PROGRESS OF THE WAR

Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 7, 3 October 1918, Page 4

PROGRESS OF THE WAR

On the West front the Allies arc continuing their attacks on fronts of an aggregate length of 110 miles, and in spite of the fact that the weather on some recent days has been vilely bad the outlook-'is still full of.promise. The breach in the Hindenburg lino between Gambrai and St. Quentin is" being steadily deepened and widened, and an early enemy retirement in this region is taken for granted. The French have, already occupied a great part of St. Qucntin. A Eeuter correspondent at British Headquarters (who is likely to be well informed) states that it appears that tho enemy has no strong organised defences to fall back upon, and that it is difficult to indicate where ho will stabilise his line for the- winter, if indeed he does, stabilise it. The tremendous British thrusts against and through the Hindenburg. line have served one great purpose in pinning down a large proportion of the enemy's reserves and so enabling the Allies to break deeply into theflanks of his salient front, in Flanders and in the Champagne. At time of writing no new'progress is reported east of Reims, though it is more than likely that "further formidable attacks will be- developed on this front when the enemy has been driven off the heights of tho Aisne, but remarkable headway is being made in Flanders. 'The: enemy's tenure of the coast is already precarious, but it is even more striking that he has thus far completely failed to arrest a movement which threatens to onvelop Lille on the north. Tho state of tho campaign as a whole demonstrates that the enemy's reserves are- over-taxed, and makes it highly probable that he is on tho eve of an oxtended retreat, and at the [moment the most suggestive evidence on both points is undoubtedly afforded in Flanders. Tho extraordinarily rapid and apparently easy advance made by the Allies over and beyond the Flanders ridges and across the communications. between Lillo and the coast manifestly implies that the enemy is far gone in weakness and disorganisa-

Brilliant as arc TTib results achieved by the Allied armies in recent days there is little doubt that they arc leading up to some even more telling blow against the enmny than has yet been struck. The Germans have suffered drsporaiely in losses of men, material, and vital defences and positions, but tho fact which now commands attention is that these losses have- made them in a high degree vulnerable to even more damaging attack. The events of. recent days have strikingly fulfilled an exposition of Marshal

Foch's methods penned recently by an English writer, and the 'final passage may be quoted as bearing closely on the position now reached:—"The decision, then, comes by the battle and by the surprise stroke —an 'unexpected blow of supreme vigour. . It is'preparcd for with a careful economy of force at all other points which, with a minimum expenditure of energy, contains the enemy, deprives him of strong points, paralyses any offensive plan which he may meditate, and in general makes the ground safe for the decisive blow which is to be executed elsewhere. The occasion lor such a blow must be sought, not awaited—was it not said of Napoleon that 'without ceasing and everywhere he sought opportunities for battle'?—for, if awaited, it may not come or may conic under conditions that preclude success. When it comes, there ensues tfib decisive shock to which all other operations have led up. The reserves, carefully husbanded through all the work of preparation, are'thrown into tho scale:—'ln this manoeuvrebattle the reserves are the bludgeon prepared, organised, held back* carefully nursed in order to execute the sole act of the battle from which a result is expected—the decisive attack: the reserves husbanded with the most rigid parsimony, so that the weapon may be ns strong and the blow as violent as possible: hurled into the battle in mass, in an action surpassing in violence end energy all the combats of the battle with the due characteristics of surprise—mass and speed. , " » * * «

Vienna report? which declare that largo forces of Austvo-Gcnnan troops have reached Sofia, that it is hoped to overthrow Mahnoit and re-establish the moral of tho Bulgarian Army, and more to the-sumo effect are obviously upon to doubt. That the Central Powers will do what they can to impede an Allied advance through Serbia and Bulgaria goes without .saying, but it is reasonable to conclude that if large forces had been available for this purpose they would have, been enir ployed before now in an effort to keep , Bulgaria in the war. Tho position will not be tested until the Allies have reorganised and undertaken a further advance, but it may bo taken for granted that the Bulgarians in making submission acted with a clear perception of the consequences involved, and that they would not have surrendered to Jihe Entente had no better prospect been opened than that of making their country a cockpit of war.

41 u -If ' j, The news that British cavalry iorces have reached and surrounded Damascus, after being opposed only by rearguards, throws new light upon the straits to which Turkey .is , reduced. Damascus is more than sixty miles north of the railway crossings cast bf the Sea of Galileo which were lately captured. Turkey is said to be asking for help trom the Central Powers, but with Bulgaria out of the war tho one road by which they might have conveyed help to Turkey is dosed. Little y/ill be done by way V the Black oea. Probably only tie disorganised state of Turkey and the existence of a German dictatorship prevent her surrender. It is fairly obvious_ that the alternative to surrender is complete military collapse. It is open to the Allies to move oil' Constantinople from the north, and no doubt • the British iorces in Mesopotamia will be heard from in the near future.

A short but important item of news to-day is to the effect that Norway is laying mines'in territorial waters as a protection against German submarines. This means that the _ neutral lane" along the Norwegian coast, using which the (J----boafcs have been able to evade tho .British minefields and traps in tho North_ Sea, is to be closed. The event is probably comparable' in imoortance with the blocking of Zccbrnggc and Ostend. At the same time in its broader significance Norway s action is an interesting sign of the times. Only intimidation by Germany prevented her from closing her territorial waters to submarines at the outset, of tho war. Her belated action means that she no longer fears Germany.