A WEEK OF THE WAR

Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 29, 29 October 1918, Page 6

A WEEK OF THE WAR

j/ OFFICIAL REVIEW [ THE GERMAN RETREAT IN |. ■:/;■/ ; THE WEST \ J PEACE ISSUES IN THEK I -f. ;,ENEMY'S COUNTRIES

! , .The Prime.Minister, the Eight Hon. IVW.1 V W. F. Massey, has received the following i telegraphic summary of war operations ' '. for the week ended October 25, from tlin j British Ministry of Information :—

'■'■■'• -Probably , . l the , 'enemy now intends to withdraw.to the line of the Meuse aa being the shortest and strongest he can I get,' Here he, might secure breathing j. space to' reorganise his troops. How . urgent is the necessity to withdraw to ft I shorter line may be judged from the that'during .the past few weeks the jr. enemy has been unable to maintain in [ 'reserve a.large; fresh.force of more than '■'-'..three, or .four-divisions. The achievo- !'. ments of the Belgian Army are remark-j.'.'-oble. For four years it has been be- ' hind 'entrenohments .with no experience !' in largeTficale warfare in the open. So [that ''•■it is very admirable that pit shonld have advanced 6O quickly r'. over, the most difficult njarshlands, es- {". pecially when this comparatively untried {.force was required to make a 6econd of- ! tensive within about a fortnight of the j, .first. ■ ...

'>. '-, Further evidence reveals the serious [internal condition of the German army. ! Drafts frequently show mucinous conI duct •. Oα , one occasioa a draft was sent j.; off without ammunition sinco it was not i trusted, but the men managed to hide it on their per6one, and when the' train ! nioved out of the town they opened fire } on a parade ground. The Peace Notes. ■ ■ Public- opinion in the Press of all Alr - lied countries jihows Temarkable unani--1 mity in its appreciation of the German ! Note and of President Wilson's reply. i Thia last completely sums up public feel- <:■ ing with regard to the German proposals J : for ah armistice. With regard to the

' German conduot of hostilites everyone

:;.-feels that the past cannot be wiped out ( by mere promise of changed methods un- [ der stress of a military defeat. Gerv many still does not realise the intense ? depth, of Allied feeling in this matter. '•■.. She now feels thather provocation of the ii'/war was'a ■ blunder, but the world's opinion holds it not a blunder but a crime.

:',Ae for constitutional reforms, the pre- ;, sent German Government, > which was i brought into being by the pressure of i. military reverses, hos offered no real [■■ guarantee that such forced reforms will l ! -be. either'sincere, permanent, or effec-

j .t'TeV ■ ■ . .■'■ -.-,■'-The President's Note to Austria has

Ucaused much satisfaction In Allied capij - tals, and meanwhile the' Dual Monarchy :., dissolves apace.: The Government's proj<. poeals for a federation were turned down X by 'the Slavonic peoples within- the monarchy. ..and by their representatives in I Paris. ; .. ■

;' Tewflt Pasha failed to form a Turkish I Cabinet, and has been, succeeded by Izzet i;.. Pasha, who'., managed it' Izzet is'tbe I soldier who carried out-the successful * negotiations'for the Turkish Government in 1910, by whioh, under Turkish rule, : : the Imam of Sanna was granted auto-i.-.nomy.'.' However, in .the present junc- • ture, an expert in autonomy would not ! be of much assistance to the' Turkish

'Empire. The most prominent * other '; member of the Cabinet is Djavid- Bey, i Minister' of Finance, who is the very '■'.■.core .of the Union and Prq- ■ .■■fjress.' This impUe that Talaat Pasha is still behind the scones/ ond that the (; Committee of Union anil Progress/has ' not abandoned its position in Constan- , tinople, while the; Turks do not realise ; the position in which they are now placed by tho military disasters. t v'-; . J 4 .Operations in Russia. f? , ''. , 'On the Volga front the - Czech right ['••' wing has'made some •progress, but the left was threatened, by a turning--1 movement by tho Bolsheviks, And was H forced'to fall bock fifty miles east of the .';'''KinelVJunetion of-the Chelyabinsk and i<' Tashiend railways. The Tailwaymen in > ; .Trans-Siberia have been , giving trouble, f ■■■ end,it has been discovered that they are r/in collusion'with the local Bolsheviks, f-~ while' the Russian' troops are powerless :. ia restore order. This helm to show J the vital need for strong Allied forces ; _.to secure the Czeoh communications in i.'-," European Russia. In the Trans-Caspian I; region • tomplioated fighting is takiog J place. We are co-operating- with the mi Irans-Caspian forces; and have captured ;.;,Dushak, 200 miles east-of the Caspian, (.driving off tho Bolsheviks, with , heavy !,"• lose, Unforhmfttelyi : . tho unreliable i,,,,T.rahs-Caspian allies did little or nothing [a,.'in...the.attack, and .then.promptly scat- ■ iNtered.after securing loot; so that'when '.-the Bolsheviks" counter-attacked all the, |~lighting had to..be donrf by our handful I of Indian troops, who ■ suffered heavily i,' end were forced to fall back on Kaakha j But the Bolsheviks.left a weakly guard- : ed rear, and the rearguard Was over- ,, I whelmed.by the Turcomans. This, to- '.■ gether with :the heavy losses -at- our J hands, so upset them that they again i ■ evaouated Dushak, and withdrew to Tej jend in. the greatest confusion, leaving j behind remarkable numbers of dead and I a quantity of burnt rolling stock.

V'V'-'-The War in the Air.

i. In all only fifteen German and British j machines canie down on the Western front during the week. 'This minute ■■ ngure is partly due to tho rain and fo" I but chiefly to the .. inactivity of the t ,enemy, who has been very little in evi- ; dence in spite of abundant provocation. I -.The British airmen are bombing and re- ; eonnoitring everywhere. British aoroj planes have taken an important part in I the. whole of the British advance, end by I: their close co-operation with the artillery >. end infantry played a 'considerable part ;'■' Jf tne heavy fighting that, resulted In ! the capture of Menin and Cdurtrai, and i ultimately m the best day of the war I which saw the freeing of Ostend, Lille : Douai, and Tourcoing. (.During the week-end, aerial activity ; developed rapidly along the: whole front I from Zeebrugge to Le.Cateau. British i. pilots and observers, flying lqwwifh maj chme-guns, helpe<l to capture Solesmes, i and aided tho British advance to the i suburbs of Valenciennes. j , Meanwhile the troops which operated l n -? e l smm wero mi <ch helped by the : British coastal squadrons, which vigor- ;■■ ously attacked the Zeebrugge-Ghen't I canal, the railway sidings, and the enemy ; lines at Eecloo and Ghent. Heavy cari goes ._ of bombs were dropped on the I enemy bargo traffic betwen Bruges and j; Went end on hostile.aircraft at the St. ;. Dems-Westrem aerodromes. ' At Somer- ,: gam, a trainful of German troops was I set on fire, while horse and motor traf- !■. iic was perpetually worried on the con-;--i£ st ?i f°* ds T th!lt . converge to Ghent. ; iheiK.A.l. Independent Force continues -to-dtf.important work, and for the seci ' ona week m succession returned from all :. its raids without the loss of a sindo ' machine. , ~