GREAT WESTERN OFFENSIVE PREDICTED FOR THIS YEAR

Dominion, Volume 10, Issue 2966, 2 January 1917, Page 5

GREAT WESTERN OFFENSIVE PREDICTED FOR THIS YEAR

TACTICS TRIED AT VERDUN HAVE SOLVED THE PROBLEM OF TRENCH WARFARE (Rcc. January 1, 7.25 p.m.) ■ , London, December 31. ■The newspapers, reviewing the 1916 operations, predict a great Western offensive in 1917 over a larger front, employing new tactics perfected at ! Verdun, enabling the attacks to bo conducted with fewer casualties than to' the defenders. It is contended that the new< tactics, which, have not been folly disclosed, had: solved the problem of trench warfare, making' victory certain. j '■'■■■ ' Lord Sydenham writes: "The Germans have learned that safety is no longer to be found in' the most elaborate defences, the combination of artillery, infantry, and air'service being perfected. Tho supreme importance of the .air service was strikingly manifested at Verdun. We will have many more guns amply supplied with shells in 1917, and if the lessons of the past' are turned to full account we can attack on a far larger scale with the certainty of success." —Aus.-N.Z. Cable Assn. [Lord Sydenham was chairman of the Air Service Board; and resigned that position owing, it was stated, to the fact that a Ministry of Air Services to be established.] < ■ . FRENCH CAPTURE' OF'PELSONEES LAST YEAR. (Rec. January 1, 7.50 p.m.) ; London, December 31. A Paris communique says there Is nothing important to report. The French at Verdun and the Somme in 1916 captured 78,500 Ger-mans.—Aus.-N.Z. Cable Assn. • ■■' ■■ , . . VICTORY ASSURED FOR THE ALLIES. (Eec. January 1, 7.50 p.m.) '~. Paris, December 31. In his greetings to the King of Italy, M. Pomcare (President of Franco) said:' "The New Year will asstire victory to tho Allies"—"The Times."