PROGRESS OF THE WAR
The latest Gorman air-raid on London was murderously effective. As reports stand, 97 persons were killed and 439 wounded. Rejoicing as they do in baby-killing exploits, tho Germans will be delighted to note- that the casualty roll includes 26 children killed and 94 injured. If all tho other abominable crimes she has committed since 1914 were forgotten it would still suffice to brand Germany with undying infamy that she has made the murder of women and children a commonplace fcaturo of her conduct of the war. The raid is remarkable only for the results achieved by practically indiscriminate bomb-dropping from an extremo height. Apparently no attempt was made to reach any military objective. At all events no military or naval damage was done._ The raiders did their most effective work against a children's school. The fact that the raid was made- in broad daylight and that bombs were dropped on London may seem to argue a degree of daring on the part of the enemy aviators engaged. It is reported, howover, that tho raiders never descended below 17,000 or 18,000 feet, and that they remained over London for only fifteen minutes. • At such an extreme height there could be- no question of a definite target, but with a populated area like that of London to work upon tho murder of non-combatants is as easily accomplished from an extreme height as from lower altitudes. Tho object of Hying so high was, of course, to vim a minimum risk by making effective pursuit difficult. In the circumstances it is somewhat remarkable that British aeroplanes were able to bring the enemy to action. At time of writing the only result reported is that one of the enemy machines was brought down. It is likely enough that most of them got safely away, unless, like the last squadron which raided England, they were intercepted by Allied machines from' Dunkirk.
At the moment of writing there is hardly any news o{ events in the land theatres. Only raiding is reported on the West front, but it is fairly certain that the apparent lull in that quarter will be-speedily broken. A correspondent's description of tlf3 positions lately captured by the Italians on the Trenfcino front indicates that they are of considerable extent, and at the same time establishes the falsity oE Austrian reports that the ground gained by the Italians was almost immediately recovered. The Italians would not have been enabled to take slock of tin; elaborately crinipped caverns and dug-outs described by the correspondent if tliey had merely effected a temporary advance and had been compelled to retire on the same day lo their original line.
A GRR.MAN newspaper was quoted recently as slating Unit Germany cannot rely upon the submarines lo secure victory, and there is no reason to doubt that this opinion is
sound. 'rhi' submarine problem, iioweu-r, is far from having licen solved, and a somewhat, poinu'd reminder of the fact is given in the latest weekly return of IJritish ships destroyer!. For some' weeks (lie returns have shown a falling rale of losses, but. the figures fur the week which i.-wkd on Sunday last show n substantial increase. Twenty-two British ships over lo'OO tons'were sunk. Tliis is seven more than were accounted for in the preceding week and five more than the average number sunk in the four preceding, weeks. There is also a considerable increase in the number of ships of smaller tonnage sent to the bottom. Ten suffered this fate last week as against three in the preceding week, and an average of .1.5 in the four preceding weeks.
A. ni;miier of explanations of the current increase in the rate of destruction are possible, but the most plausible is that the Germans have again contrived to temporarily increase the strength of their flotillas. The proportion of unsuccessful attacks to the number of ships sunk is smaller than in some earlier weeks, but not so much smaller as to suggest that the increased toll taken of mercantile shipping is duo to the phenomenal success of a given number of submarines. It is likely enough that standardised construction and the systematic training of crows may enable the Germans to spin out their campaign for some time to come. Even if the current rate of destruction of merchant ships were maintained for many months, however, the Germans i would be far short of the decisive results they undoubtedly hoped to attain. Belief that their underwater campaign is doomed to ultimate defeat rests upon two main considerations. One is that the rate of destruction has been kept within limits which they have never for more than a brief period exceeded, and then presumably by an extraordinary sacrifico of submarines. The other is that the. construction of merchant shipping and all tho measures which make for the defeat of the submarine are expanding at a- rate out of all proportion to anything the enemy can hope to accomplish in the way_ of building and replacing submarines. The day when it will be possible to absolutely and finally defeat the submarines may bo distant, and ; indeed, may never arrive. But it is certain that as timo goes on tho submarines will have a bigger task to perform and more formidable dangers to face. In timo every Allied merchant ship of any importance will be armed: the number of mobile craft engaged in protecting merchaut shipping and in hunting down submarines is rapidly increasing, and by tho extension of minefields and in other ways the counter-offensive- is being raised to a higher pitch of efficiency. Taking account of these factors, and of the rapidly-expanding production of new tonnage, it is clear that if the submarines have poor prospects now of achieving decisive results their prospects are not likely to imXirovc as timo goes on.
Permanent link to this item
Hononga pūmau ki tēnei tūemi
https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/DOM19170615.2.18
Bibliographic details
Ngā taipitopito pukapuka
Dominion, Volume 10, Issue 3111, 15 June 1917, Page 4
Word count
Tapeke kupu
972PROGRESS OF THE WAR Dominion, Volume 10, Issue 3111, 15 June 1917, Page 4
Using this item
Te whakamahi i tēnei tūemi
Stuff Ltd is the copyright owner for the Dominion. You can reproduce in-copyright material from this newspaper for non-commercial use under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International licence (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0). This newspaper is not available for commercial use without the consent of Stuff Ltd. For advice on reproduction of out-of-copyright material from this newspaper, please refer to the Copyright guide.