PROGRESS OF THE WAR

Dominion, Volume 8, Issue 2432, 10 April 1915, Page 6

PROGRESS OF THE WAR

_ Items in to : day's war news relating to developments in the two main theatres are distinctly hopeful in their purport, indicating as they do that both in West and East the Allies have definitely reached the point at which they are able to pursue and maintain a policy of agression, involving a constantly increasing pressure upon the German and Austro-German battle-lines. In Flanders the Allies are reported to have taken the offensive from end to end of the Yser front, the'fortified river-line which they have doggedly held during the weary months of the winter campaign. Coincidently the French aro steadily thrusting" back the Germans in the region between Verdun and Metz, progress in this locality being purchased at the cost of desperately contested local battles. Although there is an absence of news concerning events at the eastern end of the Aisne front, in Alsace, and in somo other sections of the line where the Allies have of late been continuously on the offensive, the general effect of the news is to indicate that tho German front throughout its length is being subjected to violent bombardment, supplemented as opportunity serves by infantry assaults. The deadlock and stalemate of siege warfare would seem to be over and done with, and the grand offensive begun. Meantime news from the Eastern theatre declares that the' Russians are steadily bearing down the defence of the Austro-Germans in the great Battle of the Passes-in the Carpathians. Many important gains along the mountain front are chronicled, and the time would seem to be rapidly approaching when the Russian armies in Galicia will be able to pour down through the passes into the plains of Hungary. An indication that the Russians hold tho Germans well in hand opposite the East Prussian frontier is to be found in the report of a German defeat at Suwalki, only a dozen miles away from tho eastern frontier of that province.

News that the grand offensive of the Allies is developing apace in tho- Western theatre will surprise no one who has followed, even cursorily, the progress of the wax. Waged though it is on a tremendous scale, tbe great conflict of armies in France and Flanders has at times tended to become monotonous by reason of its lack of striking movement and spectacular development, and attention has often been deflected from it, during the last month or two, by events in secondary and subsidiary campaigns. Nevertheless it has long been recognised that it is in the Western theatre that the supreme battle for mastery is likely to be fought and won.

To-day important events aro reported in the Western theatre. The statement that the Allies have vigorously taken the offensive along tho Yser front, as reported in a late message yesterday from the M.orniiili PoM's correspondent at Amsterdam, still awaits official confirmation, but there is no reason to doubt to it is sutataaUaUy, von'oct, al*.

the more so as it is strictly in keeping with other developments which am being and have been officially reported. The blaze of bombardment along the Yser front, which extends practically right through Belgium from the sea to the French frontier north of Lillo, does not licccssarily imply that it is here that the Allies will seek to pierce the German front. reviewing the campaign and forecasting its developments have (Tiggestecl various sections of the line as likely to be the principal objective of the grand assault. Some have predicted an effort to burst through the 60-mile front from Arras to the Oise (where the battle-line runs .north and south through Northern France) and others anticipate an effort to force a passage through Lorraine, between the great barrier fortresses of Mctz and Strassburg. In any case the initial effort of the Allies will naturally be to so assail the German front throughout its length as to extend the enemy in defence and make concentration in defence of any single point difficult, if 'not It is quite likely that some easier way of expelling the enemy from Belgium may be found than a frontal advance upon the euccessivo lines of fortified defences with which the Germans have transformed that country into a great field fortress, and the terrific Bombardment along the Yser front must bo regarded as a section only of the grand assault which is being developed practically all along the Western line. **- * * How far the Germans are capablo of making any efficient retort to a mighty assault of'this character is not at all clear. According to one message, notices have .been placarded at Neuvc Chapelle that Marshal von Hindenbukg is coming (from tho Eastern theatre) with half » million men. If the incident has any significance at all it is an eloquent. confession of weakness. As affairs are now developing In both theatres the Germans can transfor fore© to one only at desperate risk of fatally weakening their position in tho other. * * * * Any uneasiness awakened by the news that a party of Germans had succeeded in crossing the Yser, in Northern Flanders, will bo dispelled by the further particulars of the incident supplied to-day. Apparently what happened was that the Germans were drawn into a carefully prepared trap and paid dearly for their temerity and lack of caution. * * * * Next to the Ypres front the centre of immediate interest in the Western theatre is tho Woevre district, east and south of Verdun. Here the French are described as pushing irresistibly forward, in spite of furious German attacks 1 and counter-attacks, upon a line which sweeps south and east round tho fortress of Metz. On the south the French are only, about eight miles distant from the outermost fort. On the dirfect eastern .advance they are still twenty wiles distant from the Metz forts, but new battles and new f;ains are being reported day by day in this locality and in the country immediately to the south.

Though the Russian irvasion of Hungary has yet to be officially announced, it is abundantly clear that the Austrian defenders of the Carpathians are very hard pressed. Petrograd reports show that while the Russians are steadily gaining' possession of commanding heights along the mountain range, the Ausfcro-German armies have abandoned their assaults upon the Russian positions, north of the mountains, in Eastern Ga'icia, at which tbey have been desperately battering for more than two months. More German troops, it is stated, have been sent from Poland to assist the Austrians, and this not only opens up. a prospect that the weakened German line may be compelled to retire from its entrenchmnets west of Warsaw, and further south, but is still more important as reducing the possibility of troops being'transferred from the Eastern theatre to assist in meeting the assault of the Allies in the West. Still it is not wise to attach too much importance to reported movements of German troops in the Eastern theatre of war.

Several items to-day go to support the view that Italy is likely shortly to throw in her lot with the Entente. The Emperor op Austria having definitely declined to make any territorial concessions to his southern neighbour, the semi-official Italian Note intimating that a Serbo-It-alian agreement regarding a port on the Adriatic has almost been reached can only be regarded as definitely hostilo to Austria. Still greateV significance attaches to the statement that Italian diplomacy regarding the Balkans conforms.on all points with that of the Entente.. On top of these diplomatic revelations comes the news that the Italian Fleet has made a sudden departure from its ports on the west coast'and concentrated in the Gulf of Taranto, on the south coast, and therefore within handy striking distance of the Adriatic. Accepting these reports as correct, the only reasonable inference seems to be that Italy practically stands already committed to war. • , * * * * A message from Athens stating that the King of Greece officially denies that he ever consented to negotiate for the cession of Greek territory, as alleged by M. Vexizelos (ex-Prime Minister of Greece), probably leaves the essential part of the story untold. Past cablegrams have made no refcronce to the matter which Kino Constantike has made the subject of a denial, but to-day's message is chiefly interesting as showing that friction still exists between the King who favours neutrality and his late Minister, M. Venizelos, who is at the head of the dominant party in Greece, which stands for intervention in the war. *** . * Beports that a small party of Turkish cavalry approached El Kantara, towards the northern end of the Suez Canal, and retired after a few shots had been fired, merely show that the British defenders of. the Canal are adhering to the policy of standing on the defensive. The Turks, meantime, are being left to wander at will through the desolate wildorness of the Sinai Peninsula, and it is unlikely that the remnants of tho "army of invasion" will in future take any prominent part in tile war.