In the West

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXXII, Issue 28, 29 December 1916, Page 5

In the West

EGYPT AMD THE EAST. EVI f LiTARY CRITIC’S VIEWS,

CONCENTRATE ON THE WEST.

Pross Association —-Copyright. Published in “The Times.”

(Received 9. a.m.) London, December 28

Colonel Repington contends that in order to gain the necessary superiority on the West front during 1917 1918 every possible white division from Salonika, Egypt, and Mesopotamia should he withdrawn. Native armies from India and Africa replacing the men in Egypt. Artillery could be provided by the Dominions. The preservation of'Egypt as a base intact is he says, as much in Australian as English and Indian interests. Egypt is an ideal offensive base for operations on the eastern shores of the Mediterranean. Breaking down the Turkish military power by combined action on the part of the Allies in Armenia, Mesopotamia, and Egypt will be the best means of accomplishing the investment of the Austro-German armies and checkmating Germany’s eastern moves.

BRITISH TAKE OVER NEW TRENCHES. Press Association—Copyright, Australian and N.Z. Cable Association. London, December 27. The British havo extended tneir front on the Somme arid simultaneous, ly the British line in the Balkans wa» lengthened, and is now actually longer than the British front in France. The Paris Journal’s correspondent, supplies the first news of trie British extension of their front on the Somme. It was a busy Christmas for the Tommies, who were entering tho French lines in the stillness of a cold night. Hundreds and hundred’s 1 ' of convoys of food, munitions, and material for shelters moved over the roads to the war trenches, and thousands and thousands of men’s shadowy forms pressed silently and. secretly over rie thoroughfares within a few yards of tho enemy. Our guards at the trenches redoubled their vigilance, and experienced a severe and anxious time during the movements involving an exchange of dutievS between the two allied armies, the process being accomplished with tho utmost order ami success and the operation being completed on Christmas night. Soon the names of celebrated French woods and villages will again be mentioned, wion added glory, though no longer in French but in ’ British communiques. Tho extent of the sector taken over has not yet been discovered. The Paris Journal’s dramatic disclosure has caused a sensation in London. It explains the prolonged bombardment of*> -the Ypres fTQU***. where General Sir Douglas Haig persuaded the Germans that an attack was imminent. The enemy were completely duped, and while boasting that they had x’epulsed a British attack south-east of Ypres, on both sides of Wieltji and north of Ypres, tho great transfer was effected without a mishap.

The extension represents a Britisn Christmas box to their French allies, who have long been hoping that Sir Douglas Haig would be able to increase his responsibilities, for whereas the British-Belgian lino in November extended for 94 miles, the French were holding 360 miles on the Somme. The French regiments are composed of men of over 45, and they have held the line at Verdun, without leave, since August, 1914, spending winter in the trenches.