PROGRESS OF THE WAR

Dominion, Volume 11, Issue 252, 12 July 1918, Page 4

PROGRESS OF THE WAR

French commentators who see in reigning conditions on the Western front the threat of an early resumption of the German offensive prob-' ably present a better raading of the situation than the English correspondent who observes that lie does not regard the recent activity of the enemy artillery as- giving warning of big attacks. The French comments noted rest mainly on undisputed facts. Of late the enemy has undoubtedly left oven important sections of bis line in tho

| custody of inferior troops. The position has been made plain in a series of local battles in which trie Allies have uniformly and easily prevailed. With matters in this state it is a strictly reasonable assumption that the enemy is massing his best troops in preparation for another weighty onslaught, and also that lie will not rely on a weakly-held line a moment longer than he can help. It would be very short-sighted to regard the local successes lately won by tho Allies—noteworthy as they aro in their degree—as calculated to decisively affect the situation. In their local attacks the Allies have indicted appreciable loss and damage on the enemy and sensibly improved their line in important areas. But success on this scale can neither ;u:licinatc nor defeat such an attack r.s the enemy may reasonably lie supposed to be preparing. Th> enemy's power in attack and thai; of the Allies in resistance at the stage now readied in the campaign have yet to be put to the test. If the enemy is holding back and making formidable preparations it iu equally true that the Allies arc abstaining meantime from anything remotely approacning a full-powered effort. The one exception ■to their general policy is the brisk development of their aerial offensive, and even here they may he prepared to expand their present effort when the enemy opens out in attack.

Though the situation in Russia is still far .from being clearly defined the news relating to that country is upon the whole encouraging. Even in regard to events in Moscow, where the Bolsheviki lately held an undisputed lease of power, the news is conflicting, and it is by no means certain that the anti-Bolshevik forces have been defeated. . In Siberia, both cast and west of Lake Baikal, the Czecho-Slovak movement is developing with promise. Most interesting developments arc reported in the northern part of European Russia. It is stated that the intervention of a comparatively small Allied force has safeguarded tho ports on the Murman coast from German occupation, and has had the effect also of inducing the poptilation of & wide area from the White Sea, to tho Asian border to disown tho Bolsheviki and set up a Government friendly to the Entente. Very important issues are raised, apart from the progress of the movement for regeneration in Russia, for if Germany secured the Murman coast she would be in possession of an ice-free port (Alcxandrovsk on Kola Bay), which is atthc-samc time the terminus of a railway from Pctrograd. If tho facts aro correctly reported a striking object-lcsson has been afforded in this northern region on the cfficacy of Allied intervention. But it must be noted that all the messages on the subject in hand at time of writing have been received by way of Russian channels and need confirmation.