PROGRESS OF THE WAR

Dominion, Volume 11, Issue 34, 3 November 1917, Page 6

PROGRESS OF THE WAR

The note which the present aspect of the war demands has been sounded by tho Prime Minister of France in an interview granted to an American correspondent. MPainleve's statement is first and foremost an assurance that Francs and Britain will render every possible assistance to Italy m her hour of trial, but it is at the same time a great deal more. It holds attention, above all, as an-eloquent and timely expression of the truth that this war is not merely a clash of material forces, and that the Allies have- incalculable moral as well as material reserves to hurl against an enemy who knows no other law than that of brute force. The- military outlook, in spito of tho spectacular success which the enemy has lately won in Italy, gives every ground for confidence', But it is not merely because they possess superior resources and have better military prospects that the Allies are able to regard events such as have, lately been witnessed in the Austro-ltalian theatre merely as an incentive to intensified efforts for _ victory. At bottom their strength is based on a perception that their cause is identified with what is best and noblest in life, and that of the enemy with its basest and most ignoble features. In simple terms, the difference between the Allies and Germany in this war is the difference between a law-abiding,citizen and a brutal murderer. $o long .civilisation and its ideals endure this distinction must hold compelling force as it bears cither upon individual affairs or on a world war. 16 is because this distinction exists that Germany, as M. Paikleve has said, cannot modify tho inevitable issue of this formidable war. Germany is arrayed not merely against the Allies, but against all the forces that make for human progress. These same forces are an inspiration to' the Allies ami .tho foundation of their fixed determination to prevail over tho crimc-sodden nation which has sought to overturn all moral laws by brute force. With such forces operating, . a passing success such as tho Austro-Ccrmans havo won in Italy, big though it seems for tho time being, cannot deflect the main course of the war. In order to prevail Germany must do more than strike hammcr-blo.ws. Sho must make her adversaries as blind as she has shown herself to tho ideals which ennoble human life.

Enemy reports assert that in the. later stages of tho Italian retreat further big captures have been effected, and that in all 180,000 prisoners and 1500 guns have now been taken. At time of writing there is no positive contradiction of these reports, but an Italian communique reporting a successful retirement to the Taglianiento, "with the. Third Army nearly complete,"' suggests that they may be exaggerated, though it shows that somo further losses have been suffered. Tho bridgeheads which tho enemy speaks of-capturing are east of tho Tagliamento, -in areas where the-river is crossed .by. railways'.' .' 'Latisana-, where it is claimed that.sixty thousand Italians were cut off and compelled to surrender, is the point at .which a, railway crosscs.the.Tagliamento, about _ half : a dozen miles from tho Adriatic coast.

The"capture of Bcersheba very possibly"portends a general forward movement by. the. British forces in Southern Palestine. Of late Beer: sheba has been the enemy's advanced ■base; It is in touch with Jerusalem by a railway - running- well to -the eastward of tho line on which'the British have advanced along tho coast as far as tho Wadi Ghuzreh, about five miles from Gaza, llw Turks had extended a light railway from Beersheba to the Sinai frontier at El Audja.;.b.ut this .line was raided and largely destroyed somo months ago by British mounted troops and engineers. The occupation of Bcersheba is no doubt a preliminary step in important offensive operations.

A STATEMENT bv SIR EIIIC GEDDES, First Lord of the Admiralty, gives substance to general., assurances latelv given by Mn. Lloyd George and 'General Smuts that the enemy submarine/campaign is. doomed to failure, and that the submarine has ceased to be a decisive, factor_ in the war. The particulars supplied by the First Lord are at once comprehensive and definite. Ho states that since the beginning of- the war '10 to 50 per cent, of the'submarines operating in the North Sea and in the- Atlantic and Arctic Oceans have been sunk, and that during last quarter _ the enemy lost as many submarines rs during the whole of 1918. The essential, feature of the.First Lord's statement obviously • is the disclosure that the'ratc'at which submarines arc being destroyed is rapidly advancing. This is much more important than the fact that countermeasures have accounted for half, or nearly half, of the submarine operating in the sea areas in which the enemy has developed his main attack on Allied sea transport, and in which the most vital interests of the Allies are at stake. To destroy half of the submarines which leave German ports would not suffice to defeat the submarine campaign, but tho First Lord's figures evident y mean that more than half the submarines sent out in a given period -perhaps considerably, more than half-are -now being destroyed,-, and

th.il, the nilo-.of destruction .is nipidly increasing, Given, continued development on those, linos a- pointwill Lin. reached sooner or -later at 'which the Germans will he iniahle, liy turning put new submarines, to ■keep pac.v with the process of rdestruction. Indeed, it is nut certain that even now submarines fro being constructed faster than they are li'ing destroyed. Since not.u.iire than .half the enemy -submarines employed in seas other than the, Mediterranean and the -Baltic.have been destroyed .(as to these seas n'pjfi.formation is given), .it is obvious ■that the Germans have, many- more submarines now than in the early, days of the war. But the fact that the' rate at .'which submarines arc being' destroyed has been :-o largely increased makes it impossible to assume that the construction of the underwater craft is keeping pace with destruction, and that tie strength of the enemy flotillas ;s being maintained at the maximum point reached. It is possibly already declining from that point, and even if it is not, given a continued increase in the rate of destruction such a decline is only a matter of time.

"•. * * * Tub latest air raid on London was made in strong force and in weather conditions which favoured the enemy and handicapped the- .defence. Yet its recorded results arc much less serious than those o many previous raids made- ~y smaller squadrons. If. is stated that the total .casualties in all districts were 8 killed atid.2l wounj cd, and that the material. damage done was slight. The' efficiency of the defence appears also in tho lact that of thirty- enemy machines engaged only three penetrated the Lart of London. As-a wholvthe reports show that excellent wort was done both by the batteries and by tho defending aeioplancs. Though tho policy of cari,ng the war-into the enemy s country is now taking definite shape, t may be some considerable time before an end is made of raids on London, so that the apparent efficiency of the defensive organisation ■ still a factor of the highest importance.- There u no news at the moment of writing that anyjol he enemy machines were brought down, but -ft is possible that the. raiders may have been intercepted on their return journey by Allied aeroplanes from An excellent description of the with a span of about 80 feet fioin pto tip of the wings, and ha I length of 40 feet from nose to tail-in-he height of the 'machine- is about feet? The body, or fuselage I Is i.nilar to that tractor biplane, familiar to all, instead of having an engine in the noS to compartment ». occupied hv a gunner-observer, who also operates the bomb-dropping controls. The forward of. rather more than, a semi eircie horizontally and vertical y so,tha it can fire-anywhere inside at) area representing rather f morethan a hemisphere round the -frontof the machine. The bombs, twelve in number, arc carried under the pilots onipartment, which 1S between th upper and lower wings and mime iately behind the forward gunner. The reason for carrying-the bomb thus is that since the bomb-case :s 5t under what is called the 'centre of lift' of the machine, the case is full or empty. Two extra bombs can be earned under the fmward gunner's compartment if doSd. Well aft of the pilot, behind the win«s, is a large cockpit for the afjgimner.whohasagunon h« Cof the fuselage which covers the whole after hemisphere of sky ana. raHicr more, so that any hostile, from, above or from either side is subject to the fire of both the forward and aftet guns. -Besides the top gun there:is a third gun on the floor of the after cockpit, Ifiring behind:or dotards nlon"- a- bottomless tunnel.in the fuselage, and the fuselage is so arranged that in the event, o an pfc tack' from the rear the, forward gunner can come aft,-past the pilot, and so two guns'.can bo brought to bear on the pursuer. ......' .. •* ■»-.■* ... r ' •- .'-'lt is this .multiplication of guns. and gunners," the correspondent adds, ■''which- makes » formation .of' Gothas'so difficult to attack, -ftir- ■ suing machines'need'room' in which to manoeuvre, arid unless; thjrpur-. suers carry two .guns,, each faring forward, and at'the same time each attack a separate Gotha, they are certain to be out-gunned. If one pursuer gets ahead of his'fellows he is tho target for .the .concentrated fire of several machines, and unless the Gotha. formation--is. broken-up it is impossible for several pursuers to attack one Gotha at' the same time and so bring ft superiority ol suns to bear... Despite .this difficulty, however,.-our.-aviators haw succeeded by sheer "gallantry and disregard of personal danger in bringing down' several- of these, formidable, craft." '\ The Gothas are capable of reaching great heights and of--• maintaining high speed at an altitude at which most aeroplanes begin to lose speed badly. Those who have fought them say that at 18,000 feet they are little if at all slower than tho fast German fighting machines. No purely defensive, measures will make London sate against the attack of machines of this class or of an improved type, but it is the saying feature of tho situation that the Allies have pro- : duced very much larger and moro powerful aeroplanes than the Gotha, and are planning a. systematic offensive against the-industrial area of Western Germany. A.very large part of this territory lies west of a line parallel with -'the present, battlefront at a distance' of 150 miles. Half of this distance has thus far .been .traversed by British bombing squadrons in what are presumably the pioneer flights of- a great aerial offensive:-. If attacks like those lately made on. Saarbrucken and Pirmasens arc multiplied as they should he, it should not be long before the Germans are much too busily occupied at home to spare machines for raids on London.

Particulars have been received by Mr. L. W. Gordon, of Thames, of Iho death of his son, Flight-Lieutenant -A. W. Gordon, who died on August 12 of wounds. Might-Lieutenant Cook, D.C.M., writes tt> tlio effect that "Lieutenant Gordon, with two other British ecout pilots, attacked ten enemy aeroplanes, and was successful in bringing one down, when an accident Ui liitr niiichiiio resulted in his having both legs broken. Ito was taken to a military hospitaj, but. his. injuries unexpectedly proved,.fatal thirteen days afterwards,"