PLANS OF THE ALLIES.

Taranaki Daily News, 28 September 1915, Page 7

PLANS OF THE ALLIES.

PREPARING FOR VICTORY. BREAKING THE GERMAN LINES. It was predicted by British and French military critics that the great offensive on the part of the Allies in the west, for the purpose of breaking the German lines and driving the Germans out of .France and Belgium would begin in May last, when tie ground, which bad become sodden wifih the winter rains would be sufficiently bard to allow military movements to be carried out on a large scale (writes the London correspondent of the Melbourne Age,). ButI the great offensive has not yet begun. There has been fierce fighting from time Ito time, but it has been at isolated points along the battle front. As has already been explained, these isolated struggles along the western battle front were preparations for the big offensive. They were directed towards the capture of strategical points, from -which the Allies, when they are ready for the task of breaking the German lines in the West in half a dozea places, will be able to command the lateral communications of the Germans near the spots selected for breaking through, and so delay—for hours in some cases, and for days iu others—the arrival of German reinforcements. The German military strength has passed its zenith, and the German military authorities are no longer able to make good aS the losses in the ranks of their armies. Every day the numerical strength of the German armies la being lowered. It is the policy of the Allies to conduct their preliminary operations in such a way that the Germans lose more men than they do. In this way the German lines will become weaker and weaker, and the task of breaking through them will become less formidable.

The great offensive in the West has been delayed by the paxt Which heavy artillery, firingl high explosive shells, has been called upon to play in demolishing entrenched positions. In trench warfare the trenches become more formidable to attack the longer they are occupied, for the occupants are constantly improving them as defensive positions. To send infantry to attack a strongly entrenched, invisible enemy is too expensive in human lives. The attack must be prepared by the guns, but the artillery, instead of sweeping the ground with man-killing shrapnel, as in the days of battles fought in the open, has to blow the trenches to pieces, and to destroy the barbed wire entanglements in front of the trenches. In order that the attackers may not be delayed in the open, and subjected to the German fire

a moment longer than is necessary to cover the ground between the opposing trenches, the stakes of the barbed wire entanglements most be blown out of the ground, and the wire itself cut into frag, ments. Only heavy artillery, firing high explosive shell, will do this and shatter the earth where the trenches be. In order to do this work effectively a very large number of guns, and an almost unlimited supply of ammunition, are required. In some of the isolated attacks wihich resulted in the capturo of strategical positions occupied by the Germans over 1,000,000 shells have been flred by the French artillery. The Germans in driving the Russians out of Galicia expended 7,000,000 shells in four days at one particuar point in the Carpathians. Yet Germany, employing to the utmost her industrial resources in the manufacture of ammunition, can turn out only 8,000,000 shells a month. This output, as Mr. .TJoyd George, the Minister of Munitions, told the House of Commons, is far in excess of the present output in Great Britain. To begin an offensive against the Gerlines In the West requires an enormous ] accumulation of shells. It is because this accumulation is still going on that the offensive has been delayed. It is expected, however, that the preparations will be completed before long, and that the German lines will be broken before the winter sets in and the ground becomes too soft for military operations. At the latest the offensive can hardly be delayed beyond the end of September, unless the Allies intend to postpone it until the spring of next year. In this great war time is valuable, although it is a war of endurance, So enormous is the cost of the war, so difficult is the ifinancial situation, that even Great Britain and Prance—the two wealthiest countries in the world—cannot afford to extend their preparations beyond the stage which will ensure the defeat of the enemy. |