SUCCESS ON THE ANCRE.

Taranaki Daily News, 23 December 1916, Page 10

SUCCESS ON THE ANCRE.

GENERAL HAIG'S STRATEGY. NEW ARMIES IN ACTION. London, Nov. 17. Fuller information confirms the magnitude of Hie British success on the Ancre. especially in view of tho fact that'the pick of the German troops were engaged and fought most stubbornly. That thoy were completely surprised is regarded as a tribute to the skill of the British Stall', and the discipline and training of the new armies. Apparently the Germans were convinced that the offensive on the Somme had been exhausted, and had therfore prepared a huge coimcer-offensive against the French scnth of the Somme, which kept important hostile forces engaged in that region. This German effort was the biggest since the allied offensive started. Six attacks were made in three hours on Wednesday morning, followed by six more in the afternoon. Each was decimated by machine-gun and artillery fire. i Certain of the regiments lost SO per cent, of their effectives. General Haig did not await the complete drying of the ground before making his new stroke. The movements of j the troops were hampered by the mud. while the mist increased the difficulty of co-operation between artillery and infantry. The, successful solution of the problem proves afresh the immense strides in methods- and organisation since the battle of T.oos. Now there is a chorus of praise for General Haig, concerning whom there have been recent muttering.? and criticisms. His promo tion to the rank of field-marshal is suggested. French military critics praise Sir Douglas Thug's masterly generalship. A French staff officer, who was an o.yc-wit-inss, was impressed by the methods of Mrnday's attack, every man iearrying out his appointed task and being in- ! stnntly replaced if he fell. ' Another French eye-witness was as- . truwlod at the new "troops' rapid grasj <pf modern fighting. The British batteries pounded the trenches for Tour days, \ and finally gases were released. The Oeiinan high command was not disturb--1 ed, because the fire was equally intensive 1 elsewhere. The fog permitted the atL tackcrs to creep up close. Finally ' .springing up with, loud hurrahs,' they '' (BnhjtjUlJQp the enemy irresistibly. The \ fighting was lcbieg^.)vith... v grenades and /.bayonets. * .'^ v "'"""'"" v ""

GREATER ENGINES. . Edinburgh, Sep. 2?. By invitation of the Admiralty (writes I'. A. Mckenzie) I visited the British fleet, examining ships like the T>er and the Warspite, which the Germans dedara they had sunk, and witnessing something of the completeness and ma"intudc of Britain's continual naval preparations. One of the new ships just completed on the Clyde is the mightiest battleship the world has ever seen; with a speed greater than that of the speediest of oattle-crmsers; with armor and armaments excelling that of super-Dread-noughts; with 150,000 horse-power engines, which enable her to overtake and destroy any possible opponent. Nearby iMs the keel of a still mightier vessel. Powerful destroyers are being turned o:it wholesale. Lines of them aro nearn.g completion, each en its keel, ready to run into the water. "It's too ridiculous," one American exclaimed. "They turn out destroyers here like shelling peas." The speed of ship construction has broken all records. One monster battleship, who.-ie plans had not even been prepared in January, 1015, was launched in March, 1016, and completed a fortnight ago. THE CLYDE MOTTO. The motto of one big shipyard, "Be sine Germany is working double time," dominates the Clyde, where employers and workers, men and women, aro working togther in the same shops, all filled xvilh determination to make good. Gentlewomen take their share of daily labor in the workshops in order to beat the Huns.

I can only say, concerning submarines, that what I saw convinced me that Britain's submarine fleet, for size and longdistance capacity, need fear no comparison.

I was especially interested in going oyer the Warspite, which Germany offT dally maintains was sunk at Jutland. It is a substantial ghost.

The story of how the Warspite came home under her own steam, after being rhe centre of one of the most concentrated attacks in that battle, forms one of the yet unwritten romances of this war.

'We do not wonder that the Germans imagine the Warspite was sunk"." say the sailors. "She was so surrounded by columns of water from German shell's bursting around her that she was quiti invisible for a long time." To-day the Warspite is fitter than ever, and has been doing good work for weeks past. GERMANY'S MISTAKES. Officers discussing the general naval outlook declared themselves absolutely unperturbed over Germany's threats of fresh submarine activity. She has threatened that alihost from the beginning, tlu-y say. She has striven to do all the submarining damage she can for two years. She has proved how limited is her capacity for mischief in this direction.

Naval men express frank amusement at Germany's two cardinal mistakes in this sea war—first omitting to arrange to attack our merchantmen at the hj, ginning by ocean cruisers, properly distributed over the different seas, and second, by centralising her effort now upon submarines rather than disguised ocean destroyers. These mistakes are now irremediable, and have deprived Germany of a powerful weapon, while the submarine war has, in addition, i .-tripped her of the last vestiges of the sympathy of neutrals. SURPRISE OF JUTLAND. Naval men consider that the Jutland t»ttle unquestionably proved the soundness of the principles of naval develop, iiient. The surprise of that battle was, they declare, the absence of any surprises. The Zeppelins took no part m the fighting, nor can they. The Gern.ans showed the absence of very big guns. If they had extra big guns, they failed to make use of them. Their sailors, although firing excellently at the beginning, crumpled up when our shells began to get home, their nerves clearly icing rattled under fire. This proves, I officers maintain, that short-service sailors like the Germans are inferior to oldtin, e men like our own. OPTIMISM AND CHEERFULNESS. T found the spirit of officers and met. one of great cheerfulness and optimism They want the German navy to emerge, but scarcely anticipate it, believing Germany will prefer to keep her ships as pawns when peace negotiations come. I watched particularly among crews of various ships engaged in recent fighting. and in previous battles, for signs of stateness and weariness. They were not observable. The Navy never was better, nevei stronger. Obviously, however, the great increase in the number of our ships i.iiikes the demand for men urgent. Canada's offer of naval recruits has been received with great satisfaction.