PROGRESS OF THE WAR

Dominion, Volume 10, Issue 3080, 10 May 1917, Page 4

PROGRESS OF THE WAR

The recapture of Fresnoy village V the Germans stands out prominently leas on account of its intrinsic 1 importance than • because it is the first instance of , a definite British reverse since the present offensive opened. On a number of occasions the tide of battle has ebbed 'and flowed. Positions have changed 'hands, sometimes repeatedly. But this is the first recorded example of a position which had been won and consolidated being recovered by the enemy. Any incident of. this kind has a certain importance, but there is no reason to suppose that the loss of Fresnoy village marks any material departure Irom the conditions which have ruled and dominated the Battle of Arras since the British took the offensive on April 9— conditions with which the enemy has as little reason as possible to be satisfied. On the contrary, the cir- | cumstances of the struggle for Fresnoy fend on the whole to intensify and accentuate those aspects of the position which are unfavourable to the enemy. Fresnoy stands about four miles east of the Vimy Ridge, and a mile or two west of the enemy's main i line, covering Douai junction—a line which, as reports stand, is still uncompleted. Tne village marks the northern flank of the front on which the British lately attacked a switch-line covering the enemy's main defences in this region. It will be remembered that besides capturing Fresnoy on the north, the a«-. saulting troops gained a footing in the Hindenburg line, about a dozen miles further south. To-day's reports show that the_ invasion of the enemy's line in' this latter area, is "being steadily though not rapidly extended. Eeports dealing with the recapture of Freanoy bear witness to the extraordinary anxiety with which the enemy regardac! {,i>o loss'of this position. The facts in brief are that, after he had won some ground north-east of the ylllage in heavy and costly fighting and lost it again, he brought up two fresh division&r-presumably anything from fourteen to oighteon thousand infantry. These troops, after being repulsed on part of the narrow front affected, and »ifforing lieavy casualties, penotrai-jcl far enough at one point to compel the British to withdraw from Fresnoy village and a small adjoining v;ood. It is tolerably certain that the slight

advantage the enemy has gained is far more than outweighed by his losses.

The country in the vicinity oE Fresnoy runs in gentle undulations, generally descending "from the high ground on the west to the near-by Douai plain, aud presents no features which in themselves would supply a reason for the enemy's extraordinary effort. Certainly the position he has recovered, at a price, has no such tactical importance as the famous Vimy Ridge or the commanding heights north of the Aisne which have now been all but completely -mastered by the French. The Vimy Ridge and the Aisne heights each represented to the enemy an immensely strong defensive barrier, admirably adapted to the purposes of a field fortress, and conferring most important advantages of artillery observation. Fresnoy, from these standpoints, is relatively unimportant, and the enemy's unsparing efforts to recover the village were evidently inspired not by its tactical importance but by' his general anxiety to hold up the British offensive. Though it lias resulted in a local enemy success, the attack on Fresnoy is an additional indication of the straits in which the Germans are placed in the Western theatre. It tends to confirm an opinion that the enemy has no better plain in sight than to- exhaust the possibilities of an obstinate defensive in and in the near neighbourhood of the present fighting area. Taking account of the high efficiency which the Allied armies have developed in attack this is not a hopeful policy. In Northern France the enemy'is now to all appearance centring his hopes on holding the defensive lino which he is preparing immediately behind the present line of contact, and the attack on Fresnoy is a contribution to this end. He is doing his best to postpone the opening of that war of movement in which, according to some German writers, Hindbnburg and his armies are ready and eager to engage, and apparently he sees no hope ot mending his lot by retreat. As to the general outlook, it is reasonable to measure his prospects of holding a defensive line on the Douai plain by his failure to hold positions better placed and very much bettiw prepared than are now available.

It was noted recently that German reports dealing with aerial operations were frequently open to suspicion, A German communique which appears to-day presents statistics of aeroplane losses in the Wcstorn theatre during April which obviously are grossly inaccurate, and can only be intended to deceive those people in enemy countries from whom it is possible to hide the facts. Tho report cannot bo checked in all its details, because the French do not issue regular or complete returns of their own aerial losses or of those inflicted on the enemy, but the extent to which it departs from the. truth may be realised by comparing the losses of German aeroplanes it admits with tho returns given in Allied reports. By their own account tho Germans lost 72 aeroplanes during April. British official reports issued during the .month and tho incomplete returns supplied by the French show that the actual number of enemy machines destroyed during April was very much larger. As a rulo both British reports, and Frenoh reports when they are issued, draw a distinction between enemy machines certainly destroyed and those which aro drivon down damaged, but on ono day in April the British official report stated that fifteen enemy machines were destroyed or driven down damaged. Exoluding this return (though, it covers some machines certainly destroyed), the number of enemy machines reported destroyed during April was 123. Account has still to be taken of 98 machines driven down damaged, and tho detail reports mako it quite clear that a large proportion of these machines were* certainly destroyed. For instance, repqrting-'on one occasion, in the opening days of the British offensive, that 31 enemy machines had Keen driven to earth, Sir Douglas Haig stated that a majority were undoubtedly destroyed. The enemy lost at least something like 200 aeroplanes- on the West front during April, and complete French reports would no doubt raise the , , total to s, K much highor figure. A message , cabled last week stated that of 714 machines brought down on tho West front during April, 366 were Gorman, but these figures do not agree with the details, cabled from day to day. It is quite clear, howevor, that the German report cabled to-day is a fabrication.

Though complete particulars are not obtainable, recent-reports make it quite clear that on the British front the German air forces, instead of "fighting at the zenithoi their capacity," arc in a position of inferiority which tells heavily against the armies they serve. That a somewhat similar state of affairs obtains on the Frenob front is indicated in a report, published today, which states that during the first eight days of May the French destroyed 25 German aeroplanes, besides 51 which were crippled and fell in the enemy lines.

The allegations of a French.writor that Germany is still obtaining very large quantities of foodstuffs from adjoining neutral countries are in conflict with a statement made some time ago by Lord Eobert Cecil, but the suggestion that existing agreements with neutral countries in regard to importations should be reviewed is, on general grounds, of very great importance at the present stage of the submarine campaigii. It is generally agreed that the extension of minefields is a measure from which a great deal may be hoped in the way of setting limits to the raiding activities of the submarines, but so long as sealanes along neutral coa-sts are open to the underwater craft the effects of mining will necessarily be limited. By a legitimate manipulation of the'blockade, the Allies might not only reduce still further the supplies obtainable by Germany from neighbouring neutrals, but might induce these countries to cooperate in effecbivo measures to prevent Ohe illegal use of their coastal waters by enemy submarines.