The Taihape Daily Times AND WAIMARINO ADVOCATE. SATURDAY, MARCH 20, 1915 THE WAR.

Taihape Daily Times, Volume 7, Issue 168, 20 March 1915, Page 4

The Taihape Daily Times AND WAIMARINO ADVOCATE.

SATURDAY, MARCH 20, 1915 THE WAR.

With which ia inoorporatnd The Taihape Post ..u3 Wnimarino News.)

The only Indication we have of whether the war is being waged in our favour or otherwise is given in the cables received from Europe daily which are published in our news columns. Wo cannot base our opinions on the strength and position of the contending parties because modern military strategists do not permit such information to become known. There are now three great centres of operations and each of these may bo divided into two, making six more or less points that have to be watched and taken into ae count in framing anything like an approximate idea of how the fortunes of war stand. In the west there is the conflict that is ragingin Belgium and Northern France, and there is the other wing of the Franco-British in Alsace and Lor raine. The progress during the winter of the Allies in both these quarters has necessarily been slow, but there has been progress, and latterly some very important points have been captured am! territory gained. Yesterday’s cable,s advise us that the persistency with which the Belgians are attacking is being rewarded with considerable success. The British have secured important victories and made strategic gains around Neuve Chapelle of the utmost value, because it is making the road easier to approach Lille, whore, we are told, an important battle is pending. Our men are within six miles of that place, and as mention is made of the Gw mans occupying a position of strategical disadvantage we arc led to understand that in a series of pitched battles our armies are likely to prevail. If the enemy is defeated in that quarter they lose all chance of being able to retire along the. valley of the Lys River, one of two most important routes they would need for retreat should disaster overtake them. Then, on the extreme of our left there docs not seem to be much likelihood of the enemy reaching

I lliu- coast, anywhere south of Xicupnrt owing' to the part our licet plays when any effort is displayed with that object. So, to say nothing - of the overwhelming advantage conferred by our control } of the sea, really solid progress is ! being made. In Alsace, tke French I are pushing well, into Herman, territory and the advance in that } quarter is almost of as much vain * as that made in the north. Turning to the eastern front, we find that the Austro-Clermans have never been able to recover the territory they were pushed back from early in the war, despite tinmost herculean and bloody efforts made. Russia has met with many reverses, but she has inflicted losses out of proportion to those suffered. Tn East Prussia, Govmany’s great move to open a way to Warsaw seems to have reached a hopeless stage. Her immense ar- ’ mios suffered fearful defeat al Przasnysz and further north along the line to Grodno, am ! from all reports it seems that Germany can be no more successful there than elsewhere. In the south, on the Russian extrem; left, the Austrians have suffered disaster time after time, and now cables toll us that the chief scorn of slaughter is once more in the Carpathians. Russia, talcing 1 everything into consideration, it seems, must prevail in that qua; ter, as while her armies are only just completing mobilisation oper--1 ations, the Austrians are nearing their last extremities so far a men and munitions are concerned. They have been driven back from time to time but there is no doubting the fact that Russia is progressing and unless something of almost a miraculous nature occurs to prevent it she must overcome all opposition. The Egyptian cli--1 version seems to have been an niter failure, hut the Allies’ reply in attacking the Dardanelles is finding plenty of work for the Turks to do. It is said that a way ! wil he hammered through by Raster, hut, knowing tin: 1 -situa- ■ lion and the stupendous difficulties to ho encountered in lines of forts and miles upon miles of mine-fields, one may reasonably 1 doubt that opinion; hut that the Dardanelles will he forced thor is no shadow of doubt. Therefore, seeing that our troops are pushing the enemy back in Belgium and France, and are inrad- . ing Alsace-Lorraine, that the Russians are forcing their way into East Prussia and into AustroHungary, that the Allied fleets are . practically invading Turkey, . while our navy holds almost undisputed sway of the seas, we have good reason to hope that the continuous weaking of our 1 enemies will sooner or later result in breakdown, more especial- • ly as there are the strongest evidences that two or three neutral nations will, in their own interests, be compelled to take a hand with the Allies in putting an end to the almost unbearable position.