PROGRESS OF THE WAR

Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 27, 26 October 1918, Page 6

PROGRESS OF THE WAR

• Ax interval of fine, weather is now repotted in this Western theatre, and thc'British ■arnlios'aro making the most of the opportunity thus afforded. As news stands they are attacking heavily and making rapid progress on affront of nearly thirty miles extending south frbiil the Franco-Belgian border to the region east, of Le Gatea-u-.- In places an advance of several miles has been made. .Noi-th of Valenciennes the British troops have .cleared the, whole of the extensiyq.B.aismes" Forest, in the in'feHp'f angle, of a/jsiia.rp.elbow in the Scheldt' Canal, -.'and are in immediate touch with that waterway on a long front. As a' result of the British forward drive south of-.. Yale'ncicnncs ■-.- and along the front towards the Oisc-Sambre Canal, the; German line along theScheldt Canal-'.is.scno'usly outflank-' cd in the south'.' Even by the standards set iif the' offensive the rapid-ity--of the British advance is remarkable -when -account is taken of the defensive, strength-of the ground held/by.'the; enemy!. Where ho is not holding the defined .waterways .of the ■Scheldt and Sambre Canals the progress of the attacking armies' is op- • posed -by- streams' arid woods;: Nevertheless the enemy's positions arc already .-so invaded that, the collapse of. his defence, and a further retreat, on'.' his part already seem inevitable.

■ The area .of this-,battle is one in which British troops may he expected to fight, as if inspired, for one of the objectives threatened by their drive- is Mons. "The troops now engaged in smashing the enemy's defensive line along the Scheldt and further squth.wjll.no doubt feel that' in a special sense'they are avenging, all that their comrades of the "Old Contemptibles"had to endure in the historic retreat in : ..l9M. Mons is just about-16 miles cast of the positions tlie British have reached in the ingle; of -the Scheldt Canal cast of the : Forest of• Kaismcs; There is a more immediate threat, however, to .this important' railway junction of Maubcugc, from which the. attacking troops,'as news stands,. arc at about the. same distance as from Moils,. The attack is developing as a "drive into'n--railway'network the enemy, can ill afford to lose., Maube'uga receives;one of the most useful arterial ■ lines., supplying the enemy front, and the lateral- lines which radiate from the junction arc also of vital' importance to the enemy. An advance of eight or nine miles from the line they are shown at time of writing to have reached would.give the British a junction at which the trunk railway through' Maubcuge connects with another which serves the enemy as a valuable line of communication with his front.'to the...south,.' including the .pisc'Scw-p ,sa,Hcri.l.' On; .'the ; direct approach tu; tUis objective,, however,

the British are faced by a formidable obstacle in llic Mormal Forest, which covers both Maubeugc and the subsidiary junction to the south-

According to Mr. Piuup (tl.bbs the. British, are driving forward in the- Mormal Forest, but at present official reports do not bear- out thisstatement. They..show that a close approach has been.made to the.western fringe'of,the Mormal ."Forest, but apparently it has not -yet been' actually entered. It seems likely that the reference to the Mormal Forest'in-Mn. Gibus's- dispatch is really' ill fended-- to ' apply to' the. Forest-of Kais'mcs,'north of, Valenciennes'- -.'.'.- . '..■■ ' '•■".' • '.- . ■ -■ ■■• * ■ -.-'# ; '.*. '. '* . '.- As a whole, the prospects opened by the latest British attack and on .dthcr-:parts:-of the West front arc particularly, -promising, f The';- only dbiibtful; fa.ctor'.is.'thc weather,, and; everi- 'allowing.. : -f'or bad., weather .it seems highly probable that the enemy is doomed to suffer new defeats and disasters in'the-near future. His prospects of.holding the Allies for the' winter any where'short, of the. Mcuse line, are visibly and.-,rapidly diminishing. On that-line he will be- covering his frontiers by a narrow margin,"arid will-be-exposed'-to 'all the horrors of attack-at.short, range by powerful aerial squadrons. •Nor can it be doubted ■ that , the Mcuse line, : as General-. Monash declares 1 in a speech, reported to-day, will be,broken i'ri its turn.

.The New. : Zealand " Division is again.in fine, apparently after "a very.; brief rest, and-is already,adding to the brilliant record it. made in its eastward drive of'4o'miles from Hebuterne to Lc Cateait. The village of'Beaudigni'es, its latest capture, is in the forward area of .the bold wedge that is being driven into the railway network • centring on Maubcuge.---' '

The figures' of'shipping losses which appeared as late news yesterday show a drop of more than 87,000 tons in the total sinkings for Sep' tember as compared'with the losses of the previous month. During the summer the figure of losses month by month was approximately stationary, but in the .quarter which endqd 'on July 111- new- construction in Allied, arid neutral countries outpaced the total losses to the extent-of 100,000 tons per month. Since the output of .new shipping is rapidly expanding as time goes on, the pronounced drop in 10/.ses recorded for September .affords further convincing evidence of the failure of the submarine campaign. Germany is at present threatening to open a new intensified campaign against Allied sea transport, but 'considering the incentive she has had in recent months'to make the most of her U-boats, the figures which have been .touched upon go far to suggest that the threat partakes of the character of- bluff. ■