PROGRESS OF THE WAR

Dominion, Volume 11, Issue 96, 16 January 1918, Page 6

PROGRESS OF THE WAR

The only redeeming feature of late news from Russia is that there is no visible prospect of conditions which would relieve the- Central Empires of the necessity of maintaining watching armies on the Russian front. It is suggested tq-day that Bolshevik orders to demobilised officers to report for service immediately imply that Lenin and his faction are planning a "demonstration" against Germany. "With.news of the massacre of naval officers at Sebastopol only a dav or two old, it seems at least as likely that the Bolshevik orders portend another development in that martyrdom of officers which constitutes one of the blackest features of the Revolution. There is not the faintest reason for believing that the Bolsheviki are capable of organising effective military action against Germany even if they aimed at doing so. The statement is credited to-day to Sin George Buchanan, who lias just vacated the British Embassy at Petrograd,_that the trump cards of the Bolsheviki arc peace and the general' war-weariness, and that they will remain in power until the people, whom they have deluded with promises of impossible benefits, learn by experience how grossly they have been duped. It is evidently vain to expect constructive action of any kind from the Bolsheviki, and they are in constant conflict with tho only forces which still represent and uphold order in Russia. At tho same time the statement made by Sir Auckland Geddes tfiat the Russian withdrawal from the war has released 1,600,000 men for tho West front seems to present an extreme estimate.

Aix recent news from Italy indicates that operations in that theatre have settled clown and that the Austro-Gcrmans have porforo abandoned their attempt to break thronjjh the Italian flank defences on the Asiago plateau, as at an earlier stage they abandoned their efforts to pierce the Italian line on the Middle Piave. Matters may remain a I. l.his noinl; for som« lime to come, for the Allies would admittedly have to cope with very considerable difficulties in opening a

counter-offensive. It is important, in this connection that they arc not altogether badly placed as compared with tho enemy in the matter of communications between Italy and Franco. Only two lines of railway are available to the Allies in transporting men and material to or from Italy, the Mont Ccnis and Riviera routes, but the enemy also is hampered by restricted communications, particularly in the region in which h". is in touch with tin; Italian northern flank. On this subject of communications an experienced English military observer wrote recently: "The great argument for concentrating on the Western front (which everybody admits is the main front but not the only one), that the enemy enjoys a considerable advantage in that he operates on 'interior lines,' did good service in relation to our expeditions to the Balkans and the Near East, although it too often assumed the aspect of an excuse for failures which might havo been accounted for by other considerations, But to-day in relation to the Italian front it is more and more threadbare. The German and Austrian armies, which are not concentrated in the centre of the circumference, in Vienna or Berlin but extended along the fronts in East and West, aro in the main considerably further from Northern Italy than the British and French Armies, and the Tyrol is far and away a greater impediment to railway communications than the Alps. Napoleon had no Mont Cenis Tunnel or Oorniche Railway behind him when he crossed tho Alps by the St. Bernard Pass, drove the Austrians out of Lombardy, and compelled them to nign tho Treaty of Lcohen halfway between Laibach and Vienna."

General Diaz, who now commands the Italian armies, was General Cadouna's Chief of Staff before war was declared. According to the military contributor to the Fortnightly Review, General Diaz was given the command of a division in the Italian Third Army in 1.916, when it was decided to conduct a vigorous offensive campaign against Trieste along the Carso plateau. "Ho was speedily promoted," the same writer adds, "to be Corps Commander, and proved himself to bo a skilful, tactical leader. He combines extensive Staff experience with admitted power of leadership, and is General G'ADOBftt's junior by fourteen years. The new Chief of the Italian General Staff is General Badoolio, and the sub-ohief General Giardino. Both are young men with good records behind them."

A great deal has been heard in recent days about the prospect of a German offensive in tho "Western theatre, and tho theory that the Pan-Germans may bo driven by internal unrest to stake everything upon a desperate bid for a decision is undoubtedly plausible. A .neutral lately arrived in Franco from Germany was quoted in a late message yesterday as observing that although the German machine is as powerful as ever, it is likely to collapso at the first military failure. This possibly strikes the true keynote to the situation. There is some definite evidence to be adduced, however, in support of the contrary theory that Germany still hopes to lengthen out the war, and is preparing, with that purpose in view, to gain relief in the Western theatre by retreating. For instance, Router's Agency reported recently that information from a competent Belgian source showed that the Germans wero feverishly finishing the destruction of workshops in tho Liege district. "Gangs of men," it was added, "have been put on to destroy tho Coekerill blast furnaces. Nos. 1 and 2 have been taken down. Nos. 3 and 4 are in courso of demolition, while Nos. 5, 6, 1, and 8 are disorganised. Besides this, all the machinery has been taken away as well as raw ma-, terials and stocks, and the central works are being taken to pieces in order to remove all the copper from them. At Ougreo preparations have been made to pull clown thrco blast furnaoss; 1 and 2 aro already destroyed. Seven rolling mills out of nine have been removed At Angleur everything has disappeared. At Grivegnee everything has gone except the steel works, where the Germans are making ingots. At the Esperanco works at Longdoz as soon as the first requisition papers arrived the Germans immediately began either to destroy or to take away the objects mentioned, namely, three blast furnaces, the steel works, the rolling mills, the foundry, and machine shops. Everywhere' also the Germans are taking away the archives and plans from the drawing offices The situation is moro or less the same all over the country. The important works of 'La Providence' at Haumont (Hainaut) have been completely destroyed, as well as the power-station of the same firm at Marchicnnc. Theso measures cannot bo explained by the mere refusal of the directors to work for the enemy, since the Germans have in many cases sequestrated the industries and exploited them themselves. They seem rather to suggest hasty preparations for an early retreat similar to that which took place in Northern France last spring."