The Daily News. TUESDAY, AUGUST 25, 1914. PROGRESS OF THE WAR.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LVI, Issue 80, 25 August 1914, Page 4

The Daily News. TUESDAY, AUGUST 25, 1914. PROGRESS OF THE WAR.

Events, momentous in their nature and far-reaching in their possibilities, are moving with startling rapidity in Europe —and in Asia, too. The Germans' plan of campaign is gradually being unfolded. In Belgium the Teutons have swept in countless thousands across the Meuse, above Liege, beating down the opposition of the valiant but numerically weak Belgians, and gaining, without contest, the capital (if Belgium, Ghent, and perhaps Ostend. The Belgians are concentrating at Antwerp, which is said to be i impregnable, but ■whether the Germans will make a serious attempt to reduce it is open to considerable doubt. The probabilities are that they will detail a force strong enough to hold the town in check and continue their march upon the 'French frontier, their real objective. Here they will encounter the real and formidable opposition Sum the allied forces of France and Britain. We have been vouchsafed no particulars regard' ing the movements of the British troops, except that this morning we are told that half-a-million of the allies occupy a triangle whereof the apex is Xamur, and ! the sides from G'harleroi and Mons, I and from Xivmnr to Givet. The position, which is bordered by the livers Meuse and Sambre, is considered excellent for artillery and defence, and the country to be traversed by the advancing Germans is correspondingly difficult. The one essential for German success in an onslaught on France has always been held by military authorities to be rapidity of movement. Thanks to the stubbornness of the Belgians at Liege and elsewhere, the progress of the German hosts has been stayed sufficiently to allow the Allies to concentrate their forces and select their own ground for battt;. Xo doubt it is well chosen. The Gev-

mans, owing to the new circumstances unexpectedly arising—the opposition of the Belgians and the participation of the British, for instance —have been compelled to modify or alter entirely (heir whole tactics; but from the fragmentary though highly interesting wires coming through it would seem that the main attack is to be delivered in the vicinity in which the Allies are massing. The big struggle cannot be delayed much longs " t Perhaps it has already commenced. Its issue will have a most important bearing upon the whole, course of the 'war. The Hermans, following their usual methods, have made no provision for retreat in case of defeat, at least the cables say so; and if they are defeated it will be ill a most decisive manner. In Alsace, the French have, more than recovered what they lost in the early stages of the fighting, though the cost seems to have been heavy. The French have been less successful in Lorraine. In North - Kast Prussia the Russians are reported to be making big headway, winning important and many minor" engagements. They are also penetrating Austria and overwhelming its forces. A big Austria. i army has been defeated on the other frontier by their doughty foes, the Serv.ans, who are reported lo have inflicted on them a loss of twenty-five thousand men and taken ten thousand prisoner;. The report comes from more than one source, and appears reliable. If it is. th.i Austrian* will suffer more in morale than in actual casualties, tremendously heavy they appear to have been. Japan has formally declared war on Oermnny and is setting about clearing the f!e:'mans from the East, both on sea itn-1 land; whilst Italy seems about to throw in her lot with the Enlenl; There is something significant in Xf. lVleasM»'s statement, printed this morning. " r.m map of Europe," he said, " will be "n----lively rearranged for a century, and the

next congress will have a heavier task than after Waterloo. 'ltaly has nothing to fear from England, France or Russia, who have no possible objection to tile realisation of Italy's aspirations." Wo know tho nature of Italy's aspirations. She, like France, has " lost provinces," thoso bordering on the Austrian side of the Adriatic, peopled by folk still speaking the Italian tongue, sharing tho same past, and possessing the same aaplr». tions. These provinces, Italy now sees, are within her grasp, the price being eooperation with the Allies at thiu critical juncture. Will she take the step! We think so. That will about complete the. disaster befalling Austria and Germany.