WEEKLY SUMMARY

Taranaki Daily News, 30 July 1918, Page 4

WEEKLY SUMMARY

OF THE WAR SITUATION. By Telegraph.—Press Association. Wellington, Last Night. The following telegraphic review of the general war situation for the week ended July 20 has been received by the Governor-General from the Ministry of Information:— '

There has not been time yet to see the full political reaction in Germany or Austria in consequence of the failure to re-contest the offensive, but it is confidently expected that the success of the Allied counter-attack will prove a severe shock and disappointment to the Germans, who believed the promises of the military party that a German victory and German peace would be won by the present campaign. Apparently the Emperor has appointed von Hintze, by the advice of the military authorities, without consulting the political leaders. The Reichstag is seriously annoyed, and is not soothed by the adjournment, for this means a further victory for the military party over the civilian. BELGIUM AS A PAWN. Count yon Hertling's theory of using Belgium* as a pawn in the pewe negotiations has been most clearly and emphatically exposed and denied by Mr. Balfour, >• ;:' Disruption continues in Austria. Large numbers of Czech soldiers are reported! to be deserting from the army. They have wandered into the mountains, where they organised themselves in bands with the secret sympathy of the peasants. THE DECAY OF DISCIPLINE. An official order by an officer commanding the Przemysl garrison abundantly shows the decay of discipline amongst the Austrian troops. From this it seems that all army regulations (is to uniform salutes, decorations, orders, and decency of every kind arc'now completely neglected. The commanding officer expatiates grievously upon the complete and universal disregard of military discipline, and threatens to prohibit private soldiers from using the streets, in order to prevent a continuation of such a scandalous state of squalor, neglect, and disorder, Ro bad are things' that when "I drive in an automobile I am pained to notice that I seldom am 6aluted." BULGARIA AND TURKEY. Bulgaria and Turkey begin to realise the dangers of the alliance with tin Gentral Powers. The German promises to Bulgaria are irreconcilable with German promises to Turkey, and now that Bulgaria and Turkey are both claiming the fulfilment of their respective promises, both are necessarily on the worst Iwms with each other and with Germany; but amongst the Allies co-operation, coordination and unanimity in tiie prosecution and purposes of (he war are everywhere most remarkable. AMERICA'S HELP. A great number of American troops have already arrived and more are still constantly coming, while the French. British, American, and Italian force* have all shared the military successes of the past week. On .luly 21 the food controllers of these four Powers hold a meeting in London to further co-ordina-tion in th* production and distribution of food. .President Wilson telegraphed: "The American people will gladly and willingly make any sacrifice in the consumption and production of foodstuffs to maintain the health, comfort, and courage of the Allied countries. We arc, in fact, eating at a common table with them." AIR ACTIVITY. During the past week the British airmen in France have made a very large number of reconnaissance and photographic flights and carried out many successful raids on vital enemy positions. Thousands of photographs have been taken and 154 tons of bombs dropped on such important military objectives as Estaires, Merville, Armentieres, Mericourt, and Bray, and railway stations and connections at Cambrai and Lille, etc. Enemy resistance in the air ha 3 considerably stiffened, so that fighting of considerable intensity has taken piu>;j. Seventy-six enemy machines were brought down and 18 were driven down helpless, and 51 of our machines are reported missing. The British have vigorously maintained the aerial offensive against enemy objectives on the Belgian seaboard. Upwards of 20 tons of bombs have been

dropped on Zeebrugge harbor, workshops, docks, and canal, and on Ostend and Bruges docks and other vital points. A, successful attack was made on falvttge works at Zeebrugge, and all the attacks gained excellent results. BAIDS ON GERMAN TOWNS. The Independent Royal Air Force have had a successful week, making 25 raids on German territory. Four times tiiey attacked, the station and sidings at Thionville, the notorious poison gas factory at Mannheim, twice on the Benz works at Mannheim and the powder factories at Rotweil and Obeimdorf, the Wast furnaces at Agondauge, Burbacs and Hy«ndgassen, the aerodrome at Boukvy the railway station at Heidelberg, awl many other places, dropping a considerable weight of bombs on each point. A large Are broke out at.Thionville station, and many heavy explosionstook place at the Benz works and the, Badisehe chemical factory at Mannhefni also broke out in flames, During'-the;i same raid the Gebruder Guilinl rhuf/U tion factory was hit, and dense clouds'or smoke burst out. Moreover, the R-A'.l'" contingents, in combination with th'e' navy, carried out most successful raids on enemy zeppelin sheds at Tondern, in Sehleswig, where a large double shed was completely destroyed and another seriously damaged. Four British machines failed to return, but three of them landed in Danish territory, BRITISH AEROPLANES ELSEWHERE Much useful work has been done lu Italy, where decisive air fighting took place. Nineteen enemy machines were brought down, with no single British loss, In the Balkans, with Wte British machine reportecTmissing, the British brought down four enemy planes winged. Othef two bombing squadrons attacked enemy organisations and dumps at Vesnur, iPorna, Subashkein, and Nourl Farm. The Royal Air Force and Australian JBying Corps were active on the Palestine front,, octroying six mm Ss'

chines, with two British reported missing. , Cattaro was strongly attacked by a British squadron, all of which returned safely, having successfully dropped threequarters of a ton of bombs. IMPROVED FOOD POSITION. The food controllers of England, France, America, and Italy met in t#n> don and reached an important decision. They propose to set up a inter-Allied food council, to swure close and systematic co-operation jn providing the needs of the Allied cotratrjeg jjnl using the food reserves of all the Allies as a common stock. Mr. Hoover laid stress on the importance of production, but stated that the submarine danger no longer threatens the daily supply of food, but every effort was by economy and increased production; i;a save tonnage for war necessities. Lord Clinton stated that the meal orop of Great Britain showed an increase of some four million quarters beyond the average. There was an increase of 25 per cent, in the land devoted tp potatoes, but it was too early .in the season to estimate the total yield, and, despite all difficulties, the whole cereal orop ■■will be up to the average. The numbers of cattle, sheep, and pigs hare slightly decreased, but the situation generally Ml satisfactory.