ALLIES' "SINGLE FRONT."

Taranaki Daily News, 7 November 1916, Page 6

ALLIES' "SINGLE FRONT."

i - ..v., 'OLDJSO THE GERMANS IN THE i v ; WEST, (Prom-Mr. H. Warner Allen, Special Correspondent of the British iPress I* Tritb. the French Annies). The main pivot of the battle of the ,]prne was the defence of Nancy. The i?sue of the whole battle depended on tlie French holding their grdund in their positions round the Grand Coaronne. The main pivot of ,the present battle, wHich is being fought on a vastly larger seale on the French, British, Italian and 'Russian fronts, is to be found ou the left or Western wing. The main object of our armies and those of the French is to hold so great a force of the enemy as to make the operations of our Allies in the,-,centre and on {he right irresistible. To-day v the Germans have on the Western front one hundred and t-venty-one infantry divisions and one cavalry division, whiles of those no fewer than fifty-nine are active divisions; that is to say, the French and British have in front of them nearly two-thirds of the German army in the field, and many of these troops are the pick of the enemy's available forces. On the Eastern front the German forces consist of fifty-three infantry divisions and ten cavalry divisions, and of these only eighteen are active divisions. To this force must be adde,d the Austro-Hungarian : troops, which are certainly of inferior fighting value. They consist of forty-seven infantry divisions and eleven cava'ry divisions.

'' The effective pressure of the British and French combined ' armies against the German forces in the ".Vest is proved by the difficulty and hesitation with which the enemy lias attempted to reinforce his Eastern front against the great Russian offensive. At tin: moment of the first shock on the F.ast he vended to withdraw four divisions, and since that time he has sent n single division, the 121st, from the Wept to the East. This division was withdrawn from the Somme, where it had ?uffered very heavy losses—three thousand five hundred' men in prisoners alone, and a large quantity of artillery. As things are at present the Germans cannot spare a single man from this front. Verdun and the Somme each of them require the presence of some German divisions in the first line, and it is clear that the steady methodical advance of the I'icnch and British will necessitate tne maintenance of every man available on this front, '■ ■ ■ * THE ALLIES' MAIN PRINCIPLE. M. Brinn-d's doctrine of the unity of front 'has • been fully realised. On March 27 last he laid down at the Conference; of • Paris the following main principle on which the Allies must conduct the .'.war against the Central Empires: "A single cause served by a single army fighting on a single front against 'a single enemy under one single control." . To-day. it is. possible to regard ail fields' of .operation as forming part of a single whole. Germany did her utmost to anticipate and prevent the cooperation of the Allies.by. her wild assault on -Vcrduni At Verdun France held and.defeated the German plan, with Jhe result that M. Briand's system is •beginning to prove.,slowly and surely that it must be successful. Not only have the French held-, and, indeed, gained, ground-at.-Verdun, but in co-opera-tion with the British they have pushed back the Germans./ .The Russians and Italians have made the most of the opportunities; of the situation, and the eortVsige and. brilliant generalship have brought about a decisive advance. V'hen the day of. final victory arrives the effort of France .arid that, admirable coordination, of .the Allied Armies, so largely due to the genius of M. Briand, will lie realised and appreciated by all those who have fought on the side of civilisa-