The Daily News. TUESDAY, OCTOBER 20, 1914. ELEVEN WEEKS OF WAR.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LVII, Issue 125, 20 October 1914, Page 4

The Daily News. TUESDAY, OCTOBER 20, 1914. ELEVEN WEEKS OF WAR.

| Hie war is now entering upon if jtwelfth ivoek, and the (situation id by » ■ means unsatisfactory to our side. Thcr iis, indeed, cause for thankfulness 'am ; confidence in its ultimate issue, tem.pcrei iaa it must be with the weight of anxiou care. German success depended upoi | the rapidity and weight of its blow oi j France. Fortunately for France, am I for the Allies, and the cause of human ity, tho interposition of the Belgians—i .discounted quantity by the Germans—a i-Liege and elsewhere, and their bucks |in holding back the mighty forces o jthe invaders sufficiently long to enabl ;the French to complete their mobilisa tion and make their dispositions, am also in allowing the British to land thei' force and get into line, completely up set the German plan. The Frcno strategy was at fault at first. It i, now clear they under-estimated tin strength of the enemy at the vital poin of attack, and werepursuing, probably fo sentimental or political reasons, the oll'eii fiive in Alsace and Lorraine when the l would havo been better employed i; concentrating on the iSambre, which win forced by the Germans, and the Bri tish force on tho extreme left imperilb>. by tho precipitative retirement of tin French line. The retreat, thanis to tin skill and bravery of the British cavalrj on the wing and of the French in tlx Centre, was conducted with conuiderabh success, the enemy losing enormously until when within sight of Turin the At lies' line suddenly stiffened and threw back tho invaders to the Marne, whence after a scries of bloody battles, inej were ag-ain forced to the Aisiie, where clogged lighting lias been going on foi over three weeks. The Allies all th: timo have been engaged in enveloping tin right wing of the eenmy, until now tin Sines aro in the neighborhood of tin Belgian border, rressure from this point right down to tho Aisne and to tile right wing resting on the Swiss frontiei is being exerted with such effect thai the Germans are preparing for retreat probably into their own country, Tlui? the Germans have failed with their first Wow, which was to shatter the whole forces of France, as in IS7O. They can deliver no second effective blow this year. They have not the strength, even if they had the spirit. Time is with .us; timo is against the enemy. Like:wise the winter is an advantage to us and a disadvantage to the enemy. Even if the Allies can Siold the Germans where they are during the winter, the position will still be satisfactory for us. For in four or five months Britain will have an additional million men, fully equipped, volunteers all of them, fresh and capable, available for the field. Such a ioice should turn the scale in our favor, even if the Allies had not the advantage in numbers they already possess. Germany gives out that the war is only just commencing, that she is putting in the field millions more of trained men. tint even Germany has her limitations. .She h;is a population of sixty-seven millions. (Supposing half are males., say thirty-four millions, it would be humanly impossible for her to find eight mi'lions able to bear arms. As a matter of fact, over lialf-a-million (lei man reservists who ar» in alien countries have been unable fo rejoin their colors. The wastage of life, according to the latent cables, has been almost a million. This leaves Germany with six: and a-lmlf million men. I'ranee, Knglnnd and Belgium could find that number, without taking into consideration tln> mighty hordes of ltussia, vlio on the Mime basis as Germany could draw upon .sixteen to eighteen million men. Then there is Austria. Imi she sull'ers fiom internal troubles, due to the eoiillieling racial elements, ami as ally of Germany may be heavily discounted. Little Servia lias so far been able to beat Austria, whose hisses against the llu.-.-ia:is have been tremendous. lin! whilst big battalions are necessary in this titanic struggle the'.e is a limit to Ihcir use and ability. They have to be armed, accoutred, niotrntj:! and fed; they have, too. to be olliccred and nuinaged. In Belgium the Germans have so far had their own way. They have proved 100 powerful for the Impless Belgians But it is to In* remembered that so far the Allies have not yet made a serious attempt to cheek |them there: all has been concentrate. 1 lon the main theatre of operations. When the Allies are ready !o strike in Belgium they no doubt will do so effectually. The fall of Antwerp is a mere I incident. Maybe, if the Germans^crin- I tinuo to hold it, the forts will agaiu ] have to yield (o cannon fire. This i* one point brought out prominently since war started: modern forts are r.o match for high-powered guns. The Germans' artillery is marvellously destructive. Practically all the forts invested have had to yield to their fire in a particularly short time. The 'French field artillery ia equal, if not • superior, to the Germans'; possibly the French may bo quite as successful as

struction. On boa, the latest exploit j. Jot the British Navy in sinking I'ouf of 'the German destroyers ovens up things j j somewhat. The Germans by their j 1 deadly submarines have accounted for j ■ three or four vessels sunk in the lleligo- j j patrol work, and got ono of our de- ! jstroyers, but we have to our credit the j three or four veneris sunk in tho lleligo- j land Bight, several submarines, and the | lour destroyers, whilst we have forced ■ | the Goebcn and the Bresiau out of commission. Relatively, the Germans ' ha\ so far lost more than we. On the Russian frontier, the reports of the fight* iug have been so contradictory that it is didicuit to say with any degreo ol accuracy what the actual position i*. Vint the Russians were rolling down jupon East Prussia and Galicia, carrying .everytiling, before tiiem. Lemberg and other important points were taken, the Germans defeated and the Austrian.;; ■crushed. Last week came news that the (Russians ha-d retired upon Warsaw, j abandoning all tho conquered territory. jXcxt we learned that the Austro-Ger-inau forces had been defeated, that Lcmjburg was still occupied, and the siege of jPrzemysl maintained. Yesterday mornling's cables stato that a great battle j was begun on Monday, at first going in ; favor of the Germans, but subsequently ito the Russians, which cut tho enemy's I forces in two, capturing 10,000 prisonera and forty-two canon. Another jinessago stated that the Russians had , assumed the offensive along the river J Vis tula in Galicia. If these messages 'can be relied upon, it looks as if the ! Russians are maintaining the upper ■ hand. Taking a general survey of the positions, it must be admitted that the j Ailies, as the result of the eleven weeks iof the bloodiest fighting in history, have 1 | a decided advantage, and, given the same 1 | resolution and courage and enterprise ' | already displayed, they must emerge ■ i triumphant. They have ono inestimable • 'advantage— they hold, by virtue of Bri!tains power—tho mastery of the soa, and have killed all 'the outside com--1 mercc of the enemy/ and reduced his ! import of food supplied to a minimum. Thi* is a point which pessimists in our 1 country might profitably ponder. Th; ! Allies will suffer great losses agaiu, as 1 they have already suffered, but they will not be beaten. The end may he long ! in coming, but it is certain.