PROGRESS OF THE WAR

Dominion, Volume 11, Issue 296, 3 September 1918, Page 4

PROGRESS OF THE WAR

The principal event in the Western campaign reported to-day is tho capture of Peronne and an advance somewhat beyond that place. As a result the Sommc line south of Peronne on which the enemy had apparently contemplated a defensive stand is decisively turned, and ho will probably bo constrained to retreat to tho Hindenburg hue, which in this region is located alimio fourteen miles further east. The advanco of the Australians to positions beyond Pcronne seems to have been a brilliant bit of work. The vigorous character of the enemy resistance is attested in his counter-at-tacks on Mont St. Quentin, the ■dominating . height immediately north of Pcronne, and in the fact that the Australians and the English troops on their left" who fought their way across tho BapaumePeronne road gathered in two thousand prisoners. Tho English troops are in immediate contact with St. Pierre Vaastt Wood, and are working round it on the south. When the enemy has been dislodged in this locality and from lc Transloy, further north, the Allies will be in full possession of the highway which runs almost straight from Arras to Peronne. They already hold this road by a considerable margin from Arras to south-cast of Bapaume, as well as north of Peronne. . * 4t * *

The essential result of the Australian advance, as has. been said, is to turn tho German lino along; tho Somme and tho Canal du Nord south of Pcronne. Indications are that 'the enemy is being again severely hustled in his retreat on this lengthy section of the front. The French have already crossed his defensive line along the river and canal on. the south, eaefc of Noyon, but they are hero facing into somewhat difficult country. The waterways' have been crossed also at some intermediate points, however, and there is every likelihood that the enemy's retreat towards the Hindenburg lino will bo roado under difficult conditions, and will bo not a little costly.

T o new movoment is reported at time of writing on the critical front cast of Arras, where British troops have deeply penetrated the flank defences of tho retiring German armies, but in the area south-east of Arras Bullecourt is again in British hands. At the.same time tho attacking front south of Bullecourt has been straightened by the capture of tho villages ofEcoust St. Mcin and Longatto, which the enemy had obstinately defended for days. The attack on the strong southern bastion of tho D,j-ocourt-Queant switch is therefore developing with good promise, though not rapidly.

* * *. *. While the cnpmy is getting no respite between Arras and Noyon, General Manoin's army continues to pross forward on the front between tho' Aisnc and the Ailetto. Apart from other possibilities raised by this enterprising invasion of the enemy's defensive organisation, it Eeerns impossible that he can much longer disregard the developing threat to his front along the Aisnc and Veslc. No doubt the Germans are holding on as long as possible south of the Aisno in the hope of staving off a still more menacing development of the Allied attack during the remaining weeks of _ fino weather, but it seems not unlikely that a retreat to the heights of i tho Aisnc or still further north may bo enforced 'presently under conditions disastrously unfavourable to tho enemy.

The exact significance of an unofficial message which states that the British have reached the outer suburbs of Lens,is in doubt at the moment of writing. Tho British line has been closely wrapped about Lens since Juno last year, and enters or is in close touch with villages which are to all intents and purposes suburbs of the city. An .attack on Lens at this stage would hold important possibilities. As an English writer pointed out some time ago, the capture of tho town would De important for strategical, tactical, and economic reasons. "Tho roads from all the largo neighbouring towns, Lille, Bethune, Arras and Douai, converge on Lens," lie adds, "and its capture is an antecedent necessity before operations oan be undertaken to reconquer Lille." T<ens is an outpost of the Hindenburg line, and though that line has been breached further south, tho capture of Lens at this stage would seriously outflank posii tions which the Germans are still defending north-east 'of Arras. Apart from other considerations, Lens is an important coal-mining centre. It was suggested last year vhen the British refrained from attacking Lens, although they dominated it from neighbouring heights, that they were reluctant to subject it to a destructive bombardment. It ig possible that tho Allied Generalissimo may elect rather to destroy the town than to in any way limit tho offensive.