PROGRESS OF THE WAR

Dominion, Volume 10, Issue 3058, 20 April 1917, Page 6

PROGRESS OF THE WAR

■French reports in hand at time of writing mention the capture of villages and fortified positions at several points' on the Aisne front, notably in the area a few miles east of Soissons, which is now the apex of the salient formed by the German front in Erance, further east, south of Laon; and also in the Ville-aux-Bois sector, between the eastern end of the Craonne plateau and the Aisne, north-west of Eeims. The twelve guns, including three of heavy calibre, which have been captured chiefly on the Champagne front, presumably represent only, a comparatively small of the enemy artillery captured since the offensive opened, and the total of unwounded prisoners captured since Tuesday now stands at 17,000. It is not on immediate results, however, that such a battle as is under way on the Aisne and in the Champagne is to be judged. The French are fighting for big 'results, and the struggle is likely to be correspondingly prolonged. Features of the news which arrest attention are those which deal with the_ larger strategic results of the offensive and with the exhausting drain that is being.imposed upon the enemy's leserves. On the. latter point M. Marcel Hutin declares that on one short section of the front, on the southern slopes of Moronvillers, east of Eeims, the French onset compelled the enemy to bring up two hundred thousand reserves, and that even so the enemy was dislodged from ■ positions ho had considered impregnable and' afterwards lost heavily.in repeated counter-attacks. That the French have developed their offensive on» its present scale must be taken to mean that they are confident of their ability to subject the enemy to a killing strain and to losses much greater than he is simultaneously able to inflict. The Allied offensive,- which the French effort has so notably extended, is still at an early stage and is far -from.; having, reached decisive re'siilts, but. it is already clear..that the Allies are bringing' a marked superiority of fighting force to bear. Tfc has to bo remembered that the enemy had begun to retreat. There is no doubt that he had hoped to retire to a shorter" and more easily

defended line than the one on which " he is now fighting the greatest battle of the war, and probably he further hoped to gain freedom in this way ' to pursue his projects in other theatres'. ' The battle promises to be long and desperately contested, but it is a material fact, meantime, that not 'only did the Allies force the battle, but .the enemy did his vtmost to avoid it: In the circumstances it is likely that the French newspaper Matin is within the facts in stating that Von Hindenbu'kg, who was preparing attacks at Eiga and against Italy, was forced to frantically rush troops to the West front. Reasons, of course, exist for doubting whether the enemy contemplated an offensive in any theatre this year. His past efforts in this category have been disastrous. But the fact stands that his only.hope of countering _what promises to. become an irresistible pressure of- concerted attack is in somewhere developing an offensive ■ formidablo enough to. derange the Allied plans. Ho can hardly be tempted to .repeat his Trentino adventure of last year, but the alternative is to passively-await a fullpowered attack by the Italian army on the Isonzo front, where the Aus-

trians'.last year were dislodged f rom two of. their three main defensive lines across .the Carso plateau. So with Russia. The enemy' failed to gain decisive advantage from an offensive in that theatre when his strength relatively to that of the Allies was far greater than it is now and when his prospects were in. every way more open, but if he cannot grasp the initiative on tEe East front'he must expect'a i r3newal of the offensive which General Tjrvsil'off developed with marked success last year. Anyhope the enemy may have formed of political disorders putting the Russian p.rmy out of action this year must be/ tending to disappear. Recent reports indicate that in spite of whatever inferences of opinion obtain in Russia on the, subject of . annexation ■' and some other questions, the country is splid r ly united in a determination to pro'secutc the war until Prussian despotism has been overthrown. One message to-day covers an announcement by the Russian Government, following on'a visit by the Premier and] Ministers to. Army Headquarters, that the unrest shown in the army during the first stage of the revolution nas completely disappeared, and that it is in an excellent state of discipline arid quite, ready ta encounter the enemy. The statement that the armies are now well provisioned points to. a very great improvement upon the conditions of internal organisation which obtained under the old regime, and it is of course likely that the improvement extends to munitioning and other services, as well as to the distribution' of food With matters' in this state there is a reasonably good prospect of the Russian army taking its full part in the' campaign of the year'.

The great offensive which is taking shape on the Western front promises to achieve far-reaching results—results which will .only begin to appear in "their full scope when active operations are- resumed in other theatres. Meantime the enemy is oaa-ni&stly, constrained to pursue

a course of action which is contrary to his interest. For the time at least he is denied the opportunity of withdrawing to a.short line in the Western theatre, on_ which he would be able to practise an economical defensive, and compelled to fight at maximum intensity under conditions determined by the Allies. At the same time he is denied the opportunity of concentrating in other theatres where his weight in different circumstances might tell with greater effect than he can hope to make it tell on the West front. It follows, of course, that' by their action in the Western theatre Britain and France are conferring an opportunity upon their Allies in other theatres, and probably it will not be. long before the opportunity is turned to account.

A communique just received shows that the French are methodically continuing their penetration of the German defences and foiling the desperate counter-attacks by which the enemy is vainly attempting to gain relief. A' particularly violent effort by the enemy enabled him to gain a temporary footing in French positions east of Cpucy, about a dozen miles north of the Aisne, but the French killed or captured all the invaders and completely restored their line. At the same time they have deeply penetrated the enemy front on another sector, on the Craonne plateau, towards the western end of the Aisne front and south of Laon. One of the earlier messages published to-day reported the capture of the village of Chavonne. It is now reported-that Ostel, a mile and a half further., north, has also been captured, and the French appear to have made similar headway to a point about four miles further east, where they have reached the outskirts of Courtecon. A still later message reports the conquest of formidable emmiy positions further west, at and near the apex of the great German salient, and it is mentioned that the total of unwounded prisoners now stands at 17,000, and that 75 captured guns, a number of them heavy pieces, have thus, far been counted. . ,

No big event is reported at time of writing ofi i the British section of the front, but a message from Captain Bean, throws further light upon the recent battle between the Australians and the Prussian Guards at and near Lagnicourt. Earlier reports had shown that the Germans were heavily defeated and suffered terrible losses after winning a temporary • success, but Captain Bean's report convicts the enemy of exaggerating' even '. temporary success which he gained. In particular the enemy's statement that he captured twenty-two guns was untrue. Captain Bean states that the Germans reached some of the advanced field guns and contrived to destroy five, but failed to take any away. He does not comment on the enemy,claim that 475 : Australians were taken prisoner, but quite possibly this also was an exaggeration.

A report from. Jassy, the temporary Rumanian capital, states that the Germans have burned Braila and AFocsani, and that Rumanian military officers consider this action symptomatic of an early enemy withdrawal. Focsani is on the Rumanian'central railway, immediately south of the river line "on-which the opposing, forces are now'.established,, and Braila is a Danube port,, also south of this line—the. Sereth-Putna line. On general grounds a voluntary. retirement by the enemy from the Soreth-Putna line seems unlikely. Retreat in this region would mean an immediate and very material extension of his front.