PROGRESS OF THE WAR

Dominion, Volume 11, Issue 162, 28 March 1918, Page 4

PROGRESS OF THE WAR

London newspapers are said to be complaining about the brevity of British communiques dealing with the battle in France, but there does not seem to bo any serious lack of information except in regard to the Allied counter-plans, which in the/ nature of things will not bo disclosed until they have taken practical shape. Even in regard to these plans there are some sviggcstivc hints. So far as the movement of the armies—not by any means the most important aspect of the battle—is concerned, a considerable change has occurred since the period covered in yesterday's reports. It was then still in doubt whether the British contemplated defending portion of the ground gained in the Somme and Ancre battles of 1916, notably the Thiepval ridge, which constituted the backbone of the fortified line defended by the Germans in that year. It is now evident that the retirement is being continued over these areas. As the campaign of 1016 developed, the Thiepval ridge was important, not only because it had been formidably fortified, but because it is a watershed commanding a wide extent of country on north and south. It is one thing, however, to defend such an elevation, as the Germans did, against frontal attack, and quite another to hold it against an enemy approaching it in 'flank, and this -with a battle of movement in progress on a wide front which the ridge bisects. The Germans are in a position to extract what satisfaction they can from recovering speedily, though anything but cheaply, battlefields they defended desperately a year and a half ago. But it is manifest that conditions and factors which bulked large in 1916 have very little reference to the struggle now in progress. * # * *

Official and unofficial reports indicate that the British arc retiring upon a line which, southward from a* point about fifteen miles south of Arras, corresponds approximately to that held prior to tho Battle of the Somme. Northward of the point indicated the new line is described as striking north-east until it connects, about five miles east of Arras, with the front upon which the British were established when the present battle opened. As information stands, the new line . where it touches the Sfimme will run a few miles west of that in which the Allies opened their offensive. That this is approximately the front upon which tho British are retiring is hardly in doubt, more especially as the French are conforming to such a retirement by their evacuation of an area south, of tho Sommo as far as and including Noyon. The latter place once again marks the apex of tho salient formed by the German lino in France and Flanders, as it did for a lengthy period subsequent to the Battles of tho Marne and the Aisne. No doubt, on the front here indicated, the Allies are very much better off in the matter of communications than in many intermediate areas between it •and the line on which the Germans launched their drive. It is in fact highly probable that it represents a reserve line propared and maintained for just such an emergency as har arisen. It should bo noted that while the recent movements largely restore the German' salient with its apex at Noyon, fifty-six miles from Paris, tho threat to both flanks of the German salient arising from the British conquest of the Flanders ridges and tho Vimy ridge in Northern Franco, and the French gains north of tho Aisne, in the Champagne and at Verdun, is fully maintained.

The interest of to-day's news centres in suggestions from various quarters that the timo is at hand when the Allies will strongly counter the enemy's thrust or, as one correspondent puts it, give Hindenburg a lesson in the art of war worthy of the Marne and Verdun. It may bo wise to moderate immediate expectations'under this head and to consider that the Allies may rely upon long-continued arid methodical efforts rather than upon any spectacular move. At the same time there is a good deal in tho existing situation which seems to warrant a hopeful outlook. What is made known ■of the dispositions of strength on either side is of particularly good promise. We have it from Sir Douglas Haig that the onemy has been obliged to support his upon tho British line by drawing troops from all parts of the Western theatre, and that over seventy German divisions have now been engaged ini. the' battle. As a correspondent at French Headquarters puts it, one-third of the German forces on the Western front are engaged upon one-eighth of its length. On the other hand, it is stated that thus far' only twentyseven British divisions havo been opposed to the thrust in which the Germans aro exposing a third or more of their divisions on the Western front to the most exhausting ordeal of the war. With somo twothirds of the British strength and .1 much larger proportion of the French yet to be called upon, not to speak of the Americans and other Allied contingents, , the opinion seems to be amply warranted that the Allies are splendidly placed to deliver an effective counter-thrust.

There are_ other factors in tho situation which may impel them to early action on these lines. The cardinal necessity is that the Allied line should be maintained intact, with French and British in unimpaired contact. So long as this condition is satisfied, the enemy is faced by a failure which his gains of territory in no way compensate. At the same timo there are limits, from the Allied standpoint, to the policy of evacuating territory in order to hamper and weaken the enemy's attack. Having evacuated Noyon, Ihe French are now strongly established on the line of the Oisc, and as reports stand are holding up the German advance. Other measures than direct resistance may be called for, • however, in order to prevent a further forward movement by the enemy towards Paris.

Even greater importance' probably attaches to the suggestion made by Gexkhal M-'Lachlan, of the British military mission in America, that the enemy's immediate objective is Amiens. A glance at the map will show how eminently reasonable this suggestion is. Amiens is about twenty-five miles west of the- line the Germans have now reached on the Somme, and little morn than forty miles from the coast at the mouth of that river, ft is a junction commandingly placed on the; railways due north of Paris. Reaching it, the enemy would havo taken a long stride towards that

separation of the French and British forces which is the immediate goal of his ambition. It may ho assumed very confidently that even a near approach to Amiens would cost the Germans vastly greater efforts and sacrifices than they have yet put forth, hut here, as in regard to stemming an enemy advance on Paris, the Allies aro likely to safeguard their position by active counter-measures and not by a merely passive defence. Precisely on what lines they will act time must show, hut it counts for much in the circumstances that while the enemy is rapidly using up his reserves in gaining results as yet plainly inconclusive, the Allies hold! "commanding vantage points on hotn flanks of tho great salient formed by his line in Prance and Flanders.

No doubt one result of Germany's desperate bid for victory will be to speed up_ America's war preparations, but it need not bo supposed that the stimulus thus applied is as badly needed as a statement by Senator Lodge, cabled today, would suggest. As he is reported, he asserted that the United States front in France had not been -supplied with a single airplane, or any guns from America, and that only two American-built ships have yet been completed. AVhether or not the cabled summary is consistent with the sense of the original statement, it is certain that these assertions as they stand have very littlo reference to what the United States has accomplished in war preparation. As to ships, it may be true that few ships have yet been turned out from the yards laid down on ground that was vacant when America entered the war., but one of the first war.measures of tho Government was to take some hundreds of ships under construction and to let contracts for a large additional number. A considerable number of ships have been completed under these conditions, though the new yards will not for some time yet attain anything like full output. America meantime has largely increased her shipping resources by the seizure of enemy shipping and by arrangements with neutrals, notably that lately concluded with Holland.

Where guns and aircraft are concerned, allowance must bo made for the fact that as a matter of efficient co-ordination America arranged to rely for both in the first instance upon > the Allies, though she will increasingly supply her own needs as time goes on. She will provide a strong force of aeroplanes ife the very near future, but she will largely rely upon her Allies for guns for some time to come. ■ Mr. Baker, American Secretary for War. stated recently that in January, 1918, America would receive 620 three-inch guns from France and would make 84 herself. In December next America would manufacture 433 such guns. In the latter part of February last, when complaints of a serious shortage of aeroplanes on the American front were ventilated, Mr. Baker announced that the first American-built battleplanes "are to-day en route to, the front in France." They are equipped with Liberty motors of the improved twelve-cylinder type,' which .has been adopted as a substitute for the eight-cylinder engines because higher powered. The Secretary pointed out, according to an American newspaper, that under the tentative- programme adopted last spring the American planes were not duo for delivery in France before July. Those already delivered were nearly five Months ahead of the original schedule. Mr. Baker stated that the production of engines for battleplanes had been in progress on a quantity basis for a month, and that in a few weeks "the peak of production would be reached." The great problem now was to ob'tain the thousands of skilled mechanics, engine men, 'motorrepair men, wood and metal-work-ers, and other workmen necessary to keep the planes always in perfect condition.