PROGRESS OF THE WAR

Dominion, Volume 11, Issue 7, 3 October 1917, Page 4

PROGRESS OF THE WAR

In view of what is known about tho present strength of the_ Allies and the preparations America is making to contribute her quota, the statement transmitted from Washington to-day that the Allies will open the next spring campaign with eix million men puts no strain upon belief. This, of course, applies to the whole Western theatre and not to Flanders only. The French High Commissioner to the United : States was quoted a'few days ago as stating that France had three million soldiers afoot, in all theatres, and considerable reserves still to draw upon. Exaofc particulars of British strength in the Western theatre arc not available, but authoritative information as to the scale on which the Empire has mobilised was given by Mr. Lloyd Ghokge to representatives of the French Press whenthe attended tho Allied Conference at Paris in tho latter part of July-

On that occasion the British Prime Minister spoke with feeling of the tremendous sacrifice and effort of France since the beginning of the war. That effort, he said, could not be compared with those of other Allied countries, but perhaps because of this tremendous heroism France was the less able to grasp the effort made by other countries. He asked (as he is reported by a Times. correspondent) that'ho might be allowed in the interests of close friendship between the two countries to give to tho French some idea of what had been accomplished m Great Britain since the beginning of the war, and quoted figures showing that between 5,000,000 and 5,500,000 men had been raised for the British Army in Great Britain, that between 400,000 and 500,000 men were in the Fleet, and that about 1,000,000 men had responded to the Mother Country's call from the Dominions and colonies. He showed how astounding these figures wcro when considered in conjunction with Great Britain's position as'thc great transporter and purveyor of the Allies, and also .as tho great naval force fighting Germany. At the present moment tho British placed at the disposal of their Allies a mercantile marine of close upon 2,000,000 tons. They Were at the same time able to continue their activity as coalminers, about 1,000,000 men being employed in that occupation. The product of British mines went partly to France, partly to Russia, and partly to Italy/ but on this point it had to bo remembered that tho British production was some 30,000,000 tons less, than in peace time. Of the steel produced in Britain, between one-third and a quarter went to Franco for shell production. Britain, who possessed nothing but "a contemptible little Array" at the beginning of the war, had bocomo a great military Power, equipping not only itself but its Allies with war material.

As to the contribution of tho United States figures given out

some time ago in Washington showed that the regular i\*.'iny had been recruited to its full war strength of 300,000 men, and that tho 400,000 men of the National Guard regiments were being mobilised. As ono American newspaper remarked: "Hero we have 700,000 soldiers, exclusive of the 687,000 called to the colours by tho first draft. Of these 1,500,000 men, fully 250,000 will bo in training in France before tho winter sets in. By next spring 1 America will havo an army of 500,000 men on the Western front,. In addition, there will bc ( ready thousands of trained aviators."

In regard to tho organisation of the United States air- forces, late roports from Wa-shington state that tests of the first of tho standardised United States airplane motors designed and built under: the direction of the Aircraft Procfliction Board make it practically certain that American-made fighting machines will be available for , service in Franco early next year. It is a fact worth bearing in mind, in view of tho sensational stories at times transmitted by cable, that details of tho design and performance of the aeroplanes and engines under construction are withheld from publication. Probably (to further quote a report from Washington) threo distinct types.of service craft for the Army will be turned out. They will be the small, swift machines designed for air duels and to screen observation and bombing cpft; daylight bombing machines, slower than the fighting craft,- but still fast enough to minimise tho danger from anti-aircraft guns/and big enough to carry observers, photographic outfits, radio, and bombs, in addition to their guns, and the still slower night bombing machines, in which carrying capacity is increased at the expense of speed, because darkness protects them from gunfire Tho United States motor, it is understood, was not designed primarily for speed. Durability and reliability, co-ordinated with a high ratio of power for each pound ol engine weight, was : the object of the American engineers who worked out the plans. The engineers are making every effort to improve the.de sign and incorporate new features As rapidly as improvements are developed, they will bo incorporated in subsequent motors, tho same elforts toward quantity production being made each time the design is, altered. This account it will be observed, is not altogether consist enfc with , roports which ha-ve obtained currency that the United States will concentrate wuon quantity production in accordance with plans supplied by the Allies. The inconsistency, however, may be more apparent than real. . In all the belligerent countries improvement in design is being effected coincidently with the °.^* n « at "» of standardised production. Iho United States will, of course, make its independent contribution to these developments, but it will nevertheless receive very material assistance from the i Allies.

Air raids on Lopdon are becoming a nightly occurrence; and though tho defending batteries arc doing- effective work they are unable to prevent a certain amount of bomb-dropping in'the metropolitan area. v Naturally the demand for reprisals has been stimulated, but newspaper comments indicate a general recognition that' reprisals must be identified with a definite military purpose. It is stated by the London Times that the public demands a great air fleet, capable of carrying the war into Germany. This unquestionably indicates the right policy, and really effective reprisals will only- be possible when such a fleet is available. For the time being the bulk of Great Britain's aerial strength is engaged in maintaining supremacy on the battle front and in attacking enemy establishments in Belgium, _ including the aerodromes in which the machines which raid London are based. If the Daily Chronicle is well-advised in its prediction that ruthless British raid%on German cities are imminent it must be assumed cither that considerable reinforcements are- available or that a period of quiet on the battlefront is anticipated. Whether or not big attacks on German cities are imminent, however, there is.much to bo said for tho line of action taken by the French in the case reported to-day. By way of direct reprisal for an attack on an open town they sent a couplo of machines to bomb Stuttgart. The diversion of military forco entailed was negligible, and tho moral effect may be considerable., Britain would not appreciably postpone tho day of an overwhelming aerial offensive by copy-, ine the example thus set. . »■ * *. *

Ineffective enemy attacks aro the leading featuro in to-day's reports of operations in the Western theatre. That the enemy has gained a couple of advanced posts in the Polygon Wood, duo east of Ypres, does not necessitate any modification of this statement. The exhaustion of the enemy's reserves is the essential object of British policy, and it is evident that the enemy 3 losses and not the slight gam ot ground he effected constituted the predominant feature in the latest lighting in Flanders. .