The Taihape Daily Times. AND WAIMARINO ADVOCATE BRITAIN'S MARVELLOUS PERSISTENCE

Taihape Daily Times, Issue 220, 11 October 1917, Page 4

The Taihape Daily Times. AND WAIMARINO ADVOCATE

BRITAIN'S MARVELLOUS PERSISTENCE

(With which is incorporated The,Taihapo Post and Waimarino News). ~\

The progress of the war in Franca and Belgium is truly assuming the marvellous. By experience we have a fairly fixed notion .that offensives such as are now in progress could only follow each other at tolerably long intervals, now we find those terrific thrusts with forests of bayonets and hail of shells sweep over the enemy's -hitherto considered impregnable fortresses, levelling divisions of picked troops, and all'the obstructions that science and labour —forced and free—can with all modern mechanism and equipment place in their way and will not suffice to stem the tide of retribution that is controlled and forced on by the British Commander every week or few days. We cannot help marvelling at the rapidity with which Sir Douglas Haig is dealing out these mighty blows, which are crumpling up armies and fortifications, rendering them almost powerless to resist. We are informed that the weather over the battlefields. i s dull, that rain is falling, that our New Zealanders are occasionally wading through mud up to their belts, and yet this, which.was a bar to former action of the kind, is not interfering with the ability and determination of our soldiers to hit out at the enemy, blow after blow, and each one a bloody knock-out; taking thousands of prisoners, capturing almost countless munitions and equipment, and leaving behind a trail of death that armies twice as numerous as those of Germany now are could not for long endure. The war has indeed reached the stage when men may truly marvel at day by day achievements. We have no sooner assimilated the intelligence of one major attack, realised the magnitude of the fighting, got over the surprise of over four thousand prisoners being captured, tried to put out of mind the idea that is formed by being told that divisions of Germany's best life are churned into a loblolly, than cables inform us that our soldiers arc again trying to fur-

nish another series of sickening details. T.he fact that no sooner have the objectives in one offensive been gained than another offensive is commenced is proof that while one is in progress the one to follow is in preparation; 'the first real indication that anything like the full strength of Britain's new armies are being thrown into the balance. The cost in life of these latter-day offensives to our armies, we are told, is averagely light # There are, of course, virile septic spots on the battlefields from which death emanate s to a distressing degree, but our men do not allow them to remain they are quickly healed, masked or amputated, and our men pass on, but not without loss beyond the average; this is all in the fortune of war. The first grand result of Sir Douglas Haig's series of brilliant victories is disclosed to us by Mr Marcel Hutin, who says that the submarine bases at Zeebrugge and neighbourhood on the Belgium coast are no longer tenable; .that Lens must be vacated or the men therein will be annihilated; that Lille, with Lens in the hands of Britain, must be abandoned; that the German army must fall back en masse to a new line beyond the swamp country into which they ?re now being driven. What their? Can the accumulated .ransport power of Britain ind America make passable roads through this swampy land that will enable the bringing forward of big guns to continue the drive, or are the Germans to be driven into the swamps and left for the winter? There is, at least, no doubt about the magnitude of the far-reaching assistance that. Sir Douglas Haig is giving in wiping out the curse of submarine piracy. As the offensive which we were apprised of yesterday develops, we may be given indications of how much of the Belgian coast will be cleared of the depots of the underwater murderous gang. It is now becoming apparent that the military and naval German leaders were sincere in their statements about the submarine being the last hope of Germany, for her armies are hardly making a respectable stand oh the West front, of which we cannot have better evidence than that almost daily coming to hand. The Allies} are fighting the submarine by sea and iand ana in making the hornet-nests on the Belgian coast no longer tenable Sir Douglas Haig has rendered incalculable assistance to the work of the combined navies, and lessened the danger on all sea roads. The last cable to reach us yesterday stated that the British were Sghting well to the eastward of Poelcapelle, which means that further considerable advance has been made towards bringing Roulers, the late German. Headquarters, well under the domination of our guns. The French ,who appear to have been quiescent since their brilliant capture of Bixschoote, are participating in the attack just entered upon which indicates that it is likely to assume a north-eastward direction, working still further behind the enemy positions at Zeebrugge, and hastening their The country now being captured is that which the Germans spent more money and time upon in fortifying and strengthening, concentrated more of her best troops upon permanently, than any other part of the Western line, the intention being to capture Calais, and so render their sea piracy a certain success and an invasion of England well within the range of probability. The success for those issues is gone for ever, as the news of the offensive which commenced on Tuesday morning materially helps to show Within a few hours our men had penetrated another mile into this region veritably bristling with machinations of death, and finally reached their objectives in good order. Prisoners were already teeming in and it is expected that the Australians will make a fairly big bag as they nave surrounded quite a large nest of iLu> enemy, who must put up their hands or be annihilated. It is particu l .arly mentioned that the Allied casualties are light—light over the most highly fortified ground that tne world has any knowledge of. It is, at least, convincing testimony that the Allies are now superior to the Central Powers in all respects—in number, equipment? and morale; that if Germany cannot make a respectable stand on the West front, where she has accumulated everything in her favour, she can have no hope of withstanding the increasing power and morale pitted against her. We can now conclude that the curtain has gone up on the last act in thi s terrible war drama, alid we may commence to wonder and speculate upon the scene changing. Germany knows best that she is beaten upon land; that she has been sacrificing youth and old age in holding out so as to give her submarines the chance to snatch back victory; that the submarine hope was a fallacy, another of those miscalculations that have been responsible for bathing the world in blood, and she now realises that the time for peace cannot be long delayed. In desperation German mili-

haust all the life it has thrown into J

tarism may make an. effort, and cxthe struggle but its lords are sufficiently calculating to know that victory for them has no possibilities.