PROGRESS OF THE WAR

Dominion, Volume 11, Issue 283, 19 August 1918, Page 4

PROGRESS OF THE WAR

As an outcome of the late conference between the Kaiser and the Emperor of Austria it is stated that Austria has agreed to send troops to the "West front "on condition that Germany makes a fresh and more modest peace offer, and also concedes certain Austrian demands in relation to Poland." Some such decision ■was, of course, to be expected, and it need not be doubted that the ruling powers in the Dual Monarchy are upon the whole anxious to carry it into effect. The practical questions raised, however, are whether Austria has the resources which would enable her to substantially reinforce Germany on the Franco-British front, and if she has, whether she can -afford to place these resources at the disposal of her ally without seriously intensifying .the menace of political catastrophe which hangs like a sword of Damocles over her head. The presence of an Austrian division on the West front no doubt reflects the inclination of the rulers of the Dual Monarchy, but it is by no means certain that they arc in a position to so enlarge their reinforcement as to make it a bic factor in the Western campaign. "Before Austria began her disastrously abortive offensive in June, different, and necessarily more or less speculative, estimates credited her with possessing from half a million to thrce-quarters_ of a million troops of good fighting quality.' The offensive, _in which she accomplished nothing, made heavy inroads on her strength, and she is called upon to make adequate provision for at least a defensive stand against the formidable Italian Army. Even if her political troubles are disregarded, any margin of strength she has to come and go upon in assisting Germany can hardly be great. In view of the rapid arrival of .American troops in "France. it>is unlikely that the maximum Austrian reinforcement will seriously affect the numerical superiority the Allies are establishing in the- Western theatre.

It is mentioned to-day that 1,400,000 Americans have already been transported to Europe. _If the present rate of transportation is maintained, and a statement by Mi;. Secretary Baker suggests that if, will be maintained, if not increased, the American strength in the Western theatre will be doubled by the end of the year. It is therefore fairly certain that any reinforcement of her ally now undertaken by Austria- will be too late and on too small a scale to materially alter the outlook" in the Western theatre. On the other hand, a decision to assist Germany in this, way is well calculated to intensify the iptcrnal disserisions and disorders to which the Dual Monarchy is already a prey. It is no doubt in the hope of .averting such developments that the Austrian Government has formulated the home rule proposals which a-rc mentioned today—ostensibly an offer of autonomy to the Czechs and Southern Slavs. Made at the right time, such a proposal might have done much to politically consolidate the ramshackle Empire. now, if it wero straightforward, it might weaken the insistent demand of the subject majority in the Dual Monarchy for political independence. But it is safe to assume that the rulers of Austria-Hungary have no thought of instituting full-bodied reforms, and that their real aim is to delude and cozen tho races whom they have hitherto kept in subjection by brutal terrorism. Liberal reform in the Dual Monarchy would redu'ec the Gorman Austrians and the Magyars from the status of overlords to that of a political minority, and no such reform is to bo looked far from those who now hold the reins of control. No doubt the disingenuous character of the proposals now mooted wil! appear as soon as they are detailed. The subject races have been strengthened in" their demand for liberation by the Allies' recognition and endorsement of their claims. It is most unlikely that they will- give any but a contemptuous welcome to sham proposals of reform, and it is highly probable that if the Austrian Government does send reinforcements to the West front it will do so. at the cost of aggravating the serious, political problems by which it is already faced.

* : - ! » « * No marked change in thc # aspect of tho Western campaign is disclosed to-day. Official . messages show that the report that the French have mastered the whole of the Lassigny massif runs somewhat ahead of the facts. Tho Germans have lost the greater part of this natural stronghold, but still retain some remnants—for the most part, descending slopes. Other messages show that some positions north and south of R-oyo, which were gained by the Allies in the first stage of the offensive, subsequently reverted to the enemy, and are now-being won back again. The-, situation, however, was ■ nowhere seriously" modified by enemy counter-attacks. It remains true without qualification that tho enemy is most unfavourably placed to re-establish a defensive line or resist further attacks. * * . # « Germany has been guilty of no more fiendish crimes than those detailed in one of to-day's messages. It shows that during the enemy advance in March several ' parties of British prisoners were deliberately and methodically done to death with flame-projectors. That is to say these helpless prisoners, many of them sorely wounded before they surrendered, were burned alive. How many British soldiers were tortured to death in this fashion it is impossible to say. The evidence available is that of a few survivors who were enabled by extraordinary chance to escape. It is to bo feared that in some cases there were no survivors. The British Government, it is stated, has protested to Germany against these outrages, but unless-it is intended to follow up the protest with effective action it might almost as well have been left unuttercd. Nothing more imperatively demanded, alike on the score of justice and that of military efficiency, than that the Allies should institute all .possible reprisals for the ghastly crimes in which Ger-

many is constantly adding to a record which long ago was sufficient to sink any nation to the lowest depths of'infamy. Reprisals in kind arc frequently . unthinkableand impossible, butwide possibilities of action remain open. To some extent, notably by aerial bombardment, reprisals have been, and are being, taken, but there is room and need for a united declaration by the Allies that henceforth they will meet German frightfuluess by vigorously taking all reprisals permitted by the standards of civilised humanity. Such a declaration would be defective, if it did not fasten upon the Kaiser, and others highly placed in Germany the fullest .personal responsibility for such atrocities as are reported to-day.

Whether such a declaration is contemplated we do not know, but so long as it is withheld the Allies are leaving an effective weapon unused, and are granting Germany a degree of immunity which will encourage her to engage in new deviltries. It is possible that America, which has done so much to .invigorate as well as reinforce the Allies, may turn the scale in favour>of the policy the case so plainly demands Along with the news that British prisoners have been barbarously tortured to death in the battle zone, it is reported to-day that American soldiers in the German prison camps are being singled out for particularly vile treatment. That the American Government will not .be content in these circumstances merely to enter a protest may be judged from the stand it took when Germany threatened to take reprisals against American prisoners unless the United States released Rintelen, a German spy undergoing a term of imprisonment. The State Department curtly informed Germany that any reprisals would '"nevitably invite reciprocal action upon a great number of German subjects in the United States. "So far," it was observed at the time by a Washington correspondent, "the American Government has been unwilling to use the almost unlimited powers of reprisals at its command, but if Germany starts unwarranted punitive act'icn against Americans this Government will not hesitate to exercise the weapons in its possession with the utmost rigour. There arc in America 600,000 native-born Germans, reservists in the Kaiser's Army and Navy,, who up to now have been left unmolested so long as they conformed to American laws and behaved themselves." Acting in the spirit of the State Department's declaration on this occasion America will not abstain from reprisals for the maltreatment of her soldiers who have fallen : nto Gorman hands. As to Britain and other Allied nations, long before the fiendish atrocities now reported came to light the case for systematic reprisals was of overwhelming strength.