The Dominion. WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 5, 1917. THE TREND OF THE WAR

Dominion, Volume 10, Issue 3182, 5 September 1917, Page 4

The Dominion. WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 5, 1917. THE TREND OF THE WAR

The, main developments of the war during the last year have tended more and more to concentrate effort on the practically continuous front which extends from the coast of the North Sea to that of tho Adriatic. Tho Western theatre has figured, from the outset as the area in which the Allies aro able to pin down and immobilise most advantageously a very largo proportion of the enemy's total available strength, but until last year it seemed likely that Allied action in' tho Eastern and South-Eastern theatres might contribute in a very important degree to the enemy's ultimate defeat. The prospect was, in brief, that even if tho enemy contrived to maintain an unbroken defence in the Western theatre, and on the Italian front, the enormous demand mado upon his resources in these areas might compel the weakening of his fighting lines and lay him opon to disaster in the Eastern theatre and in the Balkans. The position was modified, but not transformed, by tho enemy's invasion of Rumania in tho winter of 1916. This enterprise strengthened his hold upon tha Balkan corridor, which was materially widened as a result of his advance through Wallachia. and opposed new and serious obstacles to effective' co-operation between the Russo-Rumanian - armies and the army of the East, based, on Salonika. The demoralisation of the Russian armies and resultant military disasters,' of which tho latest example has been afforded on the Riga sector, have since heavily accentuated what is- called in a message from Washington to-day "the greatly altered military _ situation." That tho military situation has been, greatly altered is quite clear. Wa do not know how far tho demoralisation of the Russian armies will go, but it is no longer possible to count upon their effective aid for some time to come. The Western Allies and Italy are doing their part. They hold immobilized and are steadily wearing down a very_ great part of the enemy's total available strength. They have broken up his _ defensive organisation in a way which speeds their offensive and magnifies its results as time goes on, and as a result tho enemy is necessarily weakened in all other theatres. So far, matters arc taking the line it was hoped they would take, but wo cannot now hop© for tho results that would have followed in the Eastern theatre had the Russian armies continued to strike vigorously in concert with their ' Allies. To-day, Austria is staggering under the-im-petus-of a powerful Italian offensive. She may possibly bo capable of a temporary recovery. It is practically certain that no recovery would have been possible had tho Russian armies been, in a condition to build upon the splendid work they did last year. Short of wme extraordinary improvement in Russia, we can hardly expect her to do moro for some time, perhaps a long timo to come than hold a limited proportion of the enemy's neld forces in play. At the same timo the defection of Russia makes the position of the Rumanian Army precarious and tends to rob tho Allies of its effective co-operation, and also militates seriously against the possibility of effective action by the Allied army based on Salonika. While it 1 is manifest that in tfiis sense and to this extent tho military situation has altered to the enemy's advantage, it is equally true'that in its total. scope, _ and changed as it is. the situation is one which the Allies aro in a position to regard with undiminished confidence, and which shows not a ray of hope for the enemy. In considering the extent to which tho situation has been altered it is necessary to remember that the superior power of the Western Allies has from first to last been the dominating factor in tho Allied calculation's. This supeTiority is more pronounced and more definitely established to-day than it has oyer been; it is producing positive fruits, and so long as it is maintained and is being steadily increased nothing that can happen in other theatres

will alter the main trend of tho war or lighten the enemy's prospects. From the enemy's point oT view the collapse of Russia has put off thocvil hour, but ho can effect a real improvement in his prospects in no other way than by reversing the current of events in which bis defeat is being steadily and romorscly worked out in the Western theatre and on tho Italian front. Even if it is] assumed that all other theatres, including those which formerly seemed destined to witness decisive' events, _ have sunk to a position of relatively minor importance, it remains true that tho existing state of affairs and the lino of development which has become permanent on the Western and Ita'ian fronts is an earnest of Allied victory and of the enemy's defeat. An appreciation of the truth is assisted by reports like that which states to-day that last month forty German divisions—nearly a fifth of the total German strength available in all theatres —were withdrawn exhausted from the Flanders and Verdun fronts, and that at present nineteen other enemy divisions are being reduced to the same state in these areas. It is in the accumulating, ovidence of the exhaustion of his resorves that the enemy's steady approach to defeat is most strikingly attested, and it is tho central and commanding fact relating to tho Western campaign that the Allied operations during the spring and summer have had tho effect of rapidly expediting this process of exhaustion. When tho Allied offensive opened in April the German front rested everywhere upon positions, selected for their tactical .strength, whichi the enemy had done bis utmost to perfect and make impregnable. To-day theso positions havo been mastered, not merely in ono fairly extensive area, as in tho Sommo offensive last year, but along tho greater part of the front from Flanders to Verduri. But this, as an English correspondent remarked recently, is the least important part of the matter. It is much moro 'important that, contrary to tho German Staff calculations, the cost of the Allied attack has been less than that of %i German defence. "The presumption seems to have been," tho correspondent adds, "that tho losses of the attack must bo something like three times those of tho defending force. The talo of casualties and prisoners has proved to bo quite the other way about." Thrown back upon a ragged and comparatively open line, and proved inferior in fighting power as well as in material resources, tho enemy _is condemned to spend his strength with increasing prodigality. By then utmost efforts, and with Russia for practical purposes- out of action, the Germans have not been able to arrest the steady deepening of theit difficulties .on tho Western front Tho failure of their attempt to exhaust the French armies has of late been very convincingly"' demonstrated. Recent ovents east of the Isonzo havo made it as evident that Austria 'is in ovon ' moro desperate plight than her'principal ally. The interesting news is transmitted today that Germany has enabled Austria to transfer "five additional divisions" from the Eastern to the Italian front. There is no reason to doubt that the report is accurate, and if it is'it very clearly illustrates the fact that the enemy is compelled to subordinate all othor considerations- to the 'necessity of propping up as best ho can his failing defence against tlio Western Allies and Italy. It now appears' that the enemy's last hope disappeared with the failure of the attempt upon which he'-concentrated during tho summer to' exhaust Franco and compel her to Cry a halt. Conversely, the assured prospect of effective American co-opera-tion in the not distant future is tho final guarantee of that victory for which the Allies have already douo so much to prepare the way.