PROGRESS OF THE WAR

Dominion, Volume 10, Issue 3079, 9 May 1917, Page 6

PROGRESS OF THE WAR

The chief events reported at time of writing on-the Arras front have occurred' in the vicinity' of Bullecourt, where tho Australian troops last weok gained a footing on the Hindenburg line. Bullecourt village itself appears to bo untenable, but the Australians by heroic exertions have driven a milo-deep salient into the enemy line beyond Bullecourt; reaching tho town of Biencourt, which stands north and a little wesf of Queant, at a distance of rather less than two" miles from that bastion in the Hindenburg line. This creation of a narrow salient in the enemy line is a marked detail, departure from tho tactics practised in tho past. development of tho offensive—an advance on a broadening front-and presumably the gallant achievement of the Australians will bo speedily followed up by a powerful effort to- broaden out the salient to safe dimensions. Even as it stands, however, the situation evidently tells against the enemy. Sir Dotjolas Haig, 'though he does not wholly clear,up the rather- confused accounts givenby correspondents of tho operations j east of Bullecourt, states that-the. I position in this locality was improved after' sharp fighting. Hβ mentions also that a strong body of the enemy was caught in tho open in the vicinity of Bullecourt and i heavily, punished by the British artillery. News othenyise lolls of a violent artillery action along the British front, and of the crushing defeat of tho counter-attack's in which tho enemy is still indulging at some points, notably south of I Lens.

As the struggle is developing in the Western theatre, with the enemy's" remaining reserves being rapidly cut down on both the French and British sections of the front, it is interesting to turn to observations made by Mr. F. H. Siiionds, a well-known American correspondent, in an article written after a two-months' visit to Europe, in the course of which he spent a week at British General Headquarters in France. It will be remembered that a, month or two ago Mb. Simonds expressed a view,, widely quoted at tho time, that the war had become a stalemate, and that a decision in the field was unlikely His recent visit to Europe has convinced him that he was mistaken, and he remarks that amongst the Allies those most assured of complete triumph are the rnon who are dealing day by day with the enemy across the narrow strip of "No Man's Land.

Mb. Siiionds is particularly interesting in his comments on the British Array, which he had exceptional facilities for observing at work. "In all the things that are considered the .machinery of _ an army," he remarks, the British have now passed both the Germans and the French. Their equipment, their armoury of heavy artillery, their stocks of munitions, are unequalled, and their soldiers are cared for and provided for. as are no other troops about whom I know anything. In tho mere matter of heavy artillery, the British are now firin" four shells to the Germans one, and at the Battle of the So.mme their, air service, took and retained absolute control of the air."- Another factor in tbo Bri-

tish organisation singled out by Me. Simonds is that of transport. Apart, from an immense - motor transport, whole new railway lines have been laid and old .French lines have been double-tracked. "Calais and Boulogne have become industrial cities given over to army work, and Havre outranks Liverpool as a port of call for British ships." Mr. Simonds adds that he does not think anyone would claim for trie British Army the military efficiency that.belonged, to the German Army that entered Belgium in 1914, or for its staff and army commanders quite the combination* of -ability and training which belonged to the army that halted the Germans at the Mania and made tho Battle of the Marnc tho greatest battle in all French history. "But the new British Army is something of the same thing 'that'- Grant's Army (of the.Pptomac) was; it is an immense sledge-hammer, made up of men coming iroin the best manhood of the nation, and th= Germans, like the French, have already lost their best troops in battle . . . And the spirit of the British Army is this: For two years the men in tho ranks have, fought, off the Germans and held on while they lacked all the resources of modern warfare which belonged to Germany; they have opposed bodies to shells, and rifles Ho machine guns. Having in this v long time successfully held on, they are now conscious of having a superiority in all that machinery means in war, and their spirit remains the spirit of the men who died at Ypres, when .the odds were five to one and the losses approached actual annihilation."- Doing- grandly Sie work itwas created to do, tho British Army has lately given ample proof that. *his appreciation does it no more than bare justice.

Some doubtful claims to recovery of ground north of- the ' Aisne are advanced by the Germans, but it is quite clear that the French retain in their entirety the vital positions won on Saturday aud Sunday last. They arc in full command of the heights of the Aisne, except in the narrow sector at-Fort Malmaison, where the Germans have- thus far maintained a precarious footing on the- crest of the plateau, and arc able to record a heavy slaughter of enemy troops employed in counterattacks at different. points. The number of prisoners taken by the French since April 16 now stands at "29,000.

'A message from a Reuter correspondent- at French Headquarters on the subject of tho German disposi-. tions in the Western theatre has been in part anticipated by earlier news, but •it tends generally to strengthen the conviction that the enemy's position- is rapi.diy becom--ing extremely critical. It is said that' ho has massed two-thirds of his total strength ■in • the ■ • Westerntheatre on the fronts ou which the British and French.axe now attacking, and obviously ho has no assurance that he will not presently have to meet equally formidable attacks on other sections of tho front. The reserve upon which the- enemy has already drawn heavily in order to stiffen his failing defence • represents only about one-half of the to-, tal reserve he was estimated to have, in sight at the beginning of the year, but of the- remaining half -agreat part is probably still untrained or only partly trained, and be has not only to support his Western armies, but may soon :be faced by new demands in Russia and the Balkans, -and no doubt must be prepared to assist Austria in the Italian campaign. _ In its visible ! features the situation gives point and-force to the- statement lately cabled to America, that the British offensive is : well ahead of schedule. The Beutcr correspondent bears witness to the prowess of the British Army in tho statement that nearly half the German forces on the Western front are opposed to' the British, though they hold a line only one-third as long as that held by the French. The correspondent estimates that the German casualties in France since "April have reached a total of 200,000. The.number of prisoners taken by. the French and British since , April- 9 - now exceeds 50,000. With this fact in mind, and-considering the nature of the. recent fighting, it seems absolutely certain that the correspond-" ent's estimate is much too low.

Another Allied attack is reportedon the Macedonia*! front, in which the enemy was dislodged from ad-, vanced positions on a front of three miles. An interesting is the appearance''of Vehizelist troops, who are. said to- have' . acquitted themselves, .brilliantly...' ;T.he forces raised.by. the Venizelist. Government consist, as information stands, of five- divisions. Some of these troops have been deployed on the battlefront for months past, but the battle reported to-day appears to have been their first considerable action.

■ New.s 'from. Russia shows upon the whole, an improving tendency, and there are indications that the conditions which the Minister of War declares to be fatal to military efficiency are being amended. In considering the extent to whiori revolutionary disorders -militate against, an • effective of the war, it should not be forgotten that Russia has cast off an-incubus of pro-German conspiracy which went far to paralyse the national effort and- cripple the national armies. By hampering the organisation of the Zemstvos andm other ways, the pro-Germans in Russia were in a fair way to make their country at best a negligible factor-in the further prosecution or the war. Russia, has been relieved of an enormous 'handicap, and though the existing situation is serious there is a reasoiiablo prospect that the German'hope that disorganisation incident to the revolution will prevent effective- Russian interposition for many months maybe disappointed. The prospect of effective action by Russia is of course very greatly improved by the extent to which the enemy is involved in the-Western campaign.