PROGRESS OF THE WAR

Dominion, Volume 11, Issue 297, 4 September 1918, Page 4

PROGRESS OF THE WAR

Big prospects arc opened by the news that Canadian and English troops attacked south of the Scarpo on Monday morning. The attack in this case is directed against what may bo described as. the hinge of the German, retirement—positions upon which the. retreating armies must pivot if they are to withdraw in safety to a new front. The British troops are breaking into the Drocourt-Queant switch line—perhaps the most formidable system of field fortifications the Germans have ever constructed—which covers the railway system extending south from Lille. Kctiring as they arc in a ragged line, harried and pursued at all points, the German armies are already seriously imperilled. Their plight will become very much worse than it is now if the British troops contrive to cut across the railways south of Lille. An extended advance across these rail-! ways would throw tho whole German retreat into confusion. Even if the Allies stop short of this achievement, the movement against Iho Drocourt-Queant switch, by compelling the enemy to concentrate heavily in defence, should assist not a little to lay him open to attack elsewhere. The necessity of concentrating strong forces in this locality and freely counter-attacking will not, for instance, ease his problems of defence in the region of the Aisno and the Ailettc. And while he certainly cannot afford to neglect the northern front he has no guarantee'that he will not presently be called upon to meet an attack through the gateway of the Champagne or in Lorraine, It must be added, however, that with only another month or two of fine weather in prospect limits may be imposed upon the development of tho Allied offensive which, as matters arc going, seem hardly likely to bo imposed by the action of the enemy.

At time of writing official reports say no more about the attack south of the Scarpo than that it is making good progress. Unofficial messages indicate, however, that the attack is developing on a formidable scale, and that already the famous switch has been breached on «a front of half a dozen miles'. As it is located in these messages the front ori which this advance has been made extends across the ArrasCambriii highroad, about nine miles cast of Arras. k * * , * CoNSinnr.AULB progress is reported along sumc parts of the frmit further south, notably cast of the 13a-paume-Pcronne road. Tho fact that the enemy made ten counter-attacks on the. Australians at Mont St. Quentin (north of Peronnc) affords

plain evidence of the. extent to which ho is hurried and overrun in his retreat and denied tho time he needs in order to remove equipment and material. No very sensational developments arc- reported at the moment of writing in tho areas in which French and American troops are operating, but the French report that they have crossed the Canal du Nord cast .of Ncslc, and General Manoin's army is continuing its gradual progress along the heights of the Aisne. It is fairly certain that all that has recently been accomplished on this part of tho front is merely preliminary to action on a much greater scale in the near future.

Doubt is now cast upon the report that Lenin is dead, but it is stated that his condition is critical. While definite, news of his fate ia awaited, the record of the woman who killed, or attempted to kill, him is not-a little interesting. Sho is described as a well-known revolutionary who was sentenced to thirteen years' imprisonment in 1907 for attempting to kill tho then Chief of the Russian Secret_ Police. There is here convincing evidence, if it were needed, that tho enemies of the old autocracy are equally, and- for much the samo ( reasons, the enemies of the Bolsheviki.

A good deal of importance is apparently attached by the American correspondent who forwarded it to his paper to a report that the Turkish Government is negotiating with Jewish leaders in Germany and A'ustria-Hungary, and'is proposing concessions to the Jews amounting to autonomous government. On its merits, however,' the story is not particularly exciting. If such negotiations are under way.one of two things is implied. Either Germany is attempting belatedly and in a somewhat hopeless fashion to checkmate Allied measures for the liberation of the Jews and other races in Palestine, or she is pressing tho Turks to resign their claims to Palestine in order that one of the*obstacles standing between her- and the peace she 'desires may bo removed. There are many items of plunder which bulk far larger in Germany's eyes than Palestine.

On July 20, a couple of days after the Allies had opened their counteroffensive, the Manchester Guardian, published an interesting criticism by its military correspondent of the methods pursued by the- Germans in their offensive. The observations made are interesting not merely in their retrospective significance, but on account of the striking, contrast between the German methods and those pursued by the- Allies in tho offensive which is now developing with so much promise. The Manchester Guardian correspondent rc L marks that the success alike of tho single break-through and of the series of battles which found place in. the German plans depondad, on' speed. "The 1 ' break-through," he added, "has failed because the attack begins to lose momonfcum .in four or five days, and in eight days disappears. The cumulative battle, as one might call it, has bo far failed because of tho time required-'to organise each fresh offensive. Hindenbueg is fierce when he starts, but he requires a month's preparations in order to be rapid for a week. The theory of the plan has.been explained by tho Germans' themselves. 'Look,' they say, 'we compelled Foch to send twenty divisions to save Amiens and, eighteen to save Yprcs, twelve to stop us on the Marne, and ten to stop us on the lOise; where now is his famous army o'f reserve?' Where it might bo at the end of a particular battle ie one thing, but wficro Generai. Foch has movcd~his divisions to by the time the Germans were ready for another round is a different matt") , altogether. Many a boxer has been counted out who would have won the. fight had he been given five minutes in the corner with his seconds and the sponge. We have seen tho result this week. The campaign that was to render American aid too late has twice involved a delay of a month, and in those two months alone half a million Americans have- been brought to France. The series of battles which was to discover the. Allied reserves 'pinned down'—a sacred German phrase—at every point except that where they, were wanted ' finds General Foch using them for an offensive of his own. In they call Hindenburg's offensive 'hammerstrokes,' and very reasonably. But the fact is that the mighty man spends so long in taking breath, massaging his muscles, and heaving up his brawny arms that hp is apt to find provided for him_ on the anvil a very different object from what he had expected."