The Auckland Star: WITH WHICH ARE INCORPORATED The Evening News, Morning News and The Echo. MONDAY, JULY 3, 1916. A MOVE IN THE WEST.

Auckland Star, Volume XLVII, Issue 157, 3 July 1916, Page 4

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

MONDAY, JULY 3, 1916. A MOVE IN THE WEST.

For the cause that lacks assistant*. For the wrong that needs resittance, For the future in the distance, And the good that we cam do.

It is too early yet to state exactly the significance of the good news of the successful Anglo-French attack on the right or the Allies' left wing in France, but the opinion of critics in London, and the area chosen for the move, indicate or suggest that tho grand offensive has not jet begun. But in a sense, of course. this is part of the grand offensive, in that it is part of a great plan, of which the total defeat of the enemy will hp the climax. The numerous raids made on the German trenches are also part of the general offensive, in that they are tests of the enemy's strength and designed to keep him occupied and in a state of conjecture as to our intentions Before "the beginning of the end" there may be several of these attacks over wide fronts. The details are rather obscure but the broad fact emerging from the official reports is that an advance has been made over a front of 25 miles. The line attacked stretches from Gommecourt, about ten miles north of Albert. to the south of the Somme, a part of the front that has been comparatively quiet for some time. The last 'heavy fighting there took place at the beginning of the year, when the Germans, as one of their feints preparatory to the assault on Verdun, took the village of Frise, on the Somme. The Allies have never yet made an attack on so long a front in one area, and the German first line of trenches was captured over fche whole length of 25 miles. As was to be expected, the depth of ground gained wa3 not uniform. Several villages have passed into the Allies' hands, while the tally of prisoners is between S,OOO and 9,000. Ihe Germane are resisting strongly, and Sir Douglas Haig reports that some of the ground on hie left, north of Albert, was retaken. If tine critics are to be believed, there was no intention to break right through. A very substantial euccess was achieved, and what has been | done can be done again, and with greater effect. The British advance on a sixteen-mile front is the widest they have achieved. We advanced further at Loos, but tho front on which we •were successful was only about ten miles long. The ability of the British Army to take the offensive over a wide front will be a shock to many Germans, especially those who have put their faith in Major Moraht the leading military critic in Germany. A criticism that he wrote of our Army only a couple, of months ago is most interesting to-day: "During the whole course of the war the same phenomenon could be observed, namely,' that England in her safe hiding place, from which she has only cent out a portion of her Army, seems to bo almost more uneasy when any of her Allies is threatened by us than that Ally herself. This uneasy feeling of England can only be due to the recognition of the fact that the British Army is purely a defensive one. The. persona] j courage of the British nation is well j suited for holding us up if assisted j by numerical superiority, but neither British generalship nor British military training, nor, lastly, British military traditions are eueh as to permit of an offensive on a large scale that could bring the war to a decision." In our cable news to-day is the summary of another article by Major Moraht, written in a different key. Major Moraht warns his countrymen of the energetic and methodical preparations of the Allies, which will "render our ultimate victory difficult." Hβ draws particular attention to the efforts of Britain, including a colossal accumulation of munitions, and declares that Germany will not advance a step nearer peace without a settlement of accounts with us. The tono of these comments, which, must have been written, before ■he had newe of the present move, is highly significant. Major Moraht has the reputation of being unusually candid for a German writer, but he is economical with truth when he tella Germans that the Allies, like Germany, have reached the culminating point of their exertions. Of the Allies only France has put forth her maximum strength. Britain is etill a good way from that point. Russia, weaker than her Allies in the industrial resources of war, has enormous reserves of men. In Italy a new Government has just been installed, charged with the more vigorous prosecution of the war. On the other hand, Austria, Germany's chief ally, is the most exhausted of all the belligerents. We hope the excellence of the news from the Western front will not cause undue elation. A cense of proportion is as neceseary when things are going well as when they are going badly. If people expect an immediate and rapid advance on the Allied left they will only have themselves to blame if they are disappointed. Moreover, this frame of mind does a grave mjiffitiee to the British and French armies. The vahie of the work of our army in bombarding a wide lme heavily, in testing the whole line by raiding parties, and now in gaining ground over a etretch of sixteen miles, can , only~be appreciated by realising thoroughly the difficulties of the task, the greatest of which is the strength of the entrenched enemy. If London critics are, correct, the day' for the grind of waive hae not yet armed,

but preliminary operations of great importance, involving an immense amount of work by all ranks, have been sue cessfuUy carried out. In this connection a word or two may perhaps be profitably said about reports that got about yesterday. One story, for which official authority was given, was that the British had pushed the Germans back sixteen miles on a twenty-six mile front. This wa3 obviously caused by a misreading by someone of the official reports. Such a mistake produces disappointment, and causes people to underestimate the importance of the truth when they hear it. Another report, ofi quite a different order, was that the French had talcen Metz. That anybody; should give the slightest credence to such a rumour i.s astonishing. It shows that there are people who, even at this stage of the war, have the haziest ideas of! positions and strengths of the bclliaer- j ente. ' = I