PROGRESS OF THE WAR

Dominion, Volume 10, Issue 3043, 2 April 1917, Page 4

PROGRESS OF THE WAR

An official ■ report dealing -with the Mesopotamian campaign, shows that the defeat of the Turks at Bagdad and the capture of that city • aro being' (enterprisingly followed up by the British forces under General Maude. The news in brief is that the defeated Turkish Army has been split into sections and is being pursued along three distinct routes diverging from Bagdad. One British column,' moving west, has occupied Feluja, on tho Euphrates, 36 miles west of Bagdad, and the Turks on this line are said to be retreating towards Hit, more than 60 miles west of Feluja. Another body of Turks, presumably tho main body of the. Mesopotamian army, has been driven north along -the Tigris l , to beyond Sindia ( a village 35 miles north of Bagaad, which the British havo occupied. Still another Turkish force is being pursued north-east Bagdad along the course of. the Dials. Eiver, towards the Persian border.' The, Jebel Hamrin range, which is mentioned in the report, extends southeast from tho wost bank of the Tigris, which it follows for fifty or sixty miles, and across the belt of I country between the Tigris and the I Persian border. The _ Tigris runs through a defile in tho range 130 miles north of Bagdad, and the Diala through- a gap about 70 miles north-east of that city. Advancing along the Diala the British have reached the Jebel Hamrin: range. Kizil Bobat, named as oco of the points on which they, are .moving, stands beyond tho range to the north.-

* * » ». The Turks rotreating up the Euphrates are cut off from tneir main body on the Tigris, since the two rivers are separated by a rapidly increasing distance in the country to the north of the present fighting area. In the latitude of Bagdad the Tigris and Euphrates are separated by a distance of little more than twenty miles, but in northern Mesopotamia ' they aro 370 miles apart. As matters stand a Turkish force on the Euphrates is dependent upoii more than four hundred miles of road and river .'communications south of the Bagdad railway. *** . « i

Special, interest attaches to. the fact that the Turks aro offering con-, tinued and apparently stubborn resistance to the British advanco north-east from Bagdad in the region of the Jebel Hamrin range, since in these circumstances the possibility is still fully alive that a section of the enemy ' army may be oaught in a vice between .the British advancing up the Diala and the Russians striking west through Western Persia. Kim Robat, which approximately marks the lino ,of contact on tho Diala, is' about twenty-two, miles ' south-west of Shanikin, on.w-hiqh place the Russians are moving from the east. If the Russians reach Khanikin while the' British are still 'holding the enemy in the vicinity of KizU Bobat, the Turks will find themselves in an awkward predicament, and perhaps hopelessly trapped. If the Britisn are advancing along the routes which cross the Jebel Hamrin range west and north of tho Diala, as well as along the course of that river, prospeots of enveloping a section of tne enemy army in the region of the Persian border should, be reasonably good. In its total offecb the news from i Mesopotamia is of good-promise, trioro especially when it is considered in oonncctkm with tfcc invasion of Palestine and the pr.'epect of an oarly resumption of t-he Russian oampaign in Armecia.

In a message which deserves par-1 ticular attention, Sir William j Robkatsox (piiicf of the British j General Statf) is oredited with tho I BtatoMcDfc that tho German retreat on tho Wcat front is entirely involaaid that the contrary assertion is not .only inconsistent with manifest facts, /but is singularly unjust to the valour and daring of our gallant troops. . Tho statement has fceei}. made public by a member of the House, of Commons (Mk. HbwaetX, 'Vflio claims that hie has Sir William Robertson's authority I for doing so. It is hardly necessary to ofeervo that the latter speaks with unquestionable authority, a"nd that his . statement sets at rest all doubts, as to the nature of the German retreat. The, Germans are, of course, working to a pian of some kiy-d, but it does not follow that it is a good plan or one they would ha,ve chosen to adopt had their choice been free. The prinoi-,pal-.fact established in regard to lato events 'in the Western theatre is thai; the enemy . has. yielded ground under pressure against which he was unable to make head. He is now attempting everywhere .to hold his ground, though his retreat to . date has probably done much mors to weaken his lino than to reduce ihis burdens of defence. Obvioußly, though he has slightly shortened his front, he will not be able to withdraw any men from areas in which his. defences arc being deeply penetrated day by day. If the Germans hopo to obtain appreciable relief by a retreat and shortening of line in tho Western theatre, they will have to attempt a far more extended retirement than they have yet carried out, and it remains quite possible that such, a move, if it were attempted, might entail disaster.

Though the Germans are now i stubbornly defending the oountry j north-west 51! St. .Quentin and be-, tween St. Quentin and the Aisne, j a further heavy penetration of their j defensive lines is reported to-day. 1 North-west of St. Quentin, where?! their advance promises to drive a I wedge 'between that junction and j Oarabrai, the British have advanced] on an average about a mile, on a 5 seven-mile front. Sovcrai .villages 1 have been raptured in this area ] and others which stand west of St. ! Quentin, at a distance of about five miles, have also been gathered in. Tho French, meantime, ars attacking vigorously on tho front between the Ailette and the Aisnt. and have | ousted the enemy from a number of positions which he fought hard to retain. The practically continuous struggle whicn is now in progress in the Champagne indicates tho importance which the enemy attaches to this section , of tho front, presumably because he fears that it will presently be the jumping-off point of an Allied offensive striking at his communications. Tho French have reoovered tho trenches west of the Maison do Champagne which were recently captured by the enemy, and a lato report states that tho Germans made five successive counter-attacks. upon these positions, only to suffer heavily witnout attaining their objective. There can bo no doubt that the enemy conj eiders it of the first importance to

maintain, and if possible, improve his positions on tho Ghampagno front—his reoent attacks represent an attempt to increase the margin by whioh he holds a useful lateral railway—and it is very probable that the apprehension betokened in this attitude is more than justified.