WAR SITUATION REVIEWED.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LV, Issue 10867, 4 June 1918, Page 4

WAR SITUATION REVIEWED.

NEW GERMAN ADVANCE.

HEAVY PRICE ON THE AISNE.

FAILURE SOUTH OF YPRE3

ALLIED AIRMEN SUPREME.

[BY TELEGRAPH. —FRF.?S ASSOCIATION-.] WELLINGTON. Monday. The foliowinc rovi.-.v • f th» n.:i.tarr operations during the past '.v -ck 1..s been received by the Gcvrrn' r-(>en»>r.ii from the Secretary cf St.it*- f »r the Colonies :— The chief military eve:>t of the '.\c-f-k has been the enemy attack r,n t!> front between Soifsoasanil HI: ■•;"!=. The attack opened at dawn i.n M. inlay. Mav 27, simultaneously with mi .-itUKk - n the southern fa'e' f th< \ pp.-* eai.ot. In the ; Aisne sector th«* • per i: g Herman assault captured the whole , r the i.-rest traversed Iby the f hem in ties I ,: i r:, . .ti.ci hv noon | the enemy centre had advar-'-rd as far as | the crossing of the River .V..-:,e at Punt : A rev. By midnight uf Mav iIT-l-'fi. t h« j enemy had stiee«?c.!f.l in enlarc ; tip the I salient he thus created l.v advarn ;n.* his i centre as far south as .Mont Notre Dante land Fisine.<. and further ' j.r-t ;; * .. ut his | flanks. Hitherto, on the v.e»t the French j had succeeded 111 h■ • i:i: 11 The heights !■*- ! tween Vausa lion am. " i a . but I now they were obliged t . f.,ii bac.k '~ trie i plateau of Larfaux. .Me.muhiie, the -ht lof the aJiu-1 line. •*»„,>. was betng j held by four British divisions, ''rem ■ Craonne to B»rmerk-..:irt, had held its i ground. Lending ba. k it, left flank j only to conform t" the retirement of | the French. _ All this time it was evident I that the allied troops on this sector wg-- 9 ■ outnumbered heavily by the enemv. arid ( that the withdrawal would have to con- ; tinue slowly until the reserves could be j brought up. Throughout Mav 20 the ■ enemy pressed his advantage 'hard By i nightfall the enemy had reached Draveinv, ; his southernmost poin», and extended" hij 1 flanks to the outskirts of Soi.«.sons and j Bheims. At the time of this report the i enemy advance still continues, and ha j has reached the right bank of the Mams , on a front, of about 10 miles.

Exploiting Initial Success,

The circumstances appe almost parallel to those on the Lys sectrr during the fir.< 4 week of April, when, a comparatively minor operation met -.vitn an unexpected!/ great initial sure©**, which was taker advantage of rapidly by the Germans. On the Aisne front tie situation was peculiarly favourable tor the enemy. In the salient which lie created towards Amiens he has a considerable hodv oj troops concentrated. 'Hie salient in ques-t-ion is so deep as to h -ive him a very great advantage as regards interior lines, and his railway communications in tha area are excellent. It is easy, therefore, for him to concentrate at any point a .tor-a sufficiently superior to make" an initial success a certainly and to exploit llui success within the limits of the time net essarv for the allies to move reserves around their exterior lines, but in the locality concerned he will have to advance a considerable distance over country of such a nature that he will have to pay a heavy price for it before he ran achieve anything of a decisive, stiategical nature. Should he allow himself to become too ; deeply involved in so di übtfully profitable ; an operation he may be obliged to draw | troops from more derisive sectors, and ! thus dissipate in a futile venture tha I strength which he ought to economise. : In thw> particular theatre the action has proceeded so far as to restore to the operations the element- of movement- and [manoeuvre in which the allied generals are : probably more than the equals of tha ! enemy. As has been said already, the i allies could afford, in a military sense, t<* ! give ground in the locality. Soissons has had to be evacuated, but the allied line, though so rapidly withdrawn, never lost* its cohesion, and the allied higher command, which now has the advantage of unity, may be trusted to restore the situation without allowing the enemy any decisive strategical gain.

Italian and American Successes. On the morning of May 27. simultaneously with the attack op the Aisne, the enemy once more attempted to bre-.k the allied front between Locre an.i Voor- ! mezee'.e. using for the purpose greater ( forces than any hitherto used, but within; i 24 hours he was deprived completely < f his slight initial successes, and the operation was terminated in what was unquestionably a severe defeat for the enemy. j The German attempt to characterise this i engagement as a raid is so grossly untrua !as to afford strong evidence of his dis--1 appointment. i The Italians, on May 26. ca—ied out & j very successful operation on the heights | around Zigalon Peak, on the To'nala ! sector. gaining all their objectives. and I capturing 870 prisoners, 12 guns, and other material. On the following right, Jby successful coups, they gained 750 | metres of very aluable ground at t'apoI sile. near the mouth of '.he Piave. taking j prisoner at the same t.rne sever officers land 453 men. in addition to considerable j materia!. An operation this week which, though jof minor importance strategically, was j yet of much significance was the action in : *h.ih til American troops captured the i Trench town of ('oiuignv, north of MuiitI didier. taking 200 prisoner.-, including 5 i officers, and holding the positions gained j against very heavy counter attacks. , Ihe Air Ministry reports that the f.ne ; weather on the western front broke on the 1 mornine of May 23 for several days, but I before the break our aeroplanes did much valuable work. A number of rnbing raids were carried out on a variety o! objectives, including the enemy's nightflying aerodromes and near'v 70 tons of bombs were dropped in the tattle 7,0r,» v.-itliin 38 h-'irs. The efforts of hostile scouts to ;nt< ept our bombers were fruitI less owing to the offensive tactics of our I fighters and the exce'leut ginnery of tha ! observers of our two-seater bombn? . ! machines. Outside the mimed'ate battle . ; zone the enemy bases at Zeebrucge, ; Bruges and Ostend were attacked at every | possible opportunity in the course o' tha ' : week. Ail enemy destroyer was hit and ' ■ was shown by subsequent photographic rei "onnaissance to have been sunk in the • f.l'rway at Zeebrugge Tturii'g the wt* j in the battle zone, and m operations on | the Belgian coast, 138 tons of bombs we~a I dropped, 66 enemy aircraft were brought) 1 j down and 12 driven down out of i •htrol, " while 14 of our machines fa.ied to return. i ! ' j Eighteen Raids Into Germany. . ! This wf.'k the enemy ha- shown nctiv.'y iin bombing our back areas at :. .Jit j and lias not scrupled to attack one oi' our j long-established base ho-pit:;,s, the "XJ ' locality of which i• 11:-1 hive been we I j known to J air or-os ilermanv , i this week had a i rotas'" lie a fighting power which the new arm de- . 1 veloping. N.i less than IX di«ti.v >. rai'-a were carried out d :r."g the "t.'k « a a different military ■•hie t:\cs 1:1 'ii-im-ai , territory, as fa; tide 1 as Cobleiiz and '] Mannheim, in the course of ul;: . ■: o\er 1'? a ! tons of bombs were ,ir [t- d w.:h co l j; effect The poison gas factor: -s at I-u.i----j ' wigshafen. for example, were tu....<.- att ! tacked, and on the second "c as: n '-i 9 " ; blackened girders of the buildings, gutted 0 • by fire, were clearly visible to our p lot.3 | In home waters despite the difficult s • weather conditions, our seap'ares and airI ships have mamta t:> d '.1 eir .-orstirit I witches for enemy ms; fa. e m.i su:e.iari' a • craft, ami have continued to v .irk in <nose co-operation with our naval forces m <onvoying shipping, and ,<i the detect and destruction of drifting enemy mire?. There it- little of out stand.ng in'crest fo record from the other theatres of war- la Italy the allied air as, endancy remains beyond dispute. . In tie Adriatic another successful raid was carried tit on Pur.W> , by our seaplanes on May 27, when a nunij ber of fires were started in the building* of a seaplane station, and an enemy de--5 stroyer was sunk, after a direct hit. A 1 very successful raid was carried out on Oat'taro.