PROGRESS OF THE WAR

Dominion, Volume 10, Issue 2981, 19 January 1917, Page 4

PROGRESS OF THE WAR

Bather . bektedly it is d known U, a t another German raiding lii-uiscr is at large in the South A .--taiitic and has sunk a number of merchant ships. The raider began her Work of destruction at least as long ago as December 12, and it is ■definitely announced by the Admiralty that in. tho space of a month she sank eight British ships (aggregating over 50,000 tons), and two (lying the French flag. Other reports indicate that there are material additions to be mado to this list. One messago speaks of a loss of four hundred lives, but it will be noticed that the Admiralty statement mentions that four hundred men, taken by the raider from a number of captured ships, were sent away in the Yarrowdale. Very probably these aro the men to whoni the earlier message relates. At present there is no news of tho whereabouts of the Y«tro\vdale, but it does not necessarily follow that any harm has befallen the ship or her complement. She may bo making for a port distant from tho scene of her, capture.

As it stands the news is manifestly bad. Tho latest addition to the list of German i aiders seems to bo in a fair way to establish a record. A rumour is transmitted from New York that sho has been sunk or captured, but there is no definite report on tho subject, and for all that appears to tho contrary sho may be still at largo and adding to her toll of victims. She has made already a notable contribution to the work in which the enemy submarines aro engaged, but we should recognise also that tho fact that her achievement is almost Without precedent is a wonderful tribute to tho efficidiency of tho British Navy. If thoy had their way the Gorraans would send out many ships to raid the coiuiuerco of the Allies. In actual fact, apart from submarines, they havo been able to get only two commerce raiders past tho British blockade of tho North Sea. Thia assumes that tho present raider, like the Moewe, set out from a : German port,,''and the assumption is no doubt warranted. The Moewe contrived to slip out through tho North Sea a little over a year ago, fend, after a career of destruction, returned to port. Months later her eistcr 6hip, tho Greif, attempted tho Bamo feat and was sunk, though at a cost to tho Navy of an auxiliary cruiser. The raider now at largo completes the list to date. Taking account of tho difficulty of policing the North Sea at all times and in all weathers, it is remarkable, and says much for the Navy, that the enemy has been able to send only two commerce raiders into the outer seas. But for the vigilance of the British patrols he would doubtless have sent out dozens.

Raiding and other activities on tho Western front have been upon a rising scale of late, and to-day Sin Douglas Haig reports a highly successful attack developed on a front of six hundred yards, north of the Ancrc, near the northern end of the Sommo offensive front. In this locality, where; his line has not yet been very deeply penetrated, the enemy is still holding positions of enormous strength, but tho attack evidently was swiftly driven home. It gained a, line of poets possession of which will considerably improve tho British facilities for artillery observation. Tho remarkable feature of the Commander-in-Ohief's dispatch is not in tho magnitude of the success of which he tells, but in the evidence he supplies of suggestive weakness in the enemy's defensive organisation. The British swiftly gained their' objective, and Si* Douglas Haig states that their casualties wore few. ; Ho adds that the enemy suffered heavily in a counter-attack, which broke up under artillery fire. In this action, therefore, tho Germans wore .driven out of important positions on-a very strong section of their front and suffered in the process much heavier losses than the troops who attacked and captured theso positions. Liko tho effective and damaging raids which Sir Douglas Haig also reports to-day, the local battle on the Ancro holds a good augury for the time, now not very far distant, when the Allies will resume their offonsivo in full power. *■# * *

'Not much will bo kcown about what is really happening in Greece until the people who control tho news service hia-vo got over the habit of making a statement ono day and contradicting ib tho next. Yesterday we wore told, on tho authority of a reputable correspondent (Mb. Ward Price), that Constantine had violated his solemn pledges to tho : Entente, and that his troops in Thessaly wcro marching north towards the rear and communicatioDs oE General Sarkail's army. To-day wo have it from the usually reliable Eeuter's Agency that Sir Francis Elliot (British Minister at Athens) telegraphs definitely announcing tho entire acceptance by Greeco of tho Allies' demands. These stories cannot both bo true, and ifc is plain that either Eeuter's Agency or Mr. Ward Price has been deceived. Tho actual state of affairs in Greeco remains a matter of conjecture. If Reuter's are correctly informed in regard to Sir Francis Elliot's announcement, their telegram should bo speedily followed up by an official report. It may bo noted meantime that tho statement credited to tho British Minister, though it is definite as far as it goes does not say or imply more than that Constantine and his Government havo promised to take the measures demanded by the Allies, of which thft chief is tho transfer of tho Royalist Array to Peloponnesus.

Another message, published today) states that an Italian military mission has arrived in Greece, to participate in the joint Allied control, and that a, commission of Allied and Greek officers has been formed to supervise tho transference of the Eoyalist troops to Peloponnesus. This looks promising, but tho latter part of the messago shows that tho transference has not yet been made—indeed, it suggests that it has not yet been begun—and loaves tho possibility open that ConSTANTINB may bo playing for time and awaiting tho favourable moment to take concerted aciioin with his German allies. It would bo good news that GoNKTANTiEE and his Ministers had

been seized as hostages for tho fulfilment of the undertaking they havo rnlored into. Tho circumstances certainly would amply warrant (hat course and any measures of it similar nature whk-h may ho open to tho Allies. Yesterday's story that Falrenhayn is in Northern' Greece is neither confirmed nor denied at time of writing._ But whether he is there or not, while the Royalist troops remain at large Geneh.u, Sarraii/h army is monaeed, whatever Constantinb aud his advisers may be saying or promising at Athens.

It is no longer in doubt that thq aspect of the Rumanian campaign has changed. The Allies are developing a strong counter-offensive, in which they have gained already some preliminary success. On portions of tho front stationary or give-and-take fighting is reported, but tho Allies have at least one definite achievement to their credit. They have recaptured the town of Vadeni, which they lost a. day or two ago, and it is tolerably certain that the enemy would not have given ground in this locality except under irresistible pressure. Vadeni is on tho railway a few miles north of Braila, on tho approach to tho Serefch, wherethat river enters tho Danube. _If the Allies arc able, instead of falling back behind tho Sereth; to extend and broaden their footing in the country to .the south, the enemy will stand in danger of losing soma of the most important advantages he has gained in the past passages of the campaign. An unofficial report from Potrograd, which speaks of a brilliant Russo-Rumanian counteroffensive, in the Dobrudja, is unconfirmed meantime, and does not.carry oonviction. As information stands, the Russo-Rumanians were driven right out of the Dobrudja, and to re-enter it would have to force the Danube against the enemy's resistance. A Rumanian, communique, it will bo observed, speaks of a. reciprocal bombardment on the Danube, and this probably indicates the actual state of'affairs. Even so, however, much is to bo hoped from a counter-offensive south of the Sereth line, provided the force is available which give it weight and effect. In this connection it is noteworthy that Rumanian commnniqves are now again being issued, after having been suspended for a time. This suggests that a considerable Rumanian forco has now returned to the fighting front. If so, it haa probably returned much better equipped, with artillery and otherwise, than in the days of tho Transylvanian offensivo and tho Eubscquont retreat through Wallachia. It is an .obvious possibility that the enemy may have weakened his Rumanian armies in order to mass forces in Macedonia, but if lie is intent upon aggression in the latter theatre there are so much the better prospects of an effective counter-of-fensivo by the Allies in Rumania.