PROGRESS OF THE WAR

Dominion, Volume 10, Issue 3109, 13 June 1917, Page 4

PROGRESS OF THE WAR

Britain's reply to the representations of the Russian Provisional Government on the- subject oi no annexations and no indemnities is in full accord with the American Note to Russia which was published yesterday. It i's a frank invitation to free Russia to continue with her Allies in a war not of conquest but of liberation, and it propounds a basis of common policy which Russia can reject only if she- is prepared to champion the view that Germany and Austria are entitled to uiaintain their rule over the Poles and other peoples whom they have barbarously ill-used. This is the broad issue- raised. As to details Britain's offer to examine, and if necessary to revise, the agreements between "the Allies should satisfy the most exacting demands of Russians who uphold the ideal of a war of liberation. With those who reject this ideal reasoning is. of course, impossible. The frank und open deck rations made by the principal Allied countries have removed all possibility of misunderstanding in the

minds of those Russians who arc able to weigh the essential issues of the war. It is, of course, clear that the factor which threatens to reduce Russia, to impotence is not the reasoned dissent of the nation or of any big section of tho nation from tho war policy of tho Allies, but conditions of internal disorganisation which have lately tended to become chaotic. Some of tp-day : s reports from I'etrograd suggest that hopes of a Russian recovery have not been finally abandoned. The- .British Ambassador's appeal the warlike action in which Russia would at once advance tho common cause of tho Allies and establish her own freedom would presumably not havo been made if he had not considered that there was some hope of a response, and there are reports also of improving discipline amongst the Russian soldiery. At the same time it is evident that Russia, has an enormous amount of leeway to make up. She has wasted weeks hi which she should have been striking hard in concert with her Allies, and the removal of strong enemy forces from the Russian front to other theatres is a commanding fact and a symptom which cannot be ignored.

Sin" Douglas Haig reports some further progress in Flanders. Push'ing eastward beyond the Messines ridge, towards Warneton, on the Franco-Belgian border, the British have captured an enemy trench system on a. mile front, and as news stands the advance is still extending. Oaf; result is to accentuate the disability under which the enemy labours as a result of occupying the angle formed by the Ypres-Comines Canal and tho River Lys.

A number of messages to-day indicate that the Allies are taking definite steps to bring Royalist Greece completely under control. To the news of tho Italian occupation oi Janina, in North-western Greece, and Loud Robeiit Cecil's announcement that steps have been taken to control the disposal of the Thessalian harvest, there is now added a report which suggests that tho Allies are preparing to bring military pressure to bear on Gonstantine if he should refuse to submit to their terms. The Allies aro probably well placed to enforce their demands. Months ago it was roported that many of Constantine's supporters, reservists and others, wcro in possession of concealed arms, and ho may be able to call upon the support of a considerable body of guerillas. But his army is interned in the Morea,_and it is unlikely he is in a position to offer organised resistance to tho Entente on a scale of any great importance. It is obvious' that full and effective control of Royalist. Grccco is essential to the Allies, whether or not they contemplate early offensivo action in the Balkans. Conditions in Russia may put an Allied offensive in tho Balkans out of tho question, but it is in any case necessary to take all possible precautions against a treacherous move by the Kino op Gheeije and his adherents.

A vigorous Austrian counterstroke, made possible by the transfer of troops aud artillery from Russia, recently compelled the Italians to cede a littlo ground on tho Carso plateau, but tho latest official report from' Homo is to tho the enemy's most recent attacks on tho tho enomy's latest attacks on tho Carso plateau. Tho report also mentions renewed activity in tho Trentino. The Italian guns havo destructively bombarded the enemy's defensive works on the Asiago plateau, in the vicinity of tho southeastern frontier of the Trentino, arid some ground has been gained in infantry assaults upon tho Austrian positions. This news carries a suggestion that tho Italians aro taking early measures to defeat an enemy offensive on the Trentino front. Tho possibility is in plain sight, and is likely to remain in sight, unless matters speedily take a turn for the better in Russia, that tho Italians may presently have to cope with a renewal of the attempt made last year by Austria to break into the Yeuetian plain from tho Trentino. Heavily as the Austrian havo lately concentrated on tho Isonzo front, they are much more likely,_ if they attempt a counter-offensive, to launch it in the Trontino than on the Isonzo. An enemy offensive in the Isonzo region would entail a frontal attack upon a defensive lino of formidable strength, with other lines in rear, whereas a successful advance from the Treutino would carry the attacking armies across tho Italian main communications.

TttK Italians, however, have created exceedingly formidable defences on the Trentino front, and are no doubt well placed to meet a renewal of the attack upon their main communications. In an interesting description written at the end of last year an English correspondent declared that in taking precautions against the danger of an invasion of the Venetian plain the Italians had in reality built a gigantic fortress 180 miles long, in the snow-clad region of the Dolomites and of the Trentino Alps. He added that he- had spent two clays on the summit of Pasubio, :i mountain in the Southern Trontino with an elevation of about 7000 feet. "The resistance of the Italians on this gigantic pillar of their Trentino front," he continued, "was no doubt one of the determining causes of the failure- of the Austrian offensive. The Pasubio dominates the valleys most favourable to an invasion of the Venetian plains. The Italians, suddenly grasping its importance, submitted to a. heavy_ sacrifice in lives to defend it against the offensive of tho enemy. Since- then tho Pasubio has become a gigantic fortress. I was astounded to find that here, amid the etornalsnows, onceinaccessible oven to Alpine climbers, an enormous; military depot bad sprung up. In order to realise the importance of this development one must remember that scarcely a year ago not even a footpath led to tho summit. At tho present moment it is possible to reach it by ten dilfcrent roads along which interminable lines of wagons laden with, war supplies move along without intermission. Guns aro posted in caverns dug out of tho solid rock, which is covered in places by more than five inches of snow. They were hauled up by the unaided strength of hundreds of men, whose solE-sacnlicmK devotion is beyond description. In ordor to render tho life of the solilicrs i-olerabk in the midst of this snow-clad desert, mountain huts have been constructed. Nothing move interesting can bo imagined than the existence ot these thousands of soldiers, living at a height of two thousand metres in wooden structures which arc buried for whole months beneath the snow. these men arc practically -Hit oE the world, vet they live contented and happy in llio knowledge that victory will crown all their sucridecs. Here on

the Piisubio 1 havo come across Sicilian and Neapolitan soldiers, accustomed to tho semi-tropical, sun of their native land, who aro calmly doing their duty in these icc-houscs. The. Italians arc desirous that their Allies should realise the- special conditions of the mountain warfare in which they arc engaged. In reality they arc waging a double war—ono against the military enemy and tho other against the natural enemy. They are compelled therefore, to maintain two armies—one lights in tho trenches and another which enables the first to exist and to fight. For the purpose of maintaining the lines of communication between the troops in the first lino and the centres of supply tho Italians have had to employ hundreds of thousands of men. This great army is employed in building roads, clearing them of snow, and conveying every day, in the face of incredible difficulties, the necessaries of life for their comrades in the fighting line from_ the plains to the mountain heights."