PROGRESS OF THE WAR

Dominion, Volume 11, Issue 86, 4 January 1918, Page 4

PROGRESS OF THE WAR

Another indication that the Allies are gaining the upper hand in Italy is given in the news that tho Italians have dislodged the enemy from his foothold on the west bank of the Piave, in the neighbourhood of Zenson, about four miles south of one railway crossing the Piave, and half a dozen miles north of another. This bridgehead between the two railways had been obstinately maintained by the enemy for weeks, and for a time he made desperate efforts to extend it. A message from Washington yesterday spoke of a continued Austro-German concentration between! the Brenta and the Piave, and stated that it presaged a further offensive, but both Genehai, Diaz, the Italian Commander-in-Chief, and the British high military authority, express firm confidence in the outlook.

A Washington report, labelled "official," which is in most details merely a summarised version of British dispatches dealing with late developments of the Palestine offensive, containsl one new feature. It states that in the recent (battles north of Jerusalem four German divisions were engaged. This is extremely important 'news if it is true, .and would imply that- (.he Germans have other, projects than a Western offensive in hand, but it is probable that the statement about the German divisions is_ in fact an error. A recent British report spoke of the Turks receiving German assistance, but this no doubt applies to German officers and small specialist units which have long been attached to the Ottoman forces. Had the Turks been supported by four complete German divisions it is tolerably certain that the /act would have been mentioned in the official reports and by correspondents. It is to be supposed also that so important a, development in the campaign would not have been passed over in silence by the high military authority whose weekly review of the position in Palestine and in other theatres appears to-day.

It will bo noticed that the high military authority admits the possibility that the enemy may launch a big offensive in the Western theatre. His outline survey of the position, _ however, brings out facts which might be expected to deter the Germans from embarking on snch an enterprise. He points out that the Allies hold most of the high ground and ridges 011 the Western front, and are established in better positions than ever Tjefore. At tho same time, the enemy is still a long way from being superior in strength to the Allies, and is not transporting troops from Russia at anything like the speed that some recent reports have alleged, though he is doing so at a steady rate. Giving duo weight to these facts, and to the past events nf the Western campaign, it seems certain that if tho enemy does open a big offensive in tho Western theatre he will do so under exceedingly unfavourable auspices. * * * *

Uncertainty again obtains as to the position reached in the llussoGorman negotiations. A Daily News correspondent at Petrograd reports that the negotiations have broken down, tho Russians rejecting the conditions under which the Germans proposed to determine the fate of Poland and the Baltic Provinces, but it is stated in messages from Vienna that the negotiations were re-

sunicd on Saturday, unci in the ovonfc of the A'?i(c/i la still declining to take part, will be continued with a view to a separate peace. Tho principal change in the situation, according to tho Vienna version, is that tho Russians have now adopted the standpoint that "Peoples already belonging to a definite! State, cannot have the right to decide their own destinies, becausc they already possess a constitutional means of gaining their ends." The. adoption of this formula (if it lias been adopted) opens rather wide possibilities. At ite face value it implies a definite abandonment of any attempt to intervene, on behalf of the races hitherto subject to Germany, Austria, ai.d Turkey, though it is of course absolutely untrue that these races Jiavo a constitutional means of gaining their ends. On the other hand, literally interpreting their formula, the Russian delegates would demand the complete,' unconditional evacuation of all Russian territory occupied by the enemy. At time of writing there is nothing to show whether the, Bolshoviki harbour this latter intention or have merely devised a new form of words to cover a further abandonment of Russian rights and responsibilities.