The Dominion MONDAY, APRIL 15, 1918. AN INSPIRING CALL

Dominion, Volume 11, Issue 176, 15 April 1918, Page 4

The Dominion MONDAY, APRIL 15, 1918. AN INSPIRING CALL

The Order of the Day which Sir Douglas Haig has addressed to his troops is instinct with the spirit of a commander undaunted in a great emergency and proudly confident that tho armies ho is appointed to direct will not bs found wanting. While he calls upon his armies for a supreme effort, tho Commander-in-Chief at the saniotimo acclaims the unflinching valour with which they have successfully resisted Germany s most desperate efforts to smash her way to victory. Ho asks his soldiers to 'fight with their, backs to the wall as men who know that the safety of thoir homes and the freedom of mankind depend upon their valour and endurance. No statement bearing upon tho mighty battlo in which Germany is pouring out lives like water has more clcarly_ emphasised the magnitude of the crisis by which the British Empire and its Allies are faced, and yet the words of tho Commandcr-in-Cbief are- free from any trace of weakness or fear? regarding tho issue. He has spoken in such terras as should arouse the whole nation, and not only its armies, to unsparing endeavour, but if he speaks urgently ho speaks also as ono who believes that our armies will survive oven the deadly perils by which they are now encompassed. The clear prominence ho givesto the critical aspects of tho situation lends all the more weight to Sir Douglas Haig's declaration that in spite of the colossal efforts thqy havo mado and their reckless sacrifice of life tho Germans have yet mado little progress towards the results at which they aim. Made as it is from a standpoint of the fullest possiblo knowledge and authority, this pronouncement serves as a reminder that the tremendous battle now in progress has set its own standards, and is not to be judged by the standards which were applicable to past conflicts on a more limited scale. It is sufficiently evident that tho, Germans havo at some points dangerously penetrated the Allied line, and that their massed attacks have swiftly conquered territory which tho Allies gained by severe and longcontinued efforts. But it has a more vital bearing upon the fate of this battle and upon tho trend of the Avar that these advantages, as yet inconclusive, have been purchased by tho enemy at a fearful price in lives, and one which ho cannot long continue ,to pay. It is undoubtedly true that 'the progress made by the enemy masses in tho region of the Sommc and more recently in Northern Franco and Flanders seriously endangers the vital communications by which tho French and British Armies are in touch, and which they must continuo to hold securely if they are to prevent the enemy from gaining an extended foothold on the Channel coast. As the battle has developed the Allies are faced by a supremely critical emergency, but the enemy has not created this state of affairs without taking desperate risks —risks measured by tho rapid expenditure of his reserves and exhaustion of his fighting power. The grounds upon which Sin Douglas Haig bases his confident assertion that the enemy has yet made little progress towards his goal arc not all of them visible to the public gaze, but thoy aro in part visible, and something more is to be inferred from what is known of the conditions in whicli the struggle is proceeding. We have in the first place tho fact that although the Allies are approximately equal to tho enemy in numerical strength thoy havo fought in each of the great battles to which tho German offen-

sivc has thus far given rise in markedly inferior numbers. This is hardly to bo explained by any theory that the enemy is making so much bettor use of his communications as to be, able at will to attack the A.liins with the odds heavily in his favour. It is very much more likely that the tactics of Verdun arc being repeated on the greatest scale, and that as the first step towards defeating tho enemy's shock tactics and wholesale sacrifice of life the-Allies rely upon an economical but most determined resistance by relatively light forces. At its face value what has been made known about tho balance of forces actually engaged since tho enemy opened his offensive manifestly supports an opinion that the Allies arc holding considerable forces in reserve, and certainly it would be justifiable to measure tho enemy's success by his gain of territory only if the Allies had attempted a coun-ter-offensive on the greatest scale and had failed to drive.it, home. Until that test has been applied it remains quite possible that the trend of this decisive campaign may be turned as rapidly and definitely against the enemy as it has lately seemed to turn in his favour. It is rather soon to attempt to measure the real progress of the battle as distinct from changes of front which may be largely deceptive, but it is distinctly noteworthy that the enemy's success in his latest effort is much less sweeping and has been gained with mich greater _ difficulty than his earlier success in tho south. As against the rapid advance- on a wide front which left tho Allies holding Amiens by a dangerously narrow margin, he has pushed forward in tho north on a comparatively narrow front, and his most desperate efforts have failed to reduce the defences on either flank. At the Messines Ridge, on the north, and opposite La Bassee, on the south, all his attacks have been repelled. Ho has thrust forward a deep salient between these areas which dangerously _ menaces the Allied communications. But this state of affairs means at the same time that tho attacking armies are in an exposed and perilous situation, and badly placed to cope with a welldirected counter-offensive. Another feature of _the day's news which has some bearing on the general situation is that tho enemy's latest attacks in the Somme valley,, though made in strength and with his usual disregard of losses, have resulted in total failure. After a day of heavy fighting ho gained part of the village of Hangard, only to be subsequently ejected. To the fact that the enemy has already employed something like two-thirds-of his available divisions in the battle, and that a considerable proportion of them have been shattered, it is to be added that he has visibly, failed to compass the expanding effort which success in .his offensive demands. No doubt ho will redouble his efforts so long as he has divisions to throw into tho scale. But ho might add appreciably to his present gains of territory and yet stop far short of victory. He must prevail swiftly or abandon hope. To the Allies, on the other hand, success in preserving the continuity of their line and protecting their essential communications means not only victory in the immediate struggle, but tho certainty of bcingable to build up a decisive superiority of fighting strength.