PROGRESS OF THE WAR

Dominion, Volume 10, Issue 3047, 7 April 1917, Page 8

PROGRESS OF THE WAR

Thursday's ,' reports dealing with events in the Western theatre showed that-the. Allies! were in touch with an . enemy, fortified .front between Arras and St. Quentin, as well'&,s south of Sk Quentin, and that, as the : result or movements culminating' in a successful French attack on, strongly held and 'defended positions 'south and southeast of St. Quentin, the latter city was threatened with envelopment. From this point the situation has already materially developed. Pushing forward in the-area of their •lato success, the French have dislodged the_ Germans from a. commanding position extending from south of St. Quentin to the town of Moy, which stands on the west bank of the-Oise, seven-miles south-east of St. Quentin. French advanced droops have penetrated Faubourg St. Martin, the south-western suburb of St., Quentin, ' The British meantime' have .been. _ engaged; in heavy fighting immediately west of .St. Quentin, .where"six.German.guns have been captured .and retained in spite of the enemy's desperate efforts to recover them. Some progress has been made _ also''- further north, where the British are gradually driving a wed_ge into the area between' St..-Quentin -arid" Cambrai., Ronssov, ;one of the ! villages' 1 captured in .the latest fighting,;stands three and a half miles west.of the main road and canal ' connecting these cities. Over the whole length of the battlefront from Arras to the Aisne the Germans are now stubbornly defending their line. It will be noticed that Sir Douglas Haio states that progress is being made on the northern part of the front against considerable opposition, and the French also are being strongly opposed, both in the region of their most pronorlhced success, south and south-east of St. Quentin, and further south, at the eastern end of the Aisne plateau. A French communique states that the -Germans in this Tegion: defended - the village of Laffaux foot by foot, and that at another village not far distant enemy counter-attacks were smashed under artillery fire.

On the facts disclosed, no other conclusion seems possible than that the situation 1 of the German Western armies is exceedingly critical. The line on which they Have made their' stand "is so deeply penetrated in the vicinity of St. Quentin that its overthrow appears to be certain, and if the Allies break through at St. Quentin' tho. enemy, will- stand in grave risk of disaster. St.' Quentin stands upon one of the two main railways which directly connect the enemy's home depots with his fighting front in France.. With, every forward stride made by the Allies in the region of St. Quentin and beyond it the enemy.'s prospects of safely withdrawing his armies from Flanders and Aftois, to the north, and from,tho Aisrie plateau to the south and east, are impaired. The situation to-day has something 'in common with that which obtained in tho later Btages of the Battle of the Aisne in 1914. The French then made a determined attempt to. turn the flank of the enemy line, extending along the'Aisne plateau, by a movement against St. Quentin and Tergnier, further south. Tho effort failed, because the strength' needed to drive' it home was not then available. It is conceivable that the events now unfolding may lead to a different conclusion. The main' railway: through' not less a vital element in Cermany's communications tp-day'than it was in 1914] and the Allies, instead of being in-a great inferiority as compared with the enemy, possess a superiority of strength which may quite possibly enable them to strike a decisive blow.. It is, of course, not at all unlikely that the attack which is developing in tho St. Quentin area may bo supplemented by attacks, on other sections of the front, in Flanders; the Champagne, or elsewhere, which woujd very seriously complicate the enemy's problems of defence and retreat.

At the' moment tho outlook from the standpoint of the Allies looks distinctly good. It is almost certainly essential to the stability of a. 'great part of the enemy's front that ho should stand firm in or near his present positions astride the main railway which runs through St. Quentin, ■• and it must bo-assumed that tho deep indentation-of his lino in4his locality has_been. accomplished in spite of his utmost efforts. • It is quite clear that a lino upon which the Germans depended, and which they had strong--ly fortified, has given way seriously at a, vital point, and so has re-' duccd the margin of safety upon' which they are working. That this has occurred at an early stage in the retreat which the enemy presumably intends to carry to the point of materially shortening his line says a great deal for the skill and determination with which the Allies have conducted their pursuit. One factor which • favours the enemy is bad weather. ■ The French report that they have. continued to throw .back the enemy between St. Quentin and the Oise in spite of violent snowstorms and soaked ground underfoot.- Bad weather and mud hamper' tho attach in any case. They will be a still more serious handicap if more extended movement becomes possible in the immediate future. Nevertheless, with the enemy front penetrated as it is in the vicinitj- of St. Quentin, and with the position on tho. northern- front and -along the greater part of-the Aisno- pla•teati unaltered, the situation of the German Western armies can-only be regarded-as critical.

There, is news to-day of a rather serious reverse suffered by the Russians in the region of kove-1 junction, in Southern llussia.. Tho Russians have been driven across the River Stochod, apparently 'at the point at which it is crossed -by the Kovel-llovno railway, about 23 miles south-east of Kovel. It is admitted that some of the detachments retiring across the river lost heavily. The Russians haVo thus lost owe of a series.of positions, closely threatening Kovel—a vital railway junotion and link in the enemy lino —which were gained in Sard fighting in the later da.ys of their offensive, last year. .Presumably, however; they retain an extended footbold on the west bank of the Stochod north of the scene of .their late reverse. Better fortune; has I attended the B,ussians in the vicinity of the Pantyr Pass, in the Carpathians, south of Lemberg.. They report in this region the occupation of three lines of Austrian trenches.

In- Mesopotamia the Allied operations oontm'ue to .develop' with good promise. The Russians, advanoing from Western Persia, have occupied Khanikin, ten milea west of the frontier, and pursued the Turks to the Rivef DiaiV'ten miles further west. The enemy, as reports stand; is contesting the crossing.. The Russians have also occupied the town of Kasri Shirin, which stands "on the 'Persian side of the frontier, northeast of Khanikin.- • Erom Khanikin a body of Cossacks is'advancing to join the British at or near Kizil Robat, itwenty-fivo miles 'to the south-west. The British are striking north on Both sides of the Diala. The Turks on the Diala seem very likely to be trapped:

An article is quoted to-day in which Colonel Repington, bringing together the opinions of various experts, propounds a theoretical explanation of German war policy. A gradual retreat on both'main fronts during the' summer, an attempt to exhaust England by ruthless submarining,, and to tire out the other Allies,' and a peace offer in the autumn' by which Germany will endeavour to secure terms by ac-the-loss of-her colonies (exrcept. East Africa),: and by..compe.l : . ling'.her' allies' to make heavy concessions," are"- the chief-• "points '--" set out/, i - It.is just such.a, plan as.the German- Government .might be ex l pecte<l"t6 lay,'but whether there is any nope'of carrying" it "out is' another question. • Events-on -the West •- front.-. already, -indicate . ; that the safe retr.eat upon, which the whole plan depends is very far from being assured. The submarine 1 problem is acute, 1 but the under* water raiders are a long-way from reaching decisive results. As regards her allies also it will be a perilous policy on Germany's part to propose to use them as pawns in buying peace when she has no further use for them as.pawns,in war. Turkey is no doubt in the grip of fate, but Austria, if she ( is betrayed by her' chief ally, may/choose to make her own terms with the Allies. The possibility of internal revolution, in Germany is also to be v kept in mind. In any case, there are excellent prospects that before the year has ended the German Government will be :,in a much humbler' mood than it_is''willing-'to confess to at present..