PROGRESS OF THE WAR

Dominion, Volume 11, Issue 281, 16 August 1918, Page 4

PROGRESS OF THE WAR

Little , movement is reported today in what iB for the time being the main battle area in France, but there is no perceptible slackening of tension. Tho awkward situation in which the enemy is already placed i 3 mido worse by the continued progress of the French in their attack on the Lassigny massif. Our allies now hold a great part of this tangle, of wooded hills and ra.vines, and in capturing Ribocourt, in tho Oiso valley, thoy have taken another considerable step towards outflanking on the east that part of the massif still held by the Germans. An unofficial report that the town of Lassigny has been captured lacks confirmation at timo of writing.

Another development reported today is an enemy retirement in tho region of Hebuternc—the sector on which the New Zealand Division has been established during a great part of the present year's campaign. In ihis locality, about midway between Arras and Albert, the enemy occupies a hot very extensive salient, M'ith his positions, in general, dominated from higher ground. There is nothing meantime to indicate that he has done more than evacuate exposed forward positions which wero of value only while ho hoped to extend his advance.

According to a Washington messago it is officially reported that Lenin has declared that Russia is at war with tho Allies./ If tho statement is true, it presumably means that the Bolshevik leader has openly joined hands with Germany. His action in that case is not likely to set _ any new obstacles before the Allies, though it may stimulate tho anti-Bolshevik movement in Russia which has already attained some head.

Not long ago a Dutch merchant who had just returned from a visit to Germany, and had witnessed tho material and other effects of Allied air attacks, offered this advice: "If you want to finish the war quickly, keep 011 bombing tho Ehinc towns. Bomb them to a standstill." All that we know about Germany and the German temperament suggests that the advice_ is sound. In tho circumstances it is disappointing that the aerial offensive _ against Germany in her own territory has not been developed more rapidly and on a greater scale. A Press Bureau statement to-day shows that during July the British Air Force (the force which operates independently of Army or Navy control) made a hundred raids, of which 9G were into Germany, and dropped 81 tons of bombs. Some raids into Ger-

many havo been made by other branches .of the Allied aerial forces, but the bulk of this work is being done for the time being by the British Air Force. Although the . statistics of the aerial offensive against Germany during July constitute a rccord, they are not in themselves impressive .in _ contrast with the simultaneous activities of British and Allied aerial squadrons over and behind the battlefront. For _ instance, Sir Douglas Haig mentions to-day that in one day and night British aircraft dropped 58 tons of bombs on the Somme bridges and elsewhere on enymy communications, directly serving the present battle area. The airmen of the Royal Flying Corps, operating in the battle area, that is to say, closely approached in the space of twentyfour hours the record bomb-drop-ping in German territory carried Vnit by the Independent Air Forcc during the whole month of July. Even when allowance is made for the fact that aircraft engaging in long flights cannot carry as heavy a j load of bombs as those which set out to attack objectives nearer at j hand, the disparity is great. But! it is, of coursc, inevitable for the time being. » » * » At the present stage, attacks at long range are necessarily subordinated to thc_ supremely important duties carried out by aircraft in immediate attendance or close touch 1 with the Allied armies. Both in the : long defensive campaign of this' year, and in the offensive now in i progress, the Allied airmen havc'j ! made'a magnifcent contribution to j victory. Apart from the invaluable ! services they render in reconnais- j - sance, in directing artillery fire, j and, latterly, in transporting essen-'' tial supplies to the foremost fight- 1 ! ing positions and laying proteetivo' j smoke screens for the tank's, they * 1 have maintained and developed in- 1 cessant attacks which are telling 1 more and more heavily u'non the ' enemy as timo goes on. They not ' only subject the enemy to enormous material damage, and demoralise his , troops, but largely deny him the : privilege of observation which they : themselves l'rcely exercise. It is not • the least important result of their ' incessant attacks that the enemy's movements are slowed in such a degreo as to make heavily for his de- i feat. j

In one of his reports to-day Sir Douglas Haio obseVves that continuous bombing of the Sommc bridges ancl other parts- of the enemy's communications since fcho begiuuing of the offensive has held up the enemy's reinforcements and also forced him to employ largo formations of scouts in an effort--an effort which has failed badly—to protect, his vital communications. The British airmen are exhausting the possibilities of offensive tactics. They are at tho same timo taking such toll of tho enemy aircraft as balances their own losses several times over. It is evidently essential that these battlo formations should be developed to the greatest possible pitch of strength, but it. is equally evident that the. aerial offensive against Germany must bo organised on a greater scale than it has yet attained if it is to. become a really bigfactor making for victory. Tho state of affairs on tho battlefront attests tho triumphant superiority of the Allied airmen, but it would be hopelessly limited and shortsighted •to take the view that the aerial offensive against Germany may be allowed indefinitely to take a subordinate place. Attack by air is the one obvious means of speedily carrying tho war into Gcrm'any, and there is every possible incentive to develop such an attack as rapidly as may be on the most formidable scale that resources will permit.

Fortunately there is little doubt that tho increasing production of aircraft and the expansion of the Allies' aerial forces will before long enable them to multiply their raids over German territory without weakening the squadrons which are an all-important element in the strength of their armies. It is largely a matter of building aeroplanes in sufficient numbers. England, it was stated recently, is now producing 3000 aeroplanes per month, and France 2000. Italy produces a considerable number, but tho big factor now to be reckoned with is quantity production _ in America. No really comprehensive account of the stage of production reached by American factories is available, but there is little doubt that tho Amorican ' contribution will enablo tho Allies in the near future to undertake that wholesale bombing of the Rhine towns which is meantime an aspiration. '

Some interesting particulars of the recent development of the bombing ueroplane arc given by the aeronautical correspondent of the London Observer. _ In a general way, ho remarks, it may bo said that these machines possess tho following combination of qualities:- "A speed exceeding 100 milcs per hour in still air; a fuel-capacity for six hours' flying, carrying four men, three maohme-guns and ammunition, and 15001b. of bombs; and the ability to reach 15,000 feet. Such machines measure from 90 to 130 feet across. They can carry a total load, exchtsivo of the engines, of about three tons (for obvious reasons exact figures are not given). Of all falsified aeronautical predictions none is so interesting, at this juncture, as that of tlw engineer' who declared it would" bo imppssiblo to construct a safe aeroplane that would take a useful load of more ■ than about a ton. There is no doubt that important. administrative authorities wero influenced by that forecast." Bigger and more powerful 'aeroplanes tnan the correspondent describes have, of course, been built—notably monster German machines, fitted with a certain amount of protective armour, of' which several have been brought down. But on availablo evidence it is at least doubtful whether mpnster machines' of this kind have realised the hopes of their designers

The same correspondent remarks in another article that a great deal of nonsense has been uttered of late in regard to increased size and speed of machines and increased weight of bombs. But he adds that 011 tho question of bombing it is to be said that high military opinion as to the value of aircraft for offensive operations has undergone a change during the war. "It is now recognised that, for a given output of energy, bombing' by aeroplane can bo more effective than shelling by guns, and targets can bo reached that are not in the range of artillery. By tho latter _ enormous waste of shells is unavoidable, and the material effccts produced are less by isolated fire directed_ with precision at small targets than by overwhelming concentrations upon largo areas that it is desired to render untenable. Ono would not, suggest that aircraft bombing will supersede artillery ; but it must bo admitted that thd former can do certain things tho latter cannot do."