PROGRESS OF THE WAR

Dominion, Volume 11, Issue 206, 20 May 1918, Page 4

PROGRESS OF THE WAR

It is a matter of general agreement that another tremendous struggle is about to open in the Western theatre. ' If doubt existed it would be set at rest by the statement of the "high authority" who speaks for tho British General Staff that the enemy is now "boiling up" for a big effort. It is now only a question of whether th'o Germans will wait a little longer in order to be able to attack in the same, or nearly the same, strength ae on March 21, or rcsurao the offensive forthwith in order to give tho Allies no further opportunity of perfecting their measures of defence. A conflict of the first magnitude is iu any case to be expected in the vory near future. One very important difference between the f.onditions which obtain to-day and those which obtained on March 21 is touched upon by General Maurice.- In the area in which the enemy offensive- has developed the British armies and the. Allied troops fighting in their company aro in such closo fcouob with their main

Communications that in rnovo than one sector they have, hardly any margin of territory 1,0 como and go upon. . Any material extension of the enemy advance towards Amiens, oi , in Flanders, would seriously imperil the Allied communications and revive the threat to thn Channel coast and ports. It is therefore to Iw assumed that the Allies will make every effort to hold all essential sections of their present line. There is no question of their repeating the tactics adopted when the enemy opened his offensive in March. Their choice would seem to be between a stubborn and unyielding defence, supplemented by vigorous counterattacks if the valuable ground is lost, or a counter-offensive on a bigger scale.

Whatever the Allied plans may be a very grim prospect is opened, but it does not by an means follow that the, Allies need regard the outlook with doubt or misgiving. They havb been enabled to prepare, comparit tively at leisure, for the- renewal of the German onslaught, and they liave a very great advantage in tfieir aerial supremacy, which is already pronounced and is likely to become more so as time goes on. The enemy, particularly in the region of Amiens, has made a dangerously closo approach to a strategic objective, bul; on this section of the front he is handicapped by the presence of a devastated aim in his rear. It counts for a good deal also that a largo proportion of his best troops, specially trained for the offensive, have been wiped out, and that ho is now compelled k> rely upon inferior material.

In such battles as aro in prospect aerial forces will play a tremendously important part. To the Allies their superior aerial squadrons represent not only a means of freely obsorving the dispositions of a partially-blinded enemy, hut also a most effective means of, attacking the enemy's vital railway junctions, bases, and other establishments which arc, the nerve-centres of hist military organisation. Of the Allied superiority in the air tho plainest possiblo evidence is afforded. Tho 'high authority" mentions to-day that in the space of a week seventyone enemy machines were sent to earth in flames, us against nineteen British machines missing. This is followed up by a, report from Sir Douglas Haio that in ono clay and night thirty-five enemy machines were destroyed or captured and five driven down, against a loss of five .British machines. In regard to" bombing, it is particularly noteworthy that British squadrons are making more attacks in daylight than during the night hours, while, the enemy bombers seem to bo operating almost exclusively at night. This is a striking addition to other evidence of enemy inferiority.

. It transpires that the Italian craft in which an officer and three petty officers entered Pola harbour and torpedoed an Austrian Dreadnought was a motor-boat. The dend in fairly described as one of the most brilliant of the war. There seems to be little- doubt that the Austrians have lost one of their best Dreadnoughts, but unfortunately it is almost .19 clearly established that the brave sailors who performed the unexampled feat of penetrating into tho heart of a strongly-fortified naval port made the final sacrifice. Presumably if they were prisoners tho fact would by this time have boon reported.