PROGRESS OF THE WAR

Dominion, Volume 10, Issue 2897, 9 October 1916, Page 6

PROGRESS OF THE WAR

After being hindered for some j flays by bad weather, the Western Allies have struck another blow in development of their offensive, and one which seems to have been splendidly effective. It has certainly resulted in notable gains. The British attacked on a front of about five milos, from the Albert-Bapaume road to Lesboeufs; the Frcnch, on a slightly longer front, extending south and east, astride and beyond the Bapaurae-Peronne road. The British advanced from 600 to a thousand yards. One outstanding feature of their achievement is the capture of the village of Lo Sars, which stands on Alberfc-Bag.aumo road, three miles distant from the latter place. Le Sars has been described as very strongly fortified, and it is one of the last defences covering a main road approach to Bapaume. In addition the British have penetrated or very closely approached the German fourth-line defences south-oast of Bapaume. These are established, as Sik Douglas Haig stated the other-day, on a low ridge west of the Bapaume-Peronne road. Prom Gueudecourt to Lesboeufs, the British were only about a mile and three-quarters distant from this road prior to their latest attack, and they must now bo very close to the last enemy defences oovering it. * * # *

Advancing their line more than twelve hundred yards, tho Frcnch have gained a foothold on high ground extending across the Ba-paume-Peronnerroard r and they are now well to the eastward of this highway for a distance of more than three miles. At the same timo they are breaking ifitothe flank of the defences confronting. their allies further north. # „ Instructive evidcnco as' £o the failuro of the German war .machine under the tost to which it is now subjected ,is containod in tho captured report by an enemy general whioh appears to-day, but still more positive evidence on the same point will be found in. tho Press Bureau communication dealing with the subject of relative losses. This puts it beyond all doubt that tho Germans,, though still fighting on a great part of their front in long-prepared fortified positions, aro suffering very much heavier losses than the attacking armies. , In tho fighting at for instance, for every thrco British casualties of all kinds two German prisoners were taken. This, of course, means that tho total German losses greatly exceeded those of tho British, and Thiepval, it will be remembered, -,_was one of the strongest positions in tho Gorman line. It was still a formidable stronghold even after it had been outflanked'and enclosed in a salient. Considering that at many points on the offensivo front tho Allies now hold a pronounced advantage of position, it cannot reasonably be doubted that tho balance of losses turns disastrously against the enemy.

Something of mystery still attaches to tho abandonment by the Rumanians of the position they had wod on the south bank of tho Danube, in read of the Bulgar-Ger-man army in the Dobruja. The matter is touched upon in a number of messages to-day, but nothing in hand at time of writing affords any really clear explanation of the facts. Tho mystery is .mado all the greater bya.Romo report; which states that the Rumanians who crossed the Danube retired without a single loss. It is thus suggested that they relinquished voluntarily and under no_ very serious pressure a vantage? point from which they threatened the enemy's communications, and rnifjhfc have attacked him in rear. This is not easy to believe, even with the added statement that the troops who crossed the river destroyed many Bulgarian depots of provisions. The German version is that portion only of tho troops 1 who made thc crossing retired across tho river, and that the fled _ eastward. This again raises difficulties. If the Rumanians had an open line of retreat to the eastward it can only have been because the enemy had withdrawn his threatened flank westward of the point at which the crossing was effected, and in that event he would have had to deal not only with the detached force which crossed the river, but with the Rumanian main body, on the line extending across the Dobruja. The total effect of the. news in hand is to leave the position in doubt. Bucharest messages, which, state that von Mackbnsen delivered a series of counter-attacks to prevent . his Hanks being turned, lend some colour to the idea- that the Rumanians have suffered a reverse, but this is not definitely established. _ The Allied offensive' in the Dobruja, at all events, is still being- pressed, and. though the position of affairs in tho region of the Danube is at the moment uncertain, tho Russians report some progress at the eastern end of the front, where it extends to the Black Sea coast. Availablo reports make no mention of tho Rumanians having crossed the Danube at Rahova, in Western Bulgaria, and it, therefore, seems unlikoly that any crossing has yet been mado in that region.

Heavy fighting is reported along a great part ' of the Transylvanian front, and it is admitted that in places the Rumanians have retired to some extent before the enemy's onslaught. The German claim that hundreds of Rumanians have been taken prisoner and 28 field guns captured is neither confirmed nor denied in Allied reports at time of writing. There is nothing in the news, however, to suggest that any serious position has arisen- The enemy has not had a monopoly of attack, for one of tho latest Bucharest commwviy ues in hand states that enemy positions in the Paraid region have been captured after three days of stubborn fighting. Paraid is in Northern Transylvania, more than forty miles west of the Rumanian frontier, and about twenty miles west of the Hungarian strategic railway which runs at varying distances | opposite the frontier. ' Reports as they stand hardly bear out tho suggestion made in one message at the end of last week that the Rumanians are developing a new offensive in Transylvania, but are consistent with the idea that they are content meantime to fight a holding campaign in this region. Having that intention, and in a campaign which opened only a little over a month ago, it is natural that there should be some give-and-take fighting for a time. At a general view, CKe Rumanians seem to have a good margin to come and go upon, not only in safeguarding their frontier, but in effectively commanding tho strategic railway mentioned, the free use of which would, of couvbc, be a great convonienoe to the enemy in rapidly, moving troop.a from point to

point. As matters stand, the Ru-1 manians have advanced well beyond the railway in the north, and they are astride it also in the Brasso region, in South-Eastern Transylvania. It is in the intervening area of Eastern Transylvania that the Germans claim to have driven the Rumanians back across the River Alt, the courso of which roughly coincides with the lino of the railway. Buteven if Tie has done all that he claims, the enemy is necessarily seriously hampered and "limited by the cutting of the railway —north and south of the region in which he is attaching—and the Rumanians, whore they do not hold the railway, aro in possession of strong mountain positions. They have this last advantage also in the 'Fogaras region, considerably wests of Brasso, where the enemy has also made some headway, and where his railway communications have not been invaded to the same extent as further north.

In Macedonia the Allies are extending their offensive, but no sensational events are yet reported. A message published on Saturday' stated that the Allied advanced droops wero passing the River Cerna, [which crosses the line of advance on Moriastir, but the announcement seems to have been premature* Current reports suggest that tho Buigars are defending the Cerna. It is very possible, of course, that their defence will be quickly broken here, as it was some miles further south. The British on their front on and ooyond tho Struma, facing into Eastern Macedonia, are making continued headway. They have now captured half a dozen villages north and south of the long Lako Tahinos, which covers a great part of the front, and on the north'they have very closely approached a railway the uninterrupted use of which is extremely important to the enemy. Notmuch Ms been heard of the Italians on tho Macedonian front during the last week or two, but it is reported to-day that they are attacking in the region of Lake Butkova, wElch lies opposite the Bulgarian frontior, west of tho Struma!

■ Predictions, even when they carry semi-official authority, are to be received as a rule with cantion, but the Petrograd semi-official message which remarks that there is hope of a decisive success in tho Balkans at an early date, seems to havo excellent prospects of being justified by events. As information stands and as events are going in the main theatres, it is impossible to believe that tho enemy , is in a position to send any considerable body of reinforcements into the Balkans, and his forces at present in the Peninsula—chiefly the Bulgarian armyarc already, outweighted and outfought, though tho Allies have not yet oy any means brought their full strength to bear. The wide distribution of the Bulgarians of necessity makes them vulnerable to a powerful attack, and there is every reason to believe that when the blow falls their resistance will bo speedily broken. That accomplished, the subjugation, of Turkey would bo in all the nearer prospect, for the fact that Turkish troops have been withdrawn from their own country to i stiffen the Austro-Gorrqan lines iu the main Eastern theatre. Turkey is at present suffering new defeats at the hands of the Russian army in Armenia.lsolated from Germany, she might perhaps bo induccd to abandon,; a hopeless struggle. 1