THE New Zealand Herald. AND DAILY SOUTHERN CROSS TUESDAY, JUNE 27, 1916. THE ACTIVITY IN THE WEST.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LIII, Issue 16266, 27 June 1916, Page 6

THE New Zealand Herald. AND DAILY SOUTHERN CROSS TUESDAY, JUNE 27, 1916. THE ACTIVITY IN THE WEST.

! The British report that our artillery is more active than usual along the whole front and the German report that the Allied artillery commenced heavy and continuous firing on Saturday night from La Bassee to beyond the Somme suggest that preparations are being made for the long expected offensive in the West. The battle of the Marne was a stupendous conflict between two mobile armies, of which the defeated was driven headlong back to its prepared entrenchments on the Aisne. Since September, 1914, the tactical development of battle has been generally governed by conditions imposed by the trench-warfare with which we have become familiar. Modern armies move, as did the Roman legions, with spade as well as weapon, digging themselves in" under the guidance of engineers; but whereas the Romans formed only entrenched camps for the defence against sudden attack of their small forces, the millioned armies of today form lines which streteh for hundreds of miles and are strengthened and reinforced to prevent any advance of the enemy. The opposing lines everywhere come into close touch with one another, and when properly equipped are practically impregnable to ordinary attack. The battering and levelling of opposing trenches and redoubts by an intensive and prolonged bombardment with high explosives is a necessary preliminary to any forward movement. Every advance is thus preceded by artillery activity, though artillery activity—being often employed for local reasons or to confuse an enemy's calculationsdoes not always mean that a real attack is to be delivered.

Upon the western front, or rather upon certain chosen sections of the western front, an Allied advance is confidently anticipated by all the belligerents. At Neuve Chapelle, at Loos, and in the Champagne, strong Allied attacks were delivered last year, but we shall not know until the military history of the war is authoritatively written whether they were intended to have a general or merely a local effect. It is commonly believed that the AngloFrench general advance was delayed in 1915 owing to the inadequate supply of munitions, and that the September attacks at Loos and the Champagne were delivered to assist the hard-pressed Russians who in the meantime had been munitioned at the expense of the West. The position of the Allies has since been greatly improved. The Russians in the East and the French at Verdun have been amply provided with munitions, including guns, although the appeal of General Joffre to British workers and the abandonment in the United Kingdom of the popular Whitsuntide holidays indicates that great guns and other munitionment are still urgently required. There is reason to think, however, that accumulation and not the need of the moment is now the purpose of the arsenals and munition factories; it is generally accepted that this accumulation is preparatory to a general advance upon all fronts including the West. The primary motive for the desperate German blow at Verdun is universally considered to have been the desire to prevent the western allies ! from taking the initiative according to plans assumedly prearranged. The attacks on Verdun possibly continue because of the anxiety of the Kaiser to avoid depressing the German people by admitting that their enormous sacrifices in that quarter have been resultless. In any case, the Allied plans have-been only so far disturbed as they have been affected by the casualties and muni-tion-use in the Verdun defensive; under both of these headings the losses of the French have been much less than the losses of the Germans, while our friends have been much relieved by the transfer of other important sectors to British keeping. The brilliant Russian advance has dissipated the German fallacy that our eastern allies would be unable to take the offensive during 1916 ! they have again proved themselves ; more than a match for any Austrian \ armies and are compelling the Germans to renewed exertions. It is not to be supposed that the AngloFrench forces, now operating in concert with all the armies of the Great Alliance, will voluntarily be content with merely holding their lines while German divisions are being withdrawn from the West to meet the Russians. In the West there are ample reserves of men, particularly since the North Sea victory has shown how confidently Britain may rely upon the skill and devotion of her seamen. The problem is one of munitions. Have we enough guns and shells to make a way through the German trenches for our Imperial infantry and enough machine-guns to enable them to hold

the ground they gain? The German intrigues in Mexico and America teach us that our enemies are fully aware of the vital importance of munition-supplies, but it is freely asserted that the Allies are now comparatively independent of American sources. Within a few weeks, possibly within a few days, we shall have an answer in the definite commencement of the Allied offensive in the West. That offensive, it should be realised, will not take the form of an attempted advance all along the line. If the German front can be pierced at favourable points, inner communications cut or imperilled, dangerous salients formed and cohesion diminished, the enemy must resort to retirement in order to avoid greater disaster. It is understood that such retirements have been provided for by the German War Office, which has always been conscious of the possibilities of an Allied advance in the West, even while it assured the German people of the completeness of their triumph.