PROGRESS OF THE WAR

Dominion, Volume 10, Issue 3198, 24 September 1917, Page 4

PROGRESS OF THE WAR

The great battle lately- fought in Flanders, which should possibly bo regarded in the most and immediate sense as a stage in a continuing battle, has been splendidly described by correspondents, who to-day add interestingly to the earlier narratives published at tho end of last week. Some of the issues raised arc familiar. The geographical position is approximately defined in a statement by M. Marcel Hutin that tho British arc now in occupation of "almost the whole of tho western' plateau which dominates the region north of Lille an'l Lille itself." Tho German defence in Flanders is essentially inelastic. A considprable part o£ the northern section of the Flandors front is in-

I undated, butin the south, over more than half tho total length of this front, the enemy has staked bis hopes upon tho resisting power of his fortified lines. Prior to thi conquest of Messines Ridge, he held a fairly wide belt'of elevated grointl which dominates the adjacent piiun both on west and east, and so gave him advantageous observation points and cover for his artillery. In spite of the fact that ho had elaborately fortified the whole of this area, in successive lines, he has now lost much tho greater part of it, and is in a fair way toi be driven into the plain with his lines everywhere overlooked. In such an event there will be no question of tho enemy obtaining relief, except at a very heavy sacrifice, by retreat. A retreat in Flanders of equal extent to that which he made befdre the French and British in the spring woul I cost him his hold on tho Belgian coast, and would involve the abandonment o£ the great depots he has established at-Lille, Tourcoing, and Roubaix, which anchor his Western line as it is at present located. Events must show whether the Allies have it in mind to force the enemy t-o such a retreat this year. They may be working for the time being to a more limited plan, not from lack of power to smash the enemy s defenoo in Flanders, but because they hope ultimately to profit to an even greater extent than would bo possible in the existing' balanco of forces from the disorganisation incidental to bis retreat. It is pretty certain that the latest British success will at least be developed in the near futuro to the point of entirely dislodging thjr enemy from the high crouna'in Southern Flanders and leaving him to fight a winter campaign y in dominated hnes. Accounts given of Thursday's battle and of subsequent events suggest that tho success won may be followed up very speedily, l'rom the tactical point of view tho position is summed up by Mil. CjIBBS in tho statement: "Yesterdays attack proved that tho new German method of holding their lines lightly in'blockhouses, with reserves behind for counter-attacks, has Diokon down." Official reports and the narratives of othet- correspondents fully bear out this claim. It is an essential fact to bear in mind that nothing short of an unyielding clefenco will serve the enemy s purpose on the Inlanders front. A retreat by stages is out of the question Adopting' that course. he would speedily sacrifice his last foofcnoll on the high ground and ■ invito worse evils to follow. Accordingly the Germans set \ themselves to construct and organise a defensive front which would withstand all assaults. Its essential fdatures aro described to-day-a deep range of positions in successive lines, including many miniature forts, backed by tho greatest available force of artillery. The forward positions were lightly held, but heavy reserves were kept in readiness for immedi-ate-counter-attack. This organisation 1 represented tho enemy s maxi\ mum defensive effort in an area where ho is .supremely .anxious. to hold his ground. It is certainly very noteworthy,, in tho circumstances, that on Thursday the 'British broke swiftly into these formidably organfsed defences to a depth of a mile and cnu it in what was apparently ono of tho least costly of the big attacks of the Western campaign. Tho whole of tho ground won on Thursday is held without reduction. A littlo of the ground won on the following day has been recovered by the enemy, but generally speaking the heavy forces ho launched in counter-attacks were thrown away without compensating result. Not only wero many attacking' waves swept away by artillery fire, but the splendid work of the British aeroplanes made it possible at times to smash the enemy's concentrations before ho had time to develop his attacks. Tho aviators reported theso concentrations to tho artillery which then, as Sir Douglas llaio remarks, "dealt with the situation.

Many other details in the reports bear out the claim that the enemy's new defensive methods havo broken down. The ; British attack was a measured blow wh'ich from first to last gave free scope and play to a superior artillery. No doubt it would have been possible to. penc : trate the Gorman lines more deeply in the initial onset, but this would have involved much heavier losses, and would have given the enemy much greater scope _. for effective counter-attack. As affairs were ordered his counter-attacks camo at once under withering shell-fire! There should be nothing to prevent similar blows being struck in fairly rapid succession, and on the facts disclosed the situation is most promising. That the enemy has at one point recovered a little ground counts for little. He is faced by a new and terrible emergency, and is meeting it,_ presumably, by drawing upon his reserves at a rate that he will be unable to maintain. **.* ■ * .

The news from Russia is again bad. After! resuming for a vfery brief period tho duties of Chief of Staff, General Alexieff has como into conflict with the Government and resigned. At tho same time the Russians have suffered another defeat on the Dwina front, which has oost them Jacobstadt, a town on tho south bank o? the Dwina, about 30 miles inland from the coast, and a fairly extensive bridgehead on the same side of the river. As reports stand the enemy has- not yet at'tempted to cross the Dwina m the Jacobstadt area, but it is very possible that he is on the eve of attempting a crossing.