PROGRESS OP THE WAIt

Dominion, Volume 9, Issue 2877, 15 September 1916, Page 4

PROGRESS OP THE WAIt

Mr. Bonar_ Law's remark that the war is going well finds nowhere better justification than in regard to tho great struggle on the Somme front which is neariug the end of its eleventh week. The Allied offensive is unmistakably prospering well, and lato developments carry a suggestion that the fact may before long be even more positively attested than it is at the present moment. Over tho wholo period sinco their assault opened the progress of the Allies has been slow, and tho methodical fashion in which they are pushing forward stago by stage is as far as possible from warranting an expectation of sensational events. At the same time it is impossible to ignore certain features in the position reached which suggest that tho rato of progress hitherto attained may at any time now be very greatly accelerated. _ The latest French advance, which has seriously outflanked Combles and all but outflanked jPeronnc, is remarkable for its extraordinary speed, and very possibly marks the opening of an entirely new phase in tho offensive. In a battle of a few hours tho enemy was dislodged from ' positions he must needs regard as vital, and the stability of his line has sinco been further endangered by the French capture of the village of Bouohaveßnes (about midway between Combles and Peronne), and ah area to the south-east. The rapidity of the French advance is described as unprecedented since trench warfare began, and this is a condition of affairs charged with significance when it is remembered that immediately to tho westward of the area of their most recent conquest tho French were constrained to advance slowly and by stages against most jiowerful and determined opposition.

Two possible explanations aro available of tho marked change that is manifest in the conditions of the battle. One is that _ the French achieved an unprecedented advance by an altogether extraordinary effort, and at an extraordinary sacriand tho other is th'at on this section of the • front tho Germans have been completely driven out of their best and strongest defences, and thrown back upon weaker positions in roar. The last is

clearly much the more probablo explanation of the two., There is 110 reason to suppose that the French faced a needlessly heavy sacrifice and departed from the methods to which the Allies have consistently adhered for the sake of hastening a single stage of the offensive. No other explanation is therefore available of the unprecedented speed of the French advance than ihat tho Germans are reduced to defending positions less elaborately prepared and generally weaker in resisting power than those in which they have hitherto received tho Allied assaults.

The suggestion may bo made that tho Frcnoh advance though extraordinarily rapid, 13 <1 detail and isolated incident in the offensive, not important enough to afford a basis for any general conclusion. But such a.theory will hardly bear examination. In its effect upon the situation of the enemy at Combles and Peronno, in its invasion of his lateral communications, and not least as it tends to pave the way for an extension of the British hold on tho ridge south of Bapaume, tho French thrust has unquestionably achieved results of high strategical importance. Any doubt upon tho point should be resolved by the nature of the enemy counter-attacks now reported. His lesisfcance to the Frcnch advance was weaker than on many past occasions, but his efforts to win back the lost positions, though they ultimately, failed, seems to havo been of a most desperate and determined character. Suggestive evidence that the French have probably. penetrated the strongest German defences on some miles of front north of the Sommo does not imply, 1 of course, that a battle in the open is in immediate prospect. However thin tho remaining defensive crust on this section of the front may bo, the breach is still much too narrow to become tho gateway for a great forward drive. But, with othei facts, now in sight, the state 'of affairs disclosed on the front north from tho Sommo indicates that the Allies havo gained a position which will enable them to enormously increase the strain upon tho enemy, and make a given effort toll with heavier effect, as they widen the breach' to practicable dimensions.

On tho northern section of tho front, tho British aro now so placed .that tho oapturo of Thiopval, in tho angle of tho new lino and tho old, and a limited advance. immediately. north of Ginchy and east and south-east of that place, will given thorn a splendidly advantageous position from which to drive northward towards Bapaumo. If in adition tho French have broken through the strongest German defences further south, and aro now faced by weaker positions, tho prospects of rapidly accelerating the process of creating a practicable breach aro obviously good. The depth of tho German defences on tho Somme, tho extent to which ono fortified lino is backed by another, has' all along been a matter largely of speculation, except, of course, to the Allied commanders, who are accurately informed on the subject, as a. result of aerial rcconnaissancc. The indications now given of a weakening defence aro 011 this account doubly interesting. It is known that tho enemy lines consisted ' of at least three systems of trenches and field works, each of them a complex maze, including a number of successive but 110 accurate information is available as to what supplementary defences tho Germans have constructed in rear of their third line. It is probably a reasonable assumption, however, that when the battlo opened the oackbone at least of the German defence was concentrated in. the three sucoessivc systems, the location of which is by this time pretty definitely knpwn. On tho northern part of the offensive front the enemy's third line includes tho village of I Martinpuich, and extends almost '"duo cast from that placc until it iturns south-east well to the castward of Delville Wood. An approxi--1 mate sketch of the position of tho ! third lffie further south was given ! recently by the well-informed military correspondent of the Manchester Guardian, Ho shows tho line running by way of Combles almost directly to l'eronne. Considering that the Frcnch arc now two miles east of Combles, it seems a reasonable assumption that they, have at the least completely mastered the German third-lino defences on a short front cast and south of Combles, and possibly broken right through to an attack on such further positions as may exist in roar.

The curtain has not yet lifted upon the Balkan campaign, and it scorns likely that news is lagging ijehind events. At time of writing no material addition is made to the reports published yesterday which dealt with the opening of the Allied offensive in Greece, but there is no reason to doubt that the offensive is under way. A brief Italian message discloses the interesting fact that Italian troops aro operating on the northern Greek frontier . west of Lake Butkova, about midway between the Vardar and the Struma. As to the position further north the Bulgarians are said to be retreating in the eastern part of the Dobruja, towards the coast, and the Rumanians have made some further progress in Transylvania. As a whole, however, available reports disclose no such big developments in the south-eastern theatre as it inay be expected soon to witness.