PROGRESS OF THE WAR

Dominion, Volume 10, Issue 2937, 24 November 1916, Page 4

PROGRESS OF THE WAR

According to the only report as yet received on the subject from tho Admiralty, the British hospital ship Britannic was sunk in the Aegean "by a mine or torpedo." But tho Daily Chronicle's correspondent at_ Athens declares that tho great ship was torpedoed, in circumstances which show that the cTimo was deliberately planned. There does not seem to bo any doubt that tho correspondent has accurately reported the facts, and, if he has, the sinking of tho Britannic ranks as one of the foulest crimes of which the enemy (submarines have yet been guilty. Under the laws of civilised war an hospital ship is inviolable, and if the deliberate attack on the Britannic does not establish a record of infamy in Germany's sea crimes it is only for the reason that her submarine commanders have so often demonstrated their utter disregard of tho laws and usages of humanity and civilisation. Thanks to the fact that the ship had no wounded on Board, the loss of life was comparatively small. The material loss is heavy, for the Britannic was one of the finest and largest ships afloat and was splendidly adapted for tho I service in which she was detailed. The channel of Zea, whero sho met her fate, is the south-wostern passago into the Aegean Sea, and ships traversing it pass within about forty miles of tho Piraeus.

This dastardly crime should quicken the rising demand in Great for an open declaration of the policy which will be pursued in exacting such retribution as is possible, at the close of the war, for the crimes of which Germany has been guilty through the agency of her submarines. Seizure on a ton-for-ton basis of German merchant shipping is an essential element in such a policy. But crimes in the category to which the sinking of the Britannic belongs demand in addition another kind of retribution. Justice will not be satisfied until the Kaiser and those who, with him, arc responsible for Germany's atrocious crimes in land and 'sea war ■have been held to personal account and treated as the murderers they are.

A brief message published yesterday stated that the total shipping losses in October last were 113 vessels, the total tonnage being 266,053, as compared with 63 vessels, of a tonnage of 160,000, in the previous October. These figures evidently relate to the aggregate losses suffered in British. Allied, and neutral shipping. While they bear witness to the formidable character of the submarine campaign in its recent developments, the position is perhaps by no means as bad as the comparison, in the form given, would imply. It has to be remembered that in October, 1915, the rat© of destruction by submarines Ead fallen materially below the maximum attained in that year's campaign. During one week of 1915 (the week ending August 25) British ships alone of a tonnage of 79,727 were sunk—as nearly as possible half the aggregate tonnage of British and foreign merchant ships sunk during the whole month of October, 1915. Reasons still appear for believing that the rate of destruction in the current campaign is now falling away in a. fashion which would point to the loss of many submarines. During the past week only thirteen ships, of which the Britannic and two others were British, have been reported sunk by submarines, and unless reports are incomplete, the submarines are doing very much less damage now than they were doing during the- month of October last.

A clear understanding of the position reached in Rumania is hardly to be gained from the news available at time of writing. It is evident that reports from this theatre have of late been heavily censored, and some of those appearing to-day have probably been so delayoil as to become misleading. This applies particularly to the wireless message stating that .a big battle has begun north of Crajova, and to a German communique which states, amongst other things, that ground has been won in the Jiul Valley. This last presumably relates to fightlag north-west of Crajova, though the River Jiul continues its course southward beyond that place to the Danube. It may be noted meantime that Crajova, which is believed to bo now in German hands, is in south-western Wallachia, and commands the railway approaches from the interior of Rumania both to the Danube on the west, in the region of Orsova, and to the country north and nortfi-west of Crajova. It seems likely that the fighting north of Crajova, though it is only now reported, preceded the occupation of that place. Earlier official reports indicate that the Germans reached Crajova from the north. If they reached it from the west the Rumanians were driven back 70_ miles from tho Danube, in "rile region of Orsova, without permitting the fact to become known. In any case, with tho enemy at Crajova, Rumanian troops in tho Jiul Valley, or even north of Crajova, would bo in a position of serious danger.

Some of the later news from the Balkans-is not without promise. It is evident that Genera:, Sarrail's successful blow in the Monastir region is causing the enemy serious concern, and that fears a'ro entertained of a further extension of tho Macedonian offensive. At tho samo time some expectations • are raised of an Allied counter-stroke in Eumania.. Tho Bulgarian newspapers are said to bo foreshadowing the evacuation of tho Dobrudja, and M. Marcel Hutin states that a big blow is impending against Mackensen. This points to Russo-Ruman-lan action in tho Dobrudja, for although it was recently reported that Maokensen was taking over the Wallachian command from Falkenhayn, tho report has not been confirmed. Assuming that considerable Russian reinforcements havo reached Rumania, it is not impossible that a Russo-Rumanian counter-stroke on J"° lines suggested, together with the Allied advance in Macedonia, ra r a 'T, ,? s tho cnm Y invasion of Wallachia to a standstill.