of her output of iron. Theso proportions aro stated by a member of tho French Ministry of Munitions (Professor L. Levy Brtfhl) in an article published in the Nineteenth Century. In spite of the terriblo handicap resulting from the' loss of mines and the serious problems of iinancc and industrial organisation which had to _ bo overcome, the French production of munitions has increased to a phenomenal extent. At tho end of March; 1910, according to Professor Levy Brum,, the French factories were manufacturing 08 times as many 'machine-guns as at tho beginning of August, 19M, and !2;V7 t.imesas many rifles. Tho French factories aro turning out 25 times mora oxplosives than in

August, 1914, and not a _ single French shell is chargcd with imported explosives. Up to tho end of March the production of empty field-gun shells had been increased 35 times, and this proportion has since greatly increased. The production of field guns themselves— tho famous "seventy-fives''—has been increased twenty-fivefold since the war began, and there has been an even greater increase in tho production of heavy artillery.

As regards both France and Britain, tho munitions problem seems to be now not so much one of satisfying urgent needs as of achieving the greatest possible superiority over tho enemy. Some statements have indeed been made quite recently to the effect that the enemy still has a preponderance in heavy artillery. But as regards tho Western theatre, at least, these assertions find no support either in tho events of the war or in definite evidence of any other kind. It is very possible that the enomy is better supplied with heavy artillery in the Eastern theatre than are the Russians, but if ho is his advantage in this particular has not enabled him to avert disastrous defeats. Russia is certainly infinitely better provided now with artillery and munitions of all kinds than in the past stages of the war, and her position, as a result of her own efforts and •the assistance of her Allies, is steadily improving. Though she ha 3 imported largely from America and Japan, and has drawn somo supplies from France and Britain, Russia is not by any means wholly dependent upon outsjde supplies. Her own war industries aro developping apace, and'tit is said that the increase in the output of munitions from tho Russian factories cxcccds the most sanguine anticipations. On this subject Dr. E. J. Dillon wrote rccontly in the Fortnightly Review:

If X may judge by the data communicated to mo by influential friends in Petrogmd and Moscow, the Hussion Army has at last emerged from the munitions ordeal, and is thoroughly reorganised. It was a matter of common knowledge that strenuous exertions wero being made to supply it with heavy guns, explosives, and all tho other necessarios of latter-day warfare, and that the most serious difficulty encountered was one of transport. That Ims now been largely surmounted by the creation of extensive • munition works fitted with plant of the newest type, and worked by skilled hands.

It is only too well known that Britain has paid in lives for her neglect of preparation beforo the war, but a statement by Mr. Lloyd George indicates that sonic part of the penalty has been levied in ways that, would hardly have boen suspected. Ho revealed tho fact, it is reported, that at tho Battlo of Loos so many high explosive shells exploded prematurely that the firing of' these projectiles had to bo discontinued. This means, of course, that tho shells, instead of_ reaching tho enemy, exploded in flight, and presumably inflicted casualties upon the British troops for whom they were intended to clcar a way. Where responsibility rests for tho supply of defective shells, if indeed it rests upon any individuals, does not as yet appear. Possibly tho dcfects were an inevitable result of the haste with which war industries had to be improvised. It is clear, at all events, that' in this matter as in ipthers experience was bought at a bitter prioo. Tho one satisfactory feature in tho statement of tho Secretary for War is his assurance that tho number of defective shells now 'ptoduced is negligible.

A correspondent inquires regarding the line on which the present Western offensive opened on July 1. Sunning south from a point Just west of Gommeeourt, the line passed about half a mile cast of Hebuterne, a rather greater distanco west of Serro, and half a milo west of JSoaumont-Hamel. It crossed the Ancre opposite the village of Hamcl, and ran about half a milo west of Thiepval, and a shorter distance west of Ovillers-la-Boiselle, La Boiselle, and Fricourt. Turning south-east, south of Fricourt, it ran by way of Carnoy to a point south of Maricourt, and then south to the Somme, a few hundred yards west of Ourlu. South of the river the lino struck south and slightly west, passing!just west of Dompierro and Fay, about a mile and a half west of Estrees, and a few hundred yards west of Vermandovillers.