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PROGRESS OF THE WAR

The German retreat which is reported to-day promises to stand out as one of the big-events of the Western campaign this year. As information stands the enemy is retiring eastward on a front of twenty miles from Arnicnticr.es, on the Franco-Belgian border, to Lens, but this is only a .beginning. N"o past event of the campaign affords more striking evidence of the formidable character of the Allied offensive- than this retreat. As Sir Douglas Haig points out.in an official report, the movement is enforced by the progress of Allied attacks in Fiantiers and on the Gainbrai-St. Qucntin front. The positions the enemy is evacuating lire amongst the strongest he has over organised, and no section of his front was better fitted to withstand frontal attack. These positions were not more important ■in their strength than in the fact

that they covered Lille and a wide range of enemy communications centring on that great junction. Looking no further ahead, the prospect is'now raised that the battlefront will presently be carried so close to Lille- the railways in its immediate vicinity, will be made useless to the. enemy. Bearing in mind that Lille is much the most important junction linking the enemy's main communications through Bel-' gium w.ith the railways which supply a great' part of his front in France, it wilHie realised that the enemy would not now be withdrawing his front towards Lille if. he were not driven to do so by compelling necessity. v • -

■ The reason for his action is plain.: Though-immensely strong- against frontal''attack-, the positions from" •which he Is retiring '.were, so outflanked on north and south that it was no longer safe to hold tlieni. Before the enemy began his. present retreat his front over a- distance, of forty miles, from the border to the latitude of Arras formed a salient bulging 10 miles to the west. . This salient was-ami is imperilled by the Flanders advance, in which the Allies have closely approached Menin, north and slightly cast of Lille,. and by the'advance further south'in''.which 'they have reached Cambrai and gained positions five or six' miles south of Douai. The retreat upon which the enemy is now engaged is a step towards casing-the'pressure -on-.his-flanks by shortening and straightening his front, but .in order to achieve this result he would have to carry, out a retirement which would bring both Lille and Douai practically.'.into the battle .line.. A", limited retirement. oj3.the.front from Armcntiercs to Lens serves no useful purpose. It only slightly shortens The enemy line and leaves him as dangerously threatened as ever on cither flank. , At"the : .present ' stage the' enemy has nothing to set against the ■loss" of a- range of field fortifications which includes trie formidable La Bassee salient. The whole affair, from his point of view, is a choice of evils forced upon him •by the successful development of the Allied offensive. If he gains relief from the immediate clangers of attack in flank-to. which he is visibly exposed .he'will, Mo. jo at the, cost. of exposing.Lille and. Douai to.close bombardment, and this looks.like escap.'ing one dange.r-.-to .meet- -another much greater. ■ ■;•. -.■'•• •• ' -." ■ ■■;.*. .-• .*-.-I';* .»-.-•' ■ •The significance'of the ■ enemyV retirement towards Lille is,' '.of-coiirsc,-much. heightened, by the dif-; ficulties into which he is cast elsewhere. To-day's reports show that the Anglo-American armies on the Cambrai-S.t: 'Qiientin . "front- "are Steadily enlarging the breach they have broken in and all but through the .Hindenburg defences in .that region. The fighting is desperate, a : nd the enemy is -' resisting stubbornly, but in spite of all his efforts he is being ousted stage.by stage from the fortified: positions- which- stand •' between the Allied troops and the battle in. the- open on which'their hearts arcVsc.t'.'At tho point, to which events' are. car.ried ■ in. available" reports," the' British are attacking heavily north-east of St. Quentin. The whole of that city' is now in the hands of the French. On.the front immediately to-the south- GeneralDe.beney's army has mastered defences which withstood all .attacks ■last., year,, and . is' still... driving for : ward. '.'Of the• front further' east'a.simila'r'.'stovy' is;.told: Tlie.Germans. have lost- another- extensive tract of territory north-west of Reims., TheFrench and Americans, on the front in the Champagne an:l the Argonne on which they, are attacking in concert, are also making continued headway. They have broken into the enemy defences on a-wide front to a depth in : places of not much less than'ten'miles. Here also prospects of open, warfare aro raised. A correspondent points out to-day that if the Germans fail to" hold the line they are now, defending they will' have to ! .face the American troops in the open.. . .-•. ' ! ■ -...

One of to-day's messages,' though in its general tenor it sounds a judicious note of caution, leans rather .decidedly .to- optimism in regard to'the period-'of good weather still in prospect. It states that the Allies are'running a race with winter, and have only.i. month-of cam-: paigning weather 'ahead; As a. matter of. fact, a month of campaigning weather, taking that to . mean weather favourable to campaigning, is only a -possibility—the extreme possibility—and by no means' a cer'tainty. If'another nionth.of reasonably good weather were assured, the. enemy's, prospects . 'would be. ey.en darker than they "are. '..The.sa'niC: message observes that the public , should not be encouraged to look for peace by Christmas. Apart from the fact that it is unwise -.-togive too. free a rein to optimism,, it is really useless to speculate about tho probable duration of the war. Many of the- factors which enter cannot be accurately measured even by those who have access to all available information ■It is obvious, however, that the signs of an impending collapse in the enemy's resistance -on his-present line in the Western theatre—and such signs are numerous and convincing—do not necessarily connote an early end to the \vai\ Evcn.after a ruinously costly retreat the enemy might reach a shortened defensive .line in condition, so far as military factors are concerned, to offer a long and stubborn resistance.' '■ '• ' ■ ■

Much would.depend in that,case upon the influence of events-in the Balkans and elsewhere in the East, upon the attitude of Austria-Hun-gary,' upon- the moral of the German people, and upon other factors which there is rib hope of accurately gauging at the present stage. It is evident, however, that' the. enemy's plans for the .winter have., been thrown into.'fearful disarray, and that his hopes of avoiding an ex-' tended retreat within the next few weeks are exceedingly slender. His losses are enormous, and are mounting rapidly. A French communique mentions to-day that since July 15 the enemy has lost in France and Belgium more than 250,000 ' officers and men in the category of prisoners alone, 3609 gu.ns, and over ;>;i,oob machine-guns.. It is shown also that the. onemy lost nearly as many men and guns in the month of-Sep-tember as during the- previous six and a half weeks. Considering that in September the enemy did most of his fighting in defensive positions on which he had spared no effort or outlay of .labour and material to make' perfect, these official figures afford a particularly striking proof of t'".' -vising power and effect of :ib r \llied offensive and' the failuro ~r '? enemy's powers of resistance, as the outlook is, however. "MiiiYo are no grounds for assuming that the end is immediately at hand.

Permanent link to this item
Hononga pūmau ki tēnei tūemi

https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/DOM19181005.2.24

Bibliographic details
Ngā taipitopito pukapuka

Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 9, 5 October 1918, Page 6

Word count
Tapeke kupu
1,217

PROGRESS OF THE WAR Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 9, 5 October 1918, Page 6

PROGRESS OF THE WAR Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 9, 5 October 1918, Page 6

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