A WEEK OF THE WAR

Dominion, Volume 11, Issue 260, 22 July 1918, Page 6

A WEEK OF THE WAR

j #- — ! THE GERMAN FAILURE ——- ■ ; AND THE FRENCH COUNTER i CROWN PRINCE'S COSTLY GAMBLE i His Excellency the Governor-General , has; received tho following telegraphic : summary of war operations for tho week ! ended July ID from the Ministry of In- : formation:—' The Geu-man.offensive of July 15 was : of the most ambitious intentions. Aim- | i"g.' "it the greatest results, tho Crown i Prince. threw in his armies under two I generals, and later a third, and also j drow on precious reserves from Prince > liupprecht, from where (hey faced the | (British in tho north. He planned two bold thrusts downwards towards Chalons, ! one east of Reims, between Prunay and iMassiges, and the other south-west of E-einis on a lino betwecn-Coiiilommes and i I'ossoy, on tho Marne, where tho river l flows south, then east along the valley ; Epernay to Chalons. The success aimed at would liave struck a dani- ,. aging blow against tho French Army and brought about tho fall of lieinis, by : pinching'out Koims. Though lieims had no special military importance, its cap- ' turo would liavo satisfied the German | craving for a high-sojumling name as an advertisement, and would also have given ! tliem important railway junctions and the possession of useful heights known 1 ins the Mountain of-Reims, besides crippling fufuro action by the Frcnch Army or causing it to bo heavily drawn ou for : reserves, weakening the other fronts. ■ Otherwise this area had no great strategic importance, and from the outset i tho offensive was in difficulties. On a i twenty-three-mile front from Prunay : ,to Mas'siges the Germans were imrnedi- : ately held up in the Preach battlß posi- ;■ tions, and never succeeded in getting i forward, ei.cept for local advances at three i i>omt9. On July 1G von Einem's troops launched five attacks on the extreme eastern front; these wero not only repulsed, but the French several times, were ; able to go forward and reoccupy trenches : they had given up on the opening of tho ; offensive. The French 'losses wero slight in men, and none at all in guns, while : the Germans lost very_ heavily in men aJad numbers of tanks in. their advance. Poor results followed tho German cross- ; ing at the Marne west of Reims on a : front of twenty miles. They got from ! two to three miles deep only. Tho : Americans' extreme left. countered brili liantlv, recaptured tho. old positions, ■ and drove back tho enemy across tho : tt'iver. On July 18 the_ Gcrmaiis I pressed forward to tho line of St. ' Agrun, La Chappolle and Monthodon, rut the French' rested at midday on four jnilea of front south of Dormans, advanced three thousand yards, and recov- ; ered tho heights south of_ the river, and by the evening were, heavily shelling tho Germart crossings. However, the enemy ■ still obstinately but slowly crept on down the Marne, and by tho night of 'July 17 i had approached the Forest of Reims- :' Here tnoy were driven back by the Italiaa9 as far as tho lino of Clarizot, which '• the Italians took. Anyhow, so far the ! Germans', progress has been trivial compared with tho magnitude of the operations, and the opening movements must ;be a severo failure. They had hoped ! next morning, after tho attack, to ad-. ! vanco to a depth of twelve miles, but by • the evening of tho third day their grsjtcst' advance was only six miles. The : great German drive had been stopped, and had dwindled into fluctuating local . encounters, offering very little gain at : very disproportionate cost. Tho at- ■ tack, ia fact, had been fully forseen, and prepared for, so that tho elemont of surprise was oliminated, and the first ini- : pact, which means so much, lost all its •value by the splendid resistance of the i French and the Remember, ■ though, that the enemy still has a considerable number of reserves, and can ; either : strengthen his assault here with them or open a big attack elsewhere. ; Meanwhile the check must be grievously embarrassing. Tho time limit for active ; campaigning is now perilously short, and ! . not only are his promises to tho anxious German people still unfulfilled, but the . American troops aro now present in such ' numbers as to threaten his numerical > superiority, besides giving a disturbing proof of quality.

■[he Counter-Offensive,

Now, in the midst of this failure, the JTronch. havo brilliantly struck on tho West, and in six hours on tho morning ; of July 18 had advanced farther than the ■' Germans had been able to go iu throe ; days. On. the whole of the twenty-seven I miles of front between Fonteno and Bolleau the French havo made a deep ad- , vanoe, by tanks, without gunfire. Al- : ready their success is well marked. The greatest depth attained is eight miles, to a ravine on tho northern front of the , Orise River, and also to the Monte de i Paris, one mile from Soissons, and from ■ the former point they will soon, directly : command the junction of the two rail--1 ways running to Chateau Thierry and ! Reims. These are tho only lines by ; whioh the German fronts here can be supplied, and if the French maintain 1 their hold the German positions in ; the salient will become _ extraor- ' dinarily difficult. On their other > fronts, the British and French pursue their policy of --constantly keeping the enemy lively, and capturing successive i local and important points. On July 14 ' tho English did excellent work on the ridge east of Dickebusch Lake, recap- ! taring ground of most important in : this flat country, on a front of two thousand yards, with three hundred prisi. oners. ; Enemy Attack in Palestine. On July H Turkish and German troops : opened an attack gn tho British posi- ; tions west of tho Jordan, whilo enemy j troops also made a demonstration oast | of the Jordan, between tho Ghoraniyeh i bridgehead and the Dead Sea. But the : British defence proved too much, and the : onemy, particularly the' Gormans, were i badly handled by the Australian Light ■ Horse, whilo the English Yeomanry and , Indian cavalry completely smashed tho ; enemy cast of the Jordan in a dashing' I charge. The episode has only a local : significance, but it cost tho enemy a ; large number of lives and five hundred . .prisoners, of whom moro than half were German. ' The War in tho Air. There has been steady and -persistent : air work in all the theatres of the war with a marked increase on tho lta'li. ' Balkan, and Palestine fronts. In tho j course of intense air fighting in Italy ; the British brought down eighteen enemy inachines and drovo down one winged, with only three of their own machines : reported missing. On tho Balkan front many successful bombing raids on the enemy positions and munitions supply dumps were made. Among others, various railway stations ifi the Struma Valley were profitably attacked. In Palestine the attacks on the enemy's trans- . ports and encampments did considerable damage, including one train directly hit and one enemy aeroplane. In conjunction with the Navy, continuous anti-submarine and olfensivo patrols by sea were maintained bj British airships, seaplanes, and aeroplanes. Unfortunately storms and heavy rains ham- ' pered th& air operations on the Western ; front. Nevertheless, the British airmen seized every possible moment for observation and delivered blows at vital points : all over the battle area, including many ; successful raids, involving eighty-five I towns. Bombs were dropped, including twenty-nine tons on the railway junctions at Lille and Eoulers, and the ammunition dumps at' Warneton and Bapaumc. Poor visibility did not prevent a large number of valuable photographs being secured, and there were various i affrays. Fifty .enemy aircraft were brought down and fifteen driven down helpless, with only twenty-one of ' our own machines recorded missing. , Numerous effective raids were also made ■ on the German naval organisations iti ! Belgium. The Bruges Harbour and docks j wertf" heavily bombed, and a consider- ; able fire was started at the La Brugeoise : works. The naval works at Ostend and i Zeebrugge have also been often attended : to by the British airmen, numbers of

bombs being dropped on tho molo find lock gates and the dredging parties near tho ship canal entrance. " ho K.Ji'.C. Independent Force also made cloven raids into Gorman territory, successfully attacking an aerodrome at Boulay threo times, 6heds and sidings at Offenbach twice, Freiburg aerodrome twice, and Saarburg sidings and other important points. Several fires wero started, and twice points on the ground wero heavily attacked with machine-gun fire. Von Kuhlmann. The political situation is in a state of suspense during the present military crisis.'' In Germany, von Kuhimann's resignation indicates u further assumption of complete control by tho German military party. Hintze's appointment is strongly criticised by the moderate parties i,i Germany, who do not welcome the ascendancy of tho military party in non-military affairs. Nevertheless they liavo voted the'war credits. This is a definite defeat for the German Foreign Ofiice, which good authorities say has been at loggerheads with the military party for some time past. Tho Chancellor in his latest speech attempted to allay the irritation, but ineffectually, owing to tho irreconcilable cleavago bctweeu tho wind-blown insanity of German military aims and tho cooler perceptions lurking in tlie few undemented German official heads. Tho main point of von Kuhimann's resignation is in showing that no German peace proposals need be taken seriously until signed by tho Pan-Gorman militarist party. Meanwhile Germany's grip over Austria grows increasingly complete, and causes corresponding increased resentment alike in Hungary and Austria. The endurance and long-suffering of the Austrian and Hungarian people are almost at the last gasp. The supplanting of tho Austrian General von Hootzendorff by the German General von Below indicates tho supremo humiliation of Austria and the supreme German control over the Austrian Army. In Russia. In Russia tho situation has quietened at Moscow, but the Bolshevik regime is 4 now desperate. Their unpopularity is increasing throughout the. provinces, and is particularly vivid among tho peasant population, which dislikes their methods of sending armed Red Guards to violently despoil the people of their food supplies. In tho meantime tho Czechoslovak victories are steadily undermining tho waning Bolshevik authority in Siberia. The long drought which has cheeked the cereals and retarded the crops lias now broken; though despite plentiful rain it is still too ,early to entertain particularly optimistic views of the crops in the United Kingdom, especially considering the difficulties of hamstgathering owing to the shortage of recruited as it now is ..from women and children, city holiday-makers, and German'prisoners. Generally speaking, the food situation is better, but tho anxiety lias not yet ended.