PROGRESS OF THE WAR

Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 23, 22 October 1918, Page 4

PROGRESS OF THE WAR

To-day's-reports tell of further triumphant progress by the Allied armies, but Sir Douglas Haig mentions also that some of the latest fighting was carried out in heavy rain. With such weather conditions tending to become normal, a state of affairs is foreshadowed in which the enemy may gain a measure of relief. His present plight, however, "is unenviable, and from Flanders to. the Meuse the Allies on long fronts are driving hard upon his roarguards and into his communications. The latest exploit of tho British troops, the forcing of tho Scllc river north of Le Cateau and the capture of Denain, has carried them within .five miles of Valenciennes, an important junction on 'the great lateral railway behind the enemy front, and brought a considerable section of this line within range of comparatively close bombardment. In Flanders the Belgians are now a dozen miles beyond Bruges and about ten miles from Ghent It is fairly plain that the enemy intends to retire at least to the Antwerp line.

The complete, recovery of tho Flanders coast is in itself an event of commanding importance, which will materially affect conditions in the domain of naval warfare as well as in war on land. Even when Zeebruggc had been bottled no and the entrance to Ostend partly closed the enemy's foothold on the Flanders coast constituted a standing threat to tho vital cross-Channel communications which the Navy_ has been so' wonderfully successful in defending and keeping all but completely inviolate throughout, the war. So long as it existed, even in a modified form, this threat demanded an answer in such a disposition of British naval forces as sufficed to nullify it. Now that the enemy is restricted to much more distant bases, the threat to the cross-Chan-nel communications is largely eliminated and the task of the Navy is correspondingly reduced and force made available for other service.

*** » | While British and Belgians are forging ahead in the north, the French and Americans are giving a good account of .themselves to the south and east. The French, in particular, have so _ developed their crossing of the Aisnc in tlw region of V'ouziers that they are in a fair way to outflank the extensive Boult Wood, north of the Argonne Forest, * * a *

Sir Douglas Haio mentioned in ono of his reports yesterday that the troops of tho Fifth Army, under General Bird-wood, have for many weeks pressed back the enemy rear-* guards with great activity and de-

termination, and that .on October 18 they encircled and captured Lille. The Fifth Army is taking its revenge for its desperately trying experience on the St. Quentin front in March, when it received the full weight of the initial blow of the offensive with which the enemy hoped to crush and defeat the Allied armies. Even now the story or those critical days is very far from complete, but some light was thrown on the facts by General Gough, who commanded the Fifth Army in. the opening stage of the enemy offensive, in a letter to the Lord Mayor of Belfast. After paying a tribute to the Ulster Division for its very gallant conduct "in stemming the tide of the immense German attack that was launched against them on March 21 and subsequent dates," General- Gough describes as magnificent the fighting not only of the Ulster Division but of all the divisions in the Fifth Army "against the greatest odds hurled on any body of troops throughout this great war.". Proceeding,' General Gough wrote: "The main feature of the situation to which the whole Fifth Army, including the Ulster Division, was exposed are known to everyone, I believe, and give some idea of what those odds were, viz.. fourteen infantry divisions against forty German divisions on March 21, reinforced by some eightto ten more German divisions during the subsequent two days. I cannot speak too highly of the splendid calmness land doggedness with which my fel-low-countrymen met and fought this storm, and though many laid down their lives their splendid tenacity saved the British Empire _ and France by permitting the arrival of reserves."

* # * » Acooeding to one of to-day s messages, Denmark has sent a Note to Germany proposing that a plebiscite should now bo taken of the inhabitants of Schleswig, the northern section of the territory wrested from Denmark by Prussia in 1864, to ascertain whether they prefer allegiance to Germany or Denmark. The treaty to which Denmark appeals is that which was concluded at Prague at the end of the Austro-Prussian war of 1866. Napoleon 111, to quote the Encyclopaedia Britannica, f procured the insertion in the treaty of paragraph 5, by which the northern districts of Schleswig were-' to be reunited to Denmark when the majority of tho population, by a free vote, should so desire; but' when Prussia at last thought fit to negotiate with Denmark on the subject she laid down conditions which the Danish Government could not accept. Finally, in 1878, by a separate agreement between Austria and Prussia, paragraph 5 was rescinded." Denmark no" doubt, hopes that the Allies as champions of the right of self-determination will support her claim to the plebiscite which she was denied in bygone years, Since she did not consent to the annulment of the proviso regarding a plebiscite, her claim, m grounds of simple justice, is manifestly strong. What the result of such a plebiscite would be at this time it is difficult, however, to say. At_ the time of its annexation by Prussia tho disputed territory was peopled by 180,000 Danes, but a considerable number of these people transferred their property and residence to Denmark, taking advantage -of an article in the treaty of 1864 which gave them the option of doing so at any time during the six years subsequent to that date. Since then the Prussian Government, by prohibiting the use of Danish in the schools and public offices, "has used the customary means for compelling all subjects of the King to become German in lad-"" guage and feeling." The fate of the territories in question—the northern districts of Schleswig—docs not affect 'Germany's possession of the Kiel Canal.