Russians' Overwhelming Success

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXVIV, Issue 91, 23 March 1916, Page 5

Russians' Overwhelming Success

Verdun Offensive Checked

German Public Opinion Alarmed

Norway Angered at Submarine Policy

AVIATION IN THE WAR

CURRENT WAR TOPICS.

The news' of Verdun is of all-round satisfaction; Artillery duels are proceeding on troth sides of the Meuse, and the French are increasingly confident that the offensive of the enemy has been effectually checked. In connection with these operations and the losses sustained by the enemy, reports continue to dribble through of disorder and riots among the population of Germany and Austria, and to-day we hear of one paper (which will no doubt soon be suppressed), demanding the .publication of the approximate losses on both sides in order to allay public opinion. There can be no better criterion of the state of the country and the alarm in the minds' of the people than bread riots where women take the lead, or criticism by the press of the military authorities in a country where militarism is their god. • ,

They must be having a very rough time in the Fatherland. They have started in to kill off their menageries, since they cannot feed them! In Berlin recently, so scarce was the meat supply that ten fine lions from the Congo were put to death. The beasts had long been the pride of Bellermainstrasse, and drew ,big crowds, who viewed them with interest. For some time the experiment was tried of feeding them with condensed food preparations, which they refused to eat. As .meat is now so high in Germany no money was available with which to purchase ordinary food for the animals. A public collection for their subsistence was then tried, but as the people of Berlin have all they can do to purchase meat for themselves the money thus received was barely sufficient for a meagre supply, and it was then decided to poison the ani : mals. This was done as painlessly as possible, and many in Berlin now mourn the deathe of these handsome beats from the Congo.

Just what damage has been done in London is known only to a few outside the metropolis. Startling tales have found their way to the Antipodes, and a recently-returned Taranaki wounded soldier says that the damage done to Charing Cross in one of the Zeppelin raids was enormous, nearly all the platforms at that important railway station having been blown up. • One big theatre received the full force of a bomb and was very badly damaged, and a hole made by a bomb in the roadway was such that the effect had to be seen to be believed. If there is even a semblance of the truth in the reports that come to hand, it is not to be wondered at that the East Herts election was won by an airman whose principal plank in his platform \tfs the reconstruction of the British air service. In the House of Commons, Mr Billings reaffirmed his willingness to bring evidence to show that airmen had been killed owing to neglect in the construction of the machines.

"The Mesopotamian Picnic," as operations in that theatre of the war have been dubbed, is prominent in thr cables just now, and a few extractr from the letter of an officer with the forces will show how wicked is the ap pellation. Referring to the battle of Ctesphion, this officer says that this hard-fought action" will rank as one oi the greatest battles in which the In dian Army had ever been engaged. Victory rested with them at the end of the' day, but at such a price that further advance would have been too costly, and on the arrival of Turkish reinforcements from Bagdad a retreat to Kut-el-Amara was determined up on. This was carried out by General Townshend with such ability that not even the 1300 prisoners captured at Cesphion were allowed to fall into the enemy's hands.

The country above Kut-el-Amara differs little from that lower down (continues the letter), except that here the level of the ground is above the normal flood level of the river. The country is perfectly flat, covered with short grass or scrub, though here and there old irrigation channels make it difficult for carts or motorcars to negotiate. An occasional mud wall a' few feet high stands out against the sky. These are mostly evidence of ancient works built to control the vagaries of the river. Often they appear quite useless, as the river has long since changed its course. On the East, in the distance, are the Pusht-i-Kuh mountains, on every other side a limitless expanse. Not an interesting vista, but one which will remain for many years to come photographed on the memory of every man who has served hi the Mesopotamian campaign. Here one's eye misses the sheep, catdark Arab tents, which relieve 'the tie, and horses, and the clusters of monotony, of the scenery lower down the Tjgris, where British rule has already .reassured the wandering tribesmen. Villages and live stock are only conspicuous by their absence, and in their place Arab horsemen range the country, sniping the boats on thenway up. or down the river or hovering on the outskirts of camping-grounds and marching columns.

North of Kut the river presents the greatest difficulties to navigation. It is tortuous to[ a,, degree. N» small scale map shows its eccentric curves, nor can anyone understand why it should flow off a mile in some new. direction, only to return within a few yards of its own course.' Beow Kut the riven is comparatively narrow and deep, though here, too, there are many traps for the unwary ship's captain. Above Kut it broadens out into a much more spacious stream, at times 500 yards across, but at such places it becomes so shallow that there is hardly enough depth anywhere for a ship to pass, and, as the channel ;s constantly changing, it may be half a day before the unwieldy river' "flats" are lucky enough to find a passage past a difficult place. The operations above Kut were carried out by land, though ships played an important part in bringing up supplies and the thousand and one things required to maintain an army in the field. "We are idperating now on a long line of communication from Basra to Kut-el-Amara, and, though a German official report appeared to the effect that the Turks had captured one of our armoured.trains near Basra it will not lie giving away a military secret to say that no railway of any sort exists south of Bagdad.