The Taihape Daily Times SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 30th, 1916 THE WAR.

Taihape Daily Times, Issue 201, 30 September 1916, Page 4

The Taihape Daily Times

SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 30th, 1916 THE WAR.

AND WAIMAEINO ADVOCATE (With which is incorporated The Tal hapo Post and Waimarino News.)

There is a yearning interest just now about what is taking place on the Somme, in France, that is almost hourly becoming more intense. In the last brilliant act of that sad drama, the New Zealanders seem to have been cast in most important, if not tne chief parts. Their interpretation of those parts has brought astonishment to their leaders, and dismay and disaster to their enemies. They unquestionably did their duty, and did it beyond all expectations. That they should have suffered was a natural sequence of their gallantry, prowess, and initiative, but we are told officially that Britain’s total casualties — killed, wounded, and prisoners—’Were not double the number of Germans actually taken as prisoners solely. This brave achievement of our lads is some thing that future writers will revel in with pride. The great feature of their work is that it helped very materially in bringing the day nearer when Generals Foch and Haig will decide that the opposing line is sufficiently destroyed to warrant a rush through. We are not quite sure that this day is not nearer now than was anticipated a week ago, and that, consequently, all the details bearing upon what is to happen on that great day in other parts of fighting fronts as well as on the Somme Avere not quite in readiness. It may be taken as fact that the leaders now see their way through, and the preparations for the grand denouement are feverishly, but thorough

ly being pressed forward. Since the taking of Combles and Thiepval last Tuesday, our troops have secured other important advanced positions. The Germans are frantically digging in, but what resistance can their hurried defences give in comparison to that of the hugely extensive underground reticulations and fortifications upon which two years of careful work and perfecting has been bestowed? Our forces realise that their opponents are demoralised; the last fight they put up was a disgrace to men calling themselves soldiers. Scarcely a German officer was found in the trenches with the men, only privates and non-coms, peopled those elaborate underground cities of refuge. The men taken had no heart for the fight; they had been deserted by their officers, who, on pretexts that should cause them to be shot as traitors, had made for places of safety far in the rear. We can scarcely regard this as an !n----dication of the greatness and effectiveness of the German machine. It is obvious that the machine, in its hugeness and weight, is something powerful while it has the initiative, but loss of initiative seems to bring demoralisation and a confusion of ideas in the high command that must mean disaster. The German machine is excellent in attack, but there are indications that it may prove a colossal failure in defence, and a series of rearguard actions such as the Britisn fought on the retirement from Mons in the early days of the .war. The position now is, the British and French are placing their heavy guns in position for the next great assault, bringing them up on the commanding positions recently captured, the British pointing theirs down on to the streets of Bapaume, and the French theirs for destroying • the German warrens on Mount St. Quentin. The fall of Bapaume and Peronne will follow; after that it is very doubtful whether there are any other particularly formidable works to delay the rush through of great forces of cavalry, followed by infantry and field artillery. One thing seems certain, and that is, the Germans have found that trust in positions lately lost to them was not well placed, and they must realise that to prevent colossal disaster, their whole line in France and Belgium must be abandoned just as speedily as it is possible to get away. The recent victory in which our lads so honourably participated is being pressed home, while in all probability the big guns have already commenced their deadly, destructive work on Bapaume. On the Russian , front we have Brussiloffs assurance that all is going well; he is engaged rather in destroying German life, than in occupying Austrian territory, His last report has that true ring of utmost confidence that is satisfying. The Roumanians have given Mackensen his quietus in the Dobrudja, and are pursuing their occupation of Transylvania, and there seems no very great obstacle to their march westward till they reach the BerlinBagdad railway in the vicinity of Belgrade, the Servian capital. Italy is well on the way to the occupation of Trieste, taking from Austria the whole of her seaboard on the Adriatic, leaving her fleet of warships homeless. Greece is still the bete noir of the Balkan situation, while Egypt and Mesopotamia are negligible as factors in final victory. The King of Greece is now faced with one of two things—dethronement, or fighting beside the Entente. He is doubtless wholly opposed to both, but revolution looms so large that Constantine cannot mistake his position. It was rumoured yesterday that he had bolted to Constantinople, preferring rather to be a traitor to Greece than to break his word with the Kaiser. To-day’s cables will probably indicate how much truth this and similar rumours carry. Meanwhile the revolution, with Venizelos as its acknowledged head, is rapidly spreading, and officers and men are rushing to the national colours, forming an army to drive their Bulgar enemies from Greek Macedonia. The Allies are now fighting on Servian soil, shelling •the Germo-B'ulgars out of their strong holds; while the British are moving along the Struma, preparing the shortest and most rapid route to Sofia. It it gratifying- to note that on no front is there any hurry-scurry fighting, every move is deliberate, and so far has proved effective, indicating that co-ordination for some great and decisive purpose is being sought and confidently worked up to. Germany on the other hand is undergoing changes that only a few months ago were thought next' to impossible. The German Chancellor, the appointee and representative of the Kaiser, and the war party is now in league with the hated Socialists. Peace is being urged by the starving German people, and the German Government is evidently making strenuous efforts to do something that will bring peace and save Germany’s face. The Allies have no doubt that victory is theirs, and having evidence of rapine and murder overwhelming, which the mind of every soldier is bent upon revenging, no peace seems possible that is other than absolute and unconditional surrender.

We regret to have to inform our readers more especially that large number in the country, that an extensive casualty list was held back by the authorities to-day that might very well have come to hand in time to be published in this day’s issue, so as to reduce the awful suspense many must feel with respect to the fate of those they love at the front. The list is a very lengthy one, and appears to contain some 600 or 700 names; we counted 160 who were killed in action. At time of writing the wire is not completed. If the authorities would exercise a little more thought and judgment they would not contribute to the fearful suspense that many will feel until they receive Monday’s issue of this journal. Had both the available machines in this office been put to the setting of the list, to the exclusion of everything else, it could not have been got into type in time to appear to-day.