PROGRESS OF THE WAR

Dominion, Volume 11, Issue 279, 14 August 1918, Page 4

PROGRESS OF THE WAR

For the moment tho battle in France has settled down to some extent. 'At the moment of writing no material change of front is reported, but, even at the most immediate view, where tho- position lias changed it has changed to tho advantage of the Allies. The British havo made some headway west of lloyc and on both banks of tho Somnic, gaining important ground and taking hundreds of prisoners.. On the north bank of the Sommc they have reached the outskirts of Bray, so that in this locality their line runs seventeen miles or more east of Amiens. Towards the southern end of tho attacking front the French have captured tho village of les Loges, four miles north-north-west of Easjsiguy. They are therefore making continued progress in a movement which aims at turning the Lassigny massif- on the north. It is noteworthy that although the Allies have advanced in this battle a maximum distance of a dozen miles, the liiie on which they arc _ now attacking runs almost straight. _ Disregarding minor indentations, it departs from, a straight line only to the extent of a slight forward curve. Such a front offers better facilities for continued attack than a pronounced salient, since it involves uo such crowding of communications and gives the enemy much less advantageous openings for counter-attack.

* r, * 3 A further German retreat is being freely predicted, and though the predictions will only > be tested by time, they _ are evidently reasonable in view of the past events of the battle. Tho enemy has strong motives for defending his positions on the Somme, and the Lassigny massif, which is a strong outwork covering tho greater Laou-La Fere massif, the "hinge" of t!ic German line' in France. On the other hand, the.enemy is holding tho Allies with difficulty on a hastily improvised line, and it is hardly likely that ho can consolidate and settie down where he stands. 'His obvious plan, assuming that he is able to command the necessary freedom of action, is to organise new positions in rear and fall back, upon them when his preparations are sufficiently advanced. Another possibility, of course, appears—that the Germans may seek to recover the initiative by attacking iu full strength; but late events suggest that their resources are hardly equal to such an effort. The biggest questions now raised relate less to advantage of position than to comparative strength in reserves. Superior generalship and fighting power have given the Allies the initiative. If Marshal Foch has such forces at disposal as to enable' him to repeat and continue the damaging blows ho has lately struck, then obviously there are excellent prospects of compelling an extended enemy retreat before the year is out, and of doing much to pavc'thc way for a decisivo onslaught' next year.

. .* ¥ # * A brilliant day s work by the British airmen is reported by. gm Douglas Haig in one of his communiques_ to-day. "With the enemy aircraft in largo formations active on the Jiattlefront, twenty-nine German machines were destroyed and twenty-four driven down out of control, as against five British aeroplanes missing. In addition, tho British anti-aircraft guns brought down a Gotha—one of the big German bombing 'planes. A proportion of the machines driven down out of control may always be regarded as destroyed, and it is likely that tho enemy's total losses on this particular day of battle in the air were in tho ratio of seven or eight to one. A comparison of losses on this occasion supplies a much better indication of the quality and fighting power of the respective air "forces than comparison of the losses suffered in the opening stage of tlio present battle. In the first two days of tho battle the British aerial squadrons suffered heavily, 'though

not as heavily as those of the cnciuy. in the two days 89'cnemy aeroplanes were destroyed and 37 were driven clown, as against 63 British machines missing. But the British airmen suffered these losses not in lighting other aircraft, but in taking tho heavy risks entailed in flying low over and far behind the enemy's retreating line in order to attack his retiring columns and his communications. In the conditions reported to-day air fighting took placo on something like even terms, and as always happens under these conditions, the result was to clearly demonstrate the absolute inferiority nf the German aerial forces. .

Where Germany exercises an all but complete control over news channels Germans reports are to be regarded with suspicion. This applies to the story that Lenin and Tbotskv have fled to ICronstadt, which, for, the present, is to all intents and purposes German territory. The story may have been spread only do provide a cover and pretext for further German aggression in Russia. If it should prove, however, that the Bolshevik leaders have actually taken to flighty and that othter parties are gathering head in Russia, tho outlook will be considerably brightened. For the time being Allied intervention _is little more than an affair of assistance in outlying provinces, but if a Government having some claim to be regarded as representative were set up in Russia the action of the Allies might speedily develop on a greater and much more effective scale.

' It is rather difficult to assign a motive far the latest U-boat exploit on the American coast. A submarine,as the story goes, discharged a quantity of oil on the water, and from the oil film mustard gas—a variety of asphyxiating gas which is particularly severe in its effects upon the eyes—arose in volatile funics. The. United States Navy Department is of opinion that the oil was' released in the hope that it would float ashore. Tho affair, therefore, is probably a variant on the occasional bombardment of" British East Coast ports by U-boats in the days before the anti-submarine organisation in British waters had been raised to its present pitch of perfection. The only result attained was to temporarily incapacitate the men of a coast-guard station. Under suitable conditions of wind and weather poison-gas attacks from the sea might make things very unpleasant for people inhabiting tho coastal zone, but such attacks can hardly be organised by a few submarines' which 'are at all times being actively hunted.

The gassing, incident is of a piece with the poor results at.tairied by the U-boats, since they appeared off the American coast more than two months ago. The enterprise would have justified itself from the German ' standpoint only if the submarines thus detailed had succeeded _in effectively attacking shipping on the transAtlantic routes. Their failure to do this has been all but complete. A few sea-going ships were included amongst their earlier victims, but most of tho vessels sunk in American coastal waters—tho total number is not very large—have been coasters and fishing craft. In the nine or ten weeks in which they have been cruising in American coastal waters the U-boats havo not accounted for a single transport. On the other hand, the announcement, is now made by the American Navy Department that it believes a destroyer sank a U-boat by means of depth charges a hundred miles off the Virginia coast.

The poor rccord of the U-boats cruising in American coastal waters is tho more noteworthy since those employed in this service are presumably of the latest and largest type. Some interesting particulars of these big submarines—submersible cruisers as they are often called—were given recently by Mr." Gerard Fiennes in an article in the London Observer. "The ,new vessels,'' 1 he stated, "are believed to be about. 300-350 feet in length, and will probably displace between 3000 and 4000 tons. They are to mount two 5.9-inch guns, and will probably have a certain amount of protective armour. Their speed on the surface may reach about 23 knots, and, submerged, about 15-18. Their turbines will probably' be fitted for surface propulsion. Tho radius of action will be large. Posthey will be able to keep_ the sea without the necessity for visiting a base for about four months. .But the state of mind'of the crew at the end of that time is another matter.

. . . There is .nothing very remarkable about the design. Wc had plans for submarines of 4000 tons displacement before the war, and if they were not built it was only because the game was not thought to be worth the candle."

_ "The one advantage the submersible ship has," the correspondent goes on to observe, "is tire difficulty of finding her, whcnce it follows that numbers count more thah size. The very bis; submarine will find considerable difficulty in setting through the shallow waters of the North Sea unperceivi'.d; she will experience additional difficulty in the minefields, and her powers of manoeuvre and submersion will bo reduced. She will be a more, formidable opponent for destroyers to tackle, no doubt. But the war has evolved so many new types of craft that among them there is certain to bo something capable of giving a good account of her when she is found, and the finding of her, as is pointed out above, will be an easier task." Undoubtedly the American transports were the grand target of attack by the submarino cruisers. The continued immunity of the American transports and the paltry results attained of late in sinking a few coasters and fishing smacks equally attest the fact that the big U-boats have failed badly to realise the hopes based upon their construction. The truth is no longer hidden even from .the German people, who were for a time assured that the Atlantic would be barred to the passage of the American armies.