The Auckland Star: WITH WHICH ARE INCORPORATED The Evening News, Morning News and The Echo. SATURDAY, MARCH 20, 1915. THE ALLIED FORCES.

Auckland Star, Volume XLVI, Issue 68, 20 March 1915, Page 4

The Auckland Star: WITH WHICH ARE INCORPORATED The Evening News, Morning News and The Echo.

SATURDAY, MARCH 20, 1915. THE ALLIED FORCES.

For (he cause \thai lack* **ti»tanoe. For th* wrong tkat meeds reaittanoe, For the fmtwoin thcdUUtnce*, And the good that toe can da.

During the -past six weeks we have received from time to thne Tepeated intimations of renevwed activity on the ptat of the Allies in France and Bolgium. Along the great babfcrefront that etretchefr from Belfwrt to .he shoree of the Korth Sea, the French and British and Belgian armice 'have B«en making headway ek)wjy but feuiely in a 1-ong series of desultory engagements, which- appear to have ended unifronndy in email but d-efinibe gains for th# Allies. But withdn the past fortnight the oh-a.racter of the operaitione has been more decisive; and the advance of the Frenwh faroee in Alsice, taken in conjunction w'.th. the British successes at Neuve ChapeUe and near Lα Bassee, aaid the resumption of the offeaiave by the heroic little Belgian army all point in the same direction. The AHite are begimrimg to exercise a efceady but irresistible praasuTe upon the German line; and the reason for their' recent successes <has evidently been that the tong-expected reinforcements are now coming into the field, and the war is therefore taking on a new character. On this point some interesting information reaches us from Paris to-day. It is reported that there are numerous indicatione in the fighting area in Northern France that the Allies are working up a strong offensive movement. Huge quantities. of supplies and munitions of war are being concentrated, motor transport is being prepared, and the communications are all being put in order preparatory to the dispatch of large bodice of troops to the front. And apparently the culmination of these plane will not be long delayed. For the first time we are told that the Second British Army of a million men which Lord Kitchener has been organising lias been moved into France by detachments during the past two. months. Beyond this, the French reserves, which General Joffre, following his declared intention, hae kept back from active; service hitherto, are now fully equipped and ready for the fray. Thus the Allied "afe now for the first time since the outbreak of hostilities in a position to employ numerically superior forces all along the line, and this means that the time has- come for. a concerted forward movement with the object of expelling the Germane from France and Belgium. It would, of course, be rash fo suggest the form that the strategy of the French Commander-in-Chief may take. But if we may draw any inference from the operations that have lately been conducted with success in Alsace and in Northern France, it is probable that a vigorous attack upon the German right will be undertaken in conjunction with a turning movement along the Upper Rhine, which, if pushed home, would seriously threaten the communications of the main German armies with their base, and thus gravely imperil their position. It must be remembered that from the purely strategical point of view the German armies in France and Belgium have been for months past in a difficult and dangerous position. Their line is bent back in the middle almost at a right angle; and this involves the serious military disadvantage of "fighting on two fronts." So long as they are strong enough numerically to hold their ground this does not matter much. But as soon as ever the German armies attempt to retreat they must find theit safety gravely compromised. For the lines of retreat for armies aligned at right? angles to each other will necessarily cross;, and unless the attacking force can be held off till the withdrawal of all the armies is accomplisned by degrees, and the congestion along thefiinee' of Communication is thus relieved, the most disastrous consequences may ensue. This surmise may seem rather premature, but We must not forget that the Allies have never yet fteen able to exercise . strong pressure tra the Gerhiah armies by the weight of greatly superior numbers; and as soon as ever they are in a position to do this, results nraet follow that will in. a military sense change the whole face of the nr.