PROGRESS OF THE WAR
Evidently the German war lords are finding, that.the'trick of setting' up this or that general as an idol for popular worship is no longer effective. Long-continued and laborious efforts hive been' made to ■ get the home and foreign population to regard men like vox Hindenburg and von Mackensen as invincible demigods, _ but there arc limits to the. gullibility even of the-German public,.'and it is beginning to find that its idols have feet of clay. Indeed, very possibly _ the educative effect of the developing Allied offensive- has 1 gone considerably beyond this point. At all events the German magnates upon whom the task devolves of cozening -arid deluding-the •■ people they are leading to destruction are finding it necessary to draw new tricks from their store. Instead of blazoning tho Somme battleground with the once magic names of vox Hindenburg or von Mackensen, they are guarding as a deep, dark secret the name of their commander detailed to oppose the Allied offensive. " No one is likely to waste much effort in speculating as to the identity of this man of mystery. It is plain enough that the Germans have little" eonfide'neoin tho inspiring force of his name, and meantime their own valuation of their anonymous ■ commander may be allowed to stand. Certainly there is' nothing in the events of the battlo to, suggest. . that they are 'hiding the identity of a military genius. Tho only, other -remark for which the matter calls is. that it is a striking- indication of the point to which Germany has fallen that her suprerne_ authorities are reduced to conjuring devices which would find their natural setting in tho side attractions of a waxworks show.
figure in the news to-day. "I hope the British offensive will continue," he is made to say. "I have several hamlets which 1. would gladly sacrifice for the loss of twenty thousand British ea-ch." There is a certain ingenuity in this statement of-the position, but it will impress only those'who are cot acquainted with the. position reached in .the. battle. We do not know what the ■measure of progress they have made has cost the Allies, but we do know that the positions out of which the enemy has been driven do not consist of comparatively unimportant hamlets, but of a very large proportion of the enemy's most formidable defences on a vital tection of front. Covering much less ground than they have already won, the Allies will drive the enemy into weake-v. positions than ho' now; holds—positions that- are- weaker-because they are much less advantageously sited and havo been hastily improvised instead of being laboriously constructed and perfected over a long period. The suggestion.of the Ger-. man contoander that his troops are selling non-essential ground |at.. a heavy price in lives, as the French did at Verdun, is certainly not in accordance with the facts. The truth is that the Germans, because they are being driven out of immensely strong positions into much weaker positions, are fighting in the near prospect of disaster. The facts of the case will only become fully apparent in the later: stages of the battle. A partial butinstructive test is possible now. Let us contrast with the professions of. the German commander his actual policy, as it appears in the events of the battle. "Sir Douglas Haig reports that on Wednesday night and Thursday morning the enemy made most determined' counterattacks upon the ground lately won by British troops in the area, northwest of Pozieres—the area in which, according to-a recent German official report, the British-have-been making fruitless attacks. Determined as were the enemy counter-attacks they completely failed; Six times the German infantry swept forward and as often the attacking lines were shattered by gunfire, and the survivors put. to flight. The British lines were not once entered at any point. It is hardly necessary to : observe that in these disastrous attacks the Germans incurred a huge sacrifice of lives, and have as little as possible to. show for it. ■ These are "not the tactics of an. enemy who is Conducting an advantageous sale of non-essential hamlets._ They have every appearance of being the, tactics of an enemy who is fighting for daar life in crumbling defences which cannot bo expected to stand much longer the terrific strain to •which they are subjected. It will only bo possible to compare Allied and' enemy losses _ in this battle when'' figures "now withheld are published, but the magnitude of the Allied success, sufficiently attested in any" case, ; is heavily emphasised by the constant repetition of enemy counter-attacks and the reckless disregard of cost -with which the'y have been pressed in spito of almost invariable failure. ; Theso desperate efforts to recover what, he has lost tend, of .course, to turn the balance of. losses. against"'' the enemy. It is only in the latest Btages of the battlo that the counterattacks have to' a great extent declined. The enemy's efforts . northwest of Pozieres mark a-revival,.but it is a revival indicative of desperation. On - 'the': front further-s"ovrtn,' where the German defences have' been most recently penetrated—and that in movements which threaten to turn remaining strong sectionsof the line—visible indications point to the heavy depletion of the enI envy's resources. The. French, who took the main- part, in the attacks north and south of-' tho Sommo which were reported yesterday, are consolidating their new position's'to the accompaniment of a vigorous' artillery combat, but' there is nothing at present to show that the enemy is counter-attacking hero with the unavailing vigour ho displayed north-west of Pozieres. " Evidently it is in the latter areathat the enemy feels himself most dangerously threatened, and the reason is fairly ' plain. Advancing north-west'of 'Pozieres"the British are closing in upon the eastern flank of- Thiepval, a stronghold to which they are already close on "west" and south, and possession of Thiepval would give them., practically''full command. - of; ■ a • plateau..-. which not long-ago stretched as a formidable obstacle-right across"their' line of advance; with the enemy established in elaborately"'organised arid dominating positions, most of which tie has now lost. Little change is reported, in' the Italian offensive.campaign, but the very notable ah'hounceihent-is made that Italy is.' taking drastic measures for.the suppression of .trade not only with the countries with whom, sheis at. w.ar,-but:with- their • Allies.--It is veryi probable that thiY-is'a preliminary step towards war between Italy and Gerriiariy," a development which would enable Italy to work in . even closer • co-ordination with her Allies than at present. Complex commercial relations between the two countries have hitherto acted as a .deterrent-upon Italy, but she is. undoubtedly consulting her: larger interests in the step now reported.. : The terms, of the ,-,announcement seem- .to' leave no- room for doubt-as to-the drastic and comprehensive r character '.of the new measures. They will, of course, chiefly affect Gerriiany," and it is'not unlikely that she will'' save Italy the trouble of'declaring, war.. ' ■ News from the Balkans, is of a character'to suggest' that, a • full blaze of .conflict may ;break. out at any time.' .Up to .the present no really big - engagement has been' fought, but the Allies evidently are in position for attack, and have made some progress of a preliminary and tentative character. According to a Reuter message, which may no doubt be accepted as reliable, the French have turned the enemy out of his positions south of Lako Doiran, a few miles cast, of the Vardar, and. : are. now. .-established well inside Serbian territory. This is the only definite news in hand at the moment. An Athens telegram alleges that the French have occupied two villages in the region of Velos, but this entirely lacks con: firmation. Voles is 60 miles up the Vardar from the Serbo-Greek frontier, and at time of writing there is nothing to show that the Allies are more than a mile or two across this frontier. Though tho attack on the frontier defences in which the enemy is established is not yet at a very advanced stage, there is-pretty-, plain evidence "that tho- 'Allies have: now made all■'things ready for the 'offensive which
may be expected before long to determine- the fate of the Balkans. j Capturing the enemy positions in the Doiran region must have involved fighting of serious importance, though it was not upon the greatest scale, and the Allies could not well have undertaken such an attack without being firmly established'along the line of the Serbian' and Bulgarian frontiers east and west of the Vardar. The successful attack in the Doiran sector is important enough to mark a definite advance from the stage in which only patrol encounters took place in the area between the Salonika-lines and the Serbo-Greek frontiers. While further developments are awaited, it is to be remembered that the natural policy of the Allies will be to awaken uncertainty in the enemy's mind as to the particular section of frontier against which' they will develop their main" attack:' There is little news from the Eastern theatre, but the presentation for a second time of a blank sheet in lieu.of the customary Etesian communique is. calculated to stimulate, rather-than still, expectancy. We may be tolerably certain that even greater developments are brewing than have lately ken witnessed on the Eastern front.
Permanent link to this item
Hononga pūmau ki tēnei tūemi
https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/DOM19160819.2.31
Bibliographic details
Ngā taipitopito pukapuka
Dominion, Volume 9, Issue 2854, 19 August 1916, Page 8
Word count
Tapeke kupu
1,539PROGRESS OF THE WAR Dominion, Volume 9, Issue 2854, 19 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.