PROGRESS OF THE WAR

Dominion, Volume 10, Issue 3014, 27 February 1917, Page 4

PROGRESS OF THE WAR

A report from Sik Douglas Haig tells of an important extension of the British advance in the Ancre valley, in this locality a wedge is being driven into tho enemy's line which threatens equally his defensive positions south-west of Bapaume and the flank of his main lino north of the Ancre. The latest gain of ground by the British has widened the base of the wedge to the north, cutting off the point of a salient which previous attacks had formed in tho German lino. It involves also an extension, not yet clearly indicated, of the movement eastward along the Ancre valley. The captured ground includes Scrre village and "other important points to the eastward." This does not exactly define the position reached, but it may be noted that the village of Serre, a fortified stronghold which long defied frontal attack, stands near the top of the western slopo of a hill about' three thousand yards north of tho Ancre, which, with the exception of some hills further north, is the highest ground for several miles. The summit of this hill is five or six hundred yards cast of the village. As information stands it is an open question whether the summit of Serre hill is in British or enemy occupation, but Sir Douglas Haig's reference to important points castward of Serro can hardly be taken to mean less than that a foothold has been gained well up the slopes of the hill beyond the village. The statement that small bodies, of British troops advanced on a wide front suggests that' the captured territory extends considerably, eastward of Serre, towards Miraumont, which is a strong position covering the direct approach to tho important local junction of Achiet-lc-Grand.

■It is clear from the Commander-m-Chief's report that the enemy evacuated Serre and the other positions mentioned. This, of course, does not mean that he made a voluntary retirement. Sik Douglas Haig stated yesterday that the Germans were yielding ground as the result of unceasing pressure, and to-day's report reveals a continuation of the process. Like Grandcourt and other villages which earlier suffered the same fate, Serro was made untonablo by the development of a. British flanking attack which laid it open to converging bombardment.

To date, the winter offensive in which the British have gained a considerable tract of strategically important grovnd north of the Ancre and a sornowhat smaller area south of. that river, has served its chief purpose in materially narrowing the margin by which the enemy holds the. junction of Achiet-le-Grand, which, ib a vital element in his communications on the Somine front. The place which Achiet-le-Grand and Bapaume occupy iu the enemy's defensive organisation in the Somme region was clearly described by. Mb. Hilaibb Belloo in a recent article in Land and Water. Both places, he remarked, were nodal points of considerable importance in that general threat to the main Communications of the enemy which was half the meaning of tho Somuw offensive. The other and more important half was the tremendous strain it was progressively imposing upon his power of resistance as a whole. "Upon Bapaume," Mr. Bklloo continues, "converge nearly all the roads of the district. Bapaume threatened, its approaches under heavy and continuous fire, means tho sending of men and supplies round by eonsidorable detours whenever tho enemy desires to move them from the north towards tho south of his line. Bapaume occupied means correspondingly a choice of advance. This consideration has nothing like tho importance it would have in a. war of movement, but it I has its importance even in tflow [ siege work* New roads have been

made by the enemy, of course, especially lateral roads, which permit of' raovemenb behind Bapaiime without tho necessity of passing thi-ouj;!i the town. But every section ol tho front bears witness to tho burden under which an army still is of using these old nodal points with their buildings and their hundred other opportunities.'

Ackikt-le-Gband junction is about three and a half miles west-north-west of Bapaiime. and there is another junction, Velu, about halt a dozen miles east of that place, lnese railway junctions are of more iraportan'co ■• than Bapaiime in tho scheme of tho enemy's defence on the Somrne. Light railways, Mk. Belloc remarks, supplement the old permanent lines and petrol supplements all railway service to an extent undreamt.of .before this war. But the permanent - railway lines still havo a preponderant value. A railway junction behind Ohaulnes, on the front south of the Somme, is already so dominated by the. Allied artillery as to be useless to the enemy. As events have developed tho only railway junction immediately serving the Sommo front which he r:ow holds by such a margin as to permit its free use is Velu, which is still about five miles behind the line on which, the armies are in contact. Apart from the railways which meet ab Vclu ? the whole German front on the Somme is now, or soon will be, dependent almost entirely upon road traffic for supply. 4 t t

According to a mcssage_ f rom Ma. Philip Gibbs which has just arrived, Scri'O is only one of a scries o£ positions which the enemy has evacuated iii the northern part of the Bommo front. Ho states that theenemv is falling back on a new line of defence along the Bapaume ridge, and that British patrols have already penetrated heyond fortified strongholds like Miraumonfc and Pys, which the onemy was expected to stubbornly defend.

It is not yot possible to in all respects clearly . visualise events which are described by Mr. Gibbs as the most important that have occurred since the autumn of /1916. There can be- little doubt, however, that Mr. Gibbs is right in his contention that the retreat reveals a weakness in the enemy's defensive j scheme. He gains by his retreat to the extent that he is evacuating salient positions which he was certain to loso ultimately in any case, and which could 1 only be held temporarily at desperate cost. But these positions represent the last remnants, of a deep system of defences covering elaborately organised communications. Just what preparations for continued resistance the enemy has made on and behind I the Bapaume ridge is not known, but; it is quite.certain that he is very much worse off in every way than when the Somme battle opened. As we have seen, ho is losing important advantages of railway communication, and road and railway, junctions that were nodal points in his original communications in the Somme region are now in the near neighbourhood of the actual fighting line. It has to be remembered, of course, that the communication centres vital to tho stability of the enemy front in: tho Somme region are not the local road and railway junctions which he is now in a fair way to lose, but. the .much larger junctions of Cambrai and St. Quentin, fifteen miles or more behind the fighting front. The essential thing, from the enemy's standpoint, is to maintain an intact line well ahead of these- junctions, and he has still a, considerable margin to come and go upon. But it is obvious that his prospects of maintaining a sound line ahead of Cambrai and St. Quentin are now very greatly impaired. The unceasing British pressure in tho Ancre valley, which is tho last phase of the attack that has compelled him to fall back on the Bapaume ridge, is only a small preliminary instalment of tho grand offensive that will be developed before long in full power. -» * * .» News from Mesopotamia shows that the British forces in that theatre Have after all not been con-i centrating solely upon tho reduction of tho Sannaiyat position. They have taken a big stride forward in that enterprise, capturing tho enemy third and fourth lines, and this should mean that they are, in a fair way to break through the/ naiTow bottle-neck which tho enemy is defending at Sannaiyat, and advance along the north bank of the Tigris towards Kut-el-Amara. But it is still more important that the passage pf the Tigris has been forced near Shumran, twenty miles west , of Sannaiyat and five miles west of Kut-el-Amara. According to the official report received to-day the river is now bridged at Shumran and the British are firmly es-. tablished on the north. bank. Here they immediately threaten ,the enemy's communications, and it will not be surprising if the Turks speedily retreat from their positions on the north bank east of the point at which the crossing has been made. Captain Ross gives a , detailed account to-day of a high;• successful ! and damaging raid by JNsw Zealand i troops upon an unnamed section of the enemy Western front, It is evident that the Auckland battallion engaged acquitted itself most jgallantly, ana handsomely earned tho commendations it has received from its divisional and corps commanders and from the C'ommander-in-Chief. Enemy casualties to tho number of about 200 and the capture of more than 40 prisoners supply unmistakable evidence that the stroke was shrewdly driven home.