PROGRESS OF THE WAR

Dominion, Volume 10, Issue 2908, 21 October 1916, Page 8

PROGRESS OF THE WAR

A call has reached Australia from the battlefield to which only one response should be possible. The Australian divisions in France havo done splendid work in the grand offensive, along with their British and oversea comrades, but the tide of reinforcements which should have been assured has not .been maintained; the divisions are far below strength and drafts are not arriving in sufficient numbers to fill their depleted ranks. In reporting these facts to the Commonwealth Prime Minister, Sin Douglas Haiq has surely supplied the last argument needed to ensure an overwhelming 'vote for conscription in the forthcoming referendum. The people of Australia are called upon to choose between basely desertingi _ the soldiers who have covered the name of Australia with glory or finding reinforcements in adequate numbers by,the only method that offers.- It is to be hoped that New Zealand will never lay itself open to 'such an appeal as Sir. Douglas Haig has addressed to tho Prime Minister of the Commonwealth. Thus far voluntary enlistment'has sufficed to fill the regular drafts, though of late the reserve which formerly existed over and above these drafts has been drawn upon to exhaustion, or nearly so. The authorities owe it equally to New Zealand and to the division in the field to see that an ample tide of reinforcements is maintained and fortunately there is no reason to doubt that the ample powers with which they are invested to this end will be exercised.

More suggestions are- advanced to-day that a decisive conflict may very soon be witnessed on the Russian front. The best time of the year for campaigning in Eastern Europe has already passed, but this does not necessarily mean that current statements about a tremendous battle impending are unfounded. Winter has not always been a ti'mo of stalemate-'.on : tho Russian front. One outstanding example to the contrary is tho great battle fougnt west of Warsaw in December, 1914, and it will be remembered that tho Russians _ conducted , a successful, though limited, .offensive in Gali-cia.-iri' the- opening of-tho present; year.-.; The--broad linos-of the situation now obtaining in the Eastcm theatre- are tolerably well known. It is on tho southern front that there is tho most obvious likelihood of big events. In Southern Russia, tho enemy is so placed east of Kovel. that one big. defeat might cost- him--that vital junction and result in- the effectual separation 'of the German -and. Austrian armies. The- attack towards Vladimir Volynski, in ■ whiab the Russians are reported to-day to have made progress, threatens a turning movement against tho Kovel defences on the south. The lines covering Lemberg in the east are also threatened !n flank both-on the north and in the south at Halicz.' For weeks past General Bkusiloff has made little forward progress, but he has maintained an unceasing pressure upon the Austro-Germans which has done much to limit their activities elsewhere. It is not by any means impossible that ho contemplates another forward drive, which, in addition to its immediate results, might exert a potent influence upon events in ; the eastern theatre.

A map of Bumania. is. published, on another page on -which.- the lead- : 'ihg movements of the'eampaign now developing " bia;-' ; the..Transylvanian frontier . may be: readily-followed. The. principal .passes! and the railways are_ clearly shown. The whole frontier-is traversed ; by-. a mountain chain, the . Carpathians -.extending along the western fringe of Moldavia, while Wall'achia is bounded on the north by. .the Transylvanian Alps. Generally speaking the mountains on the Hungarian side present a profile of abrupt, cliffs, while facing into Rumania .there are gentler slopes, covered by woods and abounding.in reasonably easy roads and paths. The enemy, it will be noted, has an advantage in the numerous railways, running parallel with the frontier and admitting easy- transport pf troops from point to. .point.. .Practically everywhere the country retains its mountainons character for a considerable distance on either side of the frontier. From every, point of view the Predeal Pass, south of Brasso, is the most. .important: gateway through the frontier. Brasso is the fortified key of_ Transylvania and the railway which runs through the Predeal Pass from Brasso is in direct touch with the heart of the llumanian system. The •penetration of the Predeal Pass by the enemy would be a serious matter for the Rumanians, but the mountain frontier south of"Brasso . abounds in good defensive positions and the latest report in hand relating to this section of the campaign states that the enemy has been driven beyond the frontier. The Gyimcs Pass, through which the enemy has broken into Moldavia, is of secondary importance and will hardly serve for the purposes of a main attack. Tbere arc other railway passes through, the Transylvanian Alps in the region west from Brasso towards-the Danube, but the enemy does not seem to have attacked them in any great force.

That the penetration of tho frontier at the Gyimcs Pass is not regarded as of overwhelming importance may bo judged from a Petrograd report which states that there is reason to believo that the German punitive expedition •' against Ru-' mania has passed' its most dangerous stage. This supports an opin-

ion that, the enemy has developed, his main attack"against- the Predeal Pass, with intent to , break into the heart of Rumania, and it would seem that his repulse in this region is regarded as the dominating fact of the situation. About thirty miles east of the Gyimes Pass, and something over twice that distance by way of the railway down the TrotuV valley, .run's the trunk railway through Moldavia by which tho Rumanians are. inmost convenient touch with' their Russian allies. The cutting of the trunk railway would create a serious position, but the enemy is not shown to be making any further progress towards it, though the violent fighting reported in the region of the Oitoz Pass (about thirty miles south of'the Gyimes Pass) indicates that he has not abandoned hopes of driving inland. .■ - ,

What news there is from the Western theatre-is good, though it'tolls of no sensational event. It will be noticed that Sir Douglas Haig, in his summary of recent events, speaks of enemy counter-attacks "being as a rule, broken by artillery and ma-chine-gun fire. That 'these conditions persist is shown in accounts of. German counter-attacks.on the Important .position of. Sailly-Sail-lisel, lately, won by. the Frencb,and obviously they are conditions, which must be set down as disastrous from the standpoint of the enemy.