CURRENT WAR TOPICS.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXVIV, Issue 83, 14 March 1916, Page 5

CURRENT WAR TOPICS.

The budget of hews to-day ,contains nothing of very groat importance in regard to any of the theatres, but what there is. of it is rather satisfactory. On the West, all the reports go to show that the enemy is suffering' very severe losses, and that the French are holding on to the positions, though it cannot be guaranteed that there will not be more "strategical retirements." There is no question whatever that the policy of the Allies is to save valuable lives, and retirements from positions which might otherwise be defended and held are undertaken for humanity's sake. The enemy admit that the French successfully attacked them westward of the Meuse| while eastward of the river at Vaux ferocious attacks by the Germans have been repulsed with heavy loss, r As the : . other sectors of the line,, heavy bombardment appears to bo the, order of the day.,

In tho Balkans, Rqumania seems,to. have become, prabrpiliqd .with ( Bulgarian and Austrian trjoops , pn' the, l)anube, and many casualties- are, reported In consequence, , Another ringer pointing to the eventual intervention of Roumania on the side of the Allies is an agreement with Russia allowing the passage of war materials to Roumania for her own,use, and,also..the agreement giving Roumania part of Bessarabia. The attack on Salonika is said to be more than ever improbable; the relations of the Bulgars and Germans, are daily being'estranged; * while the invasion of jEgypt>ls no longer regarded as possible;, the Russian advance having changed the.whole face of the military problem 'in the East,

The repopfc. that • the German Fleet is preparing' to move for action raises i the question as to the relative strength of the rival navies, as well as the additions that have been made by Germany since the opening of he war. The almost impenetrable veil of secrecy which hangs over the enemy country makes it impossible to accurately state the present strength, but a fairly definite opinion may be formed from the position and intentions of Germany just prior to the outbreak of hostilities. In an interesting article in the Wellington Post, "H.H." writes:—The Kronprinz, completing the Konig class of 20£-kndts, 25,300-ton ships, with ten 12-inch guns, was completed last year. She was begun in May, 1912 ? and launched in February, 1914. She was the last of the German 12-inch gun battleships, and is a companion of the Grosser Kurfurst, Markgraf, and Konig. Following these ships is a class of four ships, each of about 29,000 tons, carrying eight 15-inch guns, and of a speed which' does not seem to have been divulged. This class is obviously an answer to the British Queen Elizabeth type; it is somewhat larger than the British type, but the primary and secondary armaments are almost identical. Two of these, "T" and Ersatz Worth, were laid down in the latter part of 1913, and launched in 1914, and in the normal course of events they might not have been finished yet. However, it is possible that they have been.hurried on and are ready for work. A third, Ersatz Kaiser Frederick 111., was laicTuown hi 1914, and even if she was launched last year she cannot be much past that stage. The fourth, Ersa*tz Kaiser Wilhelm 11., which was to have been laid down some time hast year, is probably still

on the stocks. (The word "Ersatz/' by the way, means "in place but it has no real signification in relation to the namesake vessels for which the new ones are supposed to be substitutes, and to which they are very much,■. superior.) Beyond the vessels named it is not necessary to go in,the battleship class; any others laid down are outside practical politics for the next two years.