PROGRESS OF THE WAR

Dominion, Volume 11, Issue 60, 4 December 1917, Page 6

PROGRESS OF THE WAR

To-day's reports show some minor gains and losses on the Cambrai front, but in essentials tho official reports bear out the statement of a Reuter correspondent that the territory gained by the enemy in Friday's attack, at a loss of thousands of men, is so trifling as scarcely to show on the map, and that the tactical situation is practically unchanged. Tho great British salient advanced six miles eastward of the line on which General Byng's troops attacked in November 20 has been very little modified. The complete defeat of tho encircling attack in which the enemy attempted fo recover his lost ground and regain his originalline is tho more noteworthy since it is admitted that his thrust against the southern flank of the salient and an adjacent section of the old line came as a surprise. This section of the British front was thinly held, 1 and the enemy's sudden blow enabled him to break through and score a limited success. His onset, however, was magnificently met and speedily stemmed, and ho now retains very little of the grott'id gained in the initial impetus of his surprise attack. Sir Douglas Haio reports the recovery of the village of Gonnelieu and of a spur southward of that place from which, while ho held it, the enemy overlooked a railway running into the British salient. In a later dispatch Sir Douglas Haio mentions fighting in and around Gonnelieu. This may mean that part of the village is still in dispute, but in any case the broad position disclosed is that in spite of his obstinately continued and necessarily costly attacks the enemy is being steadily dislodged from the not very extensive area which he penetrated on Friday. With matters in this state in the area in which the Germans were most successful in penetrating the British positions, the situation further north Wars even more definite witness to the enemy's defeat. In regard to the front from Masnieres northward —that is to say, on the broad eastern face of the salient, facing Cambrai, and along its northern flank— the British positions are everywhere intact with the single exception that Masnieres village itself' has reverted to the enemy.

In considering the results of this tremendous effort on the enemy s part to restore his line, it is necessary to preserve a sense of proportion. It is clear from all reports that the enemy prepared his attack on a tremendous scale and developed it with such a reckless disregard of sacrifice that the battle it occasioned ranks with the greatest of the war. Sir Douglas Haig observes that the enemy advanced in masses from Vendhuille to west of Moeuvres (a. front of 18 miles), endeavouring to break through by weight of numbers. In this enterprise, the British Com-mander-in-Chief goes on to remark, tho enemy incurred the severest losses. Where he temporarily broke through he was caught by pointblank lire from field artillery and driven back by immediate counterattacks. These and not the loss or recovery hero or there of n hamlet or an elevation are the salient facts of the battle. In a struggle of this magnitude details which in another setting would be important largely lose importance. For instance, the loss of Masnieres, if it had occurred as an isolated event, would have commanded attention as a somewhat serious British check. Masnieres village stands almost duo south ot Cambrai, at a distance of four miles, and in British hands it represented a bridgehead on the northern banX of the'Escaut Canal, and a possible vantage point for an advance on Cambrai. In existing circumstances tho evacuation of Masnieres figures as a comparatively unimportant adjustment of front in the course of a great battle. The event, of course, marks a definite gain to the enemy and a loss to the British, but such a loss counts for little in view or the fact that the British lines are as close as ever to Cambrai, and that the British positions on high ground looking into the flank of the Hindenburg line south ot the krarpe have also been successfully defended against all attacks. It was -n tho hope of eliminating the menace to Cambrai and to his line south of the Scarpe that the enemy launched his

attack. These objects ho has utterly failed to achievc or even approach, though he has incurred losses which probably much more than balance those ho has simultaneously inflicted. It is already quite evident that this batfclo has as definitely carried the enemy nearer to defeat as the splendid British offensive thrust of a couple of weeks ago. * * # #. In one of his reports the enemy claims that his captures on the (Jambfai front now include GO British guns. This, like some of his other claims, lias not been contradicted at the moment of writing, and since ho reached British artillery positions in his southern attack it is possibly founded on fact. On the other hand it seems not unlikely that he has included _ trench mortars with field artillery in compiling his total of captured guns. It will be noticed that his report mentions machine-guns, but it does not mention trench mortars, though some, of these must have been captured. * * * No very definite conclusion is to be based on the later news from Russia, but while thero are further indications of a rising opposition to the Bolshcviki it is evident that last week's report alleging the downfall of Lenin and nis gang was, at best, premature. An interesting review of the general situation and outlook appears to-day in a United Service message, ibe point made that Germany fears the ■political effect upon her own population of a peace agreement with such a faction as now holds sway in Petrograd is on the facoofit plausible. It is likely enough that she may prefer continued efforts to spread demoralisation in Russia to such a peace, and while such a policy would in one sense serve her ends its adoption may com P e J , f' to maintain fairly strong armies on the East front for some time to come.