The Taihape Daily Times AND WAIMARINO ADVOCATE. SATURDAY, OCOTBER 2, 1915. THE WAR.

Taihape Daily Times, Volume 7, Issue 310, 2 October 1915, Page 4

The Taihape Daily Times AND WAIMARINO ADVOCATE.

SATURDAY, OCOTBER 2, 1915. THE WAR.

(With which is incorporated The Taihape Post *xa« Waimarinu News.)

The waiting for men and munitions, incorrectly called stalemate by many, on the Western front, has ended in the greatest achievement in war ever yet attained. Britain’s insignificant little army has grown into such strength numerically as wcii as in morale that it may now be judged from a purely Continental army standpoint. Labour of Britain has been taken into the confidence of the British Government and in proportion munitions of war have accumulated so as to warrant that forward move that the whole civilised world lias long been waiting and hoping for. Germany is perturbed, anxious, and is excitedly rushing her forces hither and thither; her newspapers arc exhibiting an uncertainty that indicates the seriousness of the blow that has fallen. They admit tha? nothing less than calamity is plainly visible and that the stabilty of their line, at Seast in the Champagne district, is dangerously imperilled. What is far worse even from the German point of view is the fact that the offensive still continues; that the thrust is being incessantly, insistently, and dotermindly pushed, even into their third line of defence. They say that the Allies have not pierced and broken through, but there is none of the oldtime boast of invulnerabilty. Joffre’s men have cut much too deeply t be met with cheap bluff. A representative of American newspapers with the armies helps ns to realise the nature of the onslaught. He says that in two days on a sixteen t milie front thirty thousand Germans fell, the details of their falling being too horrible for contemplation. Wo may not be able to estimate the importance of the,first stage of the new offensive, but from both friend and enemy reports we know that disaster of more or less magnitude has at last overtaken our enemies. If. would, at this stage, be idle to discuss what direction the new move is to take; though, apparently, an effort is being made to break through in the Champagne. There is little to indicate what the ultimate really is. The various reports bristle with possibilities of further success and, ns one Gorman newspaper states, a decisive result may end the war. The morale of Austria seems to be at breaking point, and there are not wanting undeniable evidences that considerable sections of the German soldiery arc only too eager to

get out of the fight. The war machine is impaired and is being strained so hardly from east and west that it must give way. It only remains to be scon whether the Kaiser, in an extremity, can induce sufficient of his forces to keep up a hopeles guerilla defcnsivto the last man, or whether, when the decisive result comes, his war lords will insist upon the 'stoppage of a hopeless and unnecessary carnage. It is yet too soon to form any idea of when the end may be expected, but we have every reason to rest secure in the belief that the British authorities have made such

provision in men and munitions as warranted commencement of a supreme effort to push through to finality. Stirring and sensational news may be expected from the various fronts from now on. Russia has assumed "hammer” operations and has viciously turned on her asailants, inflicting defeats and losses that will prove disastrous in more than one way. The Russian turn will materially help .decision in the Balkan tangle, and is endangering the very existence of Germany's greatest army under Mackensen antr Hindoiiburg. On the eastern front the German's are held up’ at many poinm, while they have been disastrously driven back at others. It now seems questionable whether Russian or tnc Western forces are to be first at the doors of Berlin. In the Balkans, Bulgaria has played a "monkeying” part in hugging wild dreams of participation in Germany’s victory and glorification. The German propensity for making erratic deductions and "hand to mouth ” strategy seems to have pervaded Bulgaria’s actions and decisions, not realising that she could onry be the meanest of pawns in the game Germany is playing. However, the real seriousness of the Balkan situation seems to have passed and Bulgaria is now salaaming on hands and knee*, protesting innocence and begging pardons. Happily, her neighbours, Greece and Roumania, have a nice estimate or j the position, and they are not failing ! to lot Bulgaria understand this. At tbo Dardanelles things are tolerably quiet, and it may be that no further real offensive wiifl be attempted till tlie possibilitos of the forward move in France are tested. It seems quite plain that German assistance to Turkey is right out of the question, and it is obvious that if the 150,000 Allied troops now at Mudros are not required t.o give the quietus to Bulgaria they will be ample for a victorious march on Constantinople, and for opening the ocean highway to Russian Black Sea ports. The position everywhere is pregnant with great possibilities, but to attempt to indicate what the immedi/ite future will be would be nothing short of pure guesswork and speculation.