PROGRESS OP THE WAR

Dominion, Volume 11, Issue 78, 26 December 1917, Page 4

PROGRESS OP THE WAR

Anotheh forward movement is reported in Palestine, and it seems likely to develop rapidly, Necessary positions having been gained in the hill country north and northeast of Jerusalem, General Aiaenby's forces are now moving north along the coast. They have crossed the River Auja, which reaches the coast three or four miles north of Jaffa, and marks approximately the southern, extremity of the fairly wide Plain of Sharon, which extends north along the coast to Mount Carmel, south of the Bay of Acre. •As reports stand, the British troops have reached 'positions four miles north of the Auja. Naval co-opera-tion facilitates the advance. ■■* # * *

According to a message from Washington the Germans have opened a big drive in Macedonia. The only details added at time of writing relate to attacks on the Italian positions in the Cerna bend, 'east and. south-east of Monastir. It is possible that the message is cast in exaggerated terms, but as an item in a general policy aiming afc the recovery of what has been lost in the Balkans and in the Turkish theatres an offensive in Macedonia may easily hold greater attractions for the enemy than the great offensive in the Western theatre upon which many recent reports have declared him" to be intent.

One of the few events' in the Western theatre reported at time of writing is an enemy local attack which drove in the British advanced posts for a short distance on a front of 700 yards, near the YpresStaden railway—that is to say, on the south-eastern fringe of the Forest' of Houthulst. This forpst lies in tho low country between the northern end of the Basschendaele Ridge and the Yser Canal. It was formerly a very strong point in tho German line, but is now closely invested on the west and south,' and is threatened with further envelopment by tho extension of British attacks oh the Passchendaele Rids;e and in the country to the west. Th--; enemy, no doubt, is very anxious In relieve pressure on this section of his line, but, othev considerations apart, with a sea of mud underfoot, he is not well placed to persevere in attacks to that end.

An extraordinarily mild winter is adding to tho immediate problems of tho Italians by delaying 'the snowfall which, given a normal season, would before no\v have heavily impeded the enemy's transport through mountain country and hampered nis offensive operations. The latest news on the subject is that snow has fallen heavily, but that the weather is so mild that a thaw may follow. Meantime, the struggle continues in full vigour. A late message reports another powerful enemy thrust which the Italians

apparently had considerable difficulty in arresting. It is added, howover, that their counter-attacks aro making headway, and there, is no indication as yet that the general situation has changed for the worse. * * * * A speech by the Italian Prims Minister which is reported to-day is calculated to confirm the impression given by events on, the battlofront that, much as the situation has changed to her advantage, Italy is facing the problems of tho war, and meeting its demands, in a spirit of firm resolution. Whwi SiONOR Orlando formod his Ministry, in the first clays of the military disaster on tho Isonzo, somo fears were expressed that it represented an alliance with Signor Giohtti and the pro-Germans. The fact was emphasised, in this connection, that Signor Orlando was once a member of a Giolitti Cabinet. Events, however, have gohe far to justify the opinion expressed some weeks ago by an American commentator that the Orlando 'Cabiact merely means an alliance of those elements which have claimed that Italy was not managing her military affairs or her internal affairs in the right way. Signor Orlando, according to one authority, "thought that Italy should not have gone into the war when shedid, finding fault not with the aspirations and aims of Italy, but with her ability to carry on war." It is, however, as a Minister resolved to prosecute the war to a victorious conclusion that he has been accorded a vote of confidence by the Chamber of Deputies by a seven to one majority. There is no reason to suspect him of any inconsistency, for the same, sjsi fit might very well underlie his initial doubts of his country's ability to ' wage a successful war and his present declaration that after the immense sacrifices of the war tho only way to safety is resistance, and that, rather than accept a peace which would leave Austria in possession of Italian territory, the Italians would retreat fighting as far as Sicily. *' * * * *

This expression of determination is tho more welcome since it probably connotes a renunciation of claims to other than Italian territory of which a good deal has been heard in'the past. Italy has an 'Unexceptionable claim to the Trentino and to a considerable part of Istrii, but the same could not he said of demands extending to practically the whole eastern seaboard of, the Adriatic. Satisfaction of these demands would entail an unjust invasion of the rights of tho Southern Slavs, and manifestly such demands could.never gain the general support of the Allies. Italy will best advance her own cause and that of the Allies by prosecuting the war with all possible energy and framing her demands with a strict eye to justice and equity. This apparently is the policy to which tho Orlando Ministry is committed. The attitude taken up by the United States in itself suggests that Italy has definitely undertaken to limit her war aims to the recoverv of the territory which is rightfully her own and the redemption of her kinsfolk in bondage.