PROGRESS OP THE WAR

Dominion, Volume 8, Issue 2502, 1 July 1915, Page 4

PROGRESS OP THE WAR

Evidence of a distinct lull on the Western .front is presented in tho latest official reports. The position is summed up in a Paris message which states that positions temporarily recaptured by the Germans east of Metzeral, in the Northern Vosges, have all been won back again, and that elsewhere quiet obtains. The Germans report that' they have beaten off French attacks on a muchdisputed position on the heights of the Meuse, south of Verdun. In the stage which has now been reached in the Western campaign, the comparative calm reported is likely to bo of extremely brief duration.

If the Austrians are transferring troops from Galicia to their southern frontiers they do not seem as yet to have inflicted any material check upon the slow but continuous Italian offensive. Available reports all indicate that the Italians are afcill working into the Austrian defences along the Alpine frontiers. So long as matters continue in this state, the position • must be regarded as altogether favourable to the Italians. The vital consideration from their point of view meantime is to gain such a foothold in the northern mountains as will enable them to repel any attempted invasion.by the enemy. The time for an Italian invasion of Austria will come when the Austro-Gennans arc even more fully engaged than at present on tho two main fronts.

Officers of the Russian General Staff arc said to have stated that the Russian armies ave now in a position to oppose effectively any further incursion in Galicia or Southern Russia. So far as Galicia is concerned this general statement is not borne out bv the latest detail reports, A fetrograd message yesterday admitted that the Russians were still retiring towards their own frontier north and north-east of Lemberg, aud a continuation of these movements is reported to-day in a Berlin communique. ■ It follows so naturally upon the Russian account referred to that it may be accepted with little doubt. The principal claim made is that the Russians have been compelled to retire beyond the River Bug, below ICaniionka. Kamionka is a midway point on a railway running northeast from Lemberg to the frontier. A measure of success is also alleged by the Germans in the region north and west of Kamionka, and as far west' as the Lower San, but even from the enemy report it may be gathered that on this line no decisive advantage rests with cither side. On this front the Russians are fighting in places well inside their own southern border, but in the , region north and north-west of Lemberg they hold a strip of Galician territory from ten to fifteen miles wide. A considerable section of Eastern Galicia north from the Dniester is also still in their possession, but there can be little doubt that their retreat, though slow, is almost continuous. Even if they had made good their inferiority in artillery, the Russians would still be at a disadvantage in the region east of Lemberg, unless they'were strong enough to again capture that city, and so obtain command of the principal railways. Enemy claims th.it General von Linsingen .is advancing from, the Dniester at Halicz, southeast of Lemberg, still lack Russian confirmation at time of writing. * * * *

A late Russian official message admits a further retirement in Northern Galicia, and also from the ; Dniester south-east of Lemberg. In its general tone it pretty thoroughly discredits the statement attributed to officers of the General Staff, so far as the retreat being at an end is concerned.

Some further details are given of the great attack' on the Turkish southern line on the Gallipoli Peninsula in a brief message describing fcho deeds of the Worcestershire Battalion, but at time of writing there is no news of more rccent events.

Although it is concurrent with negotiations over the sinking of the Lusitania, the announcement that the American Government has agreed to notify the German Admiralty of the position of American vessels in the Atlantic, in order to enable German submarine commanders to refrain from torpedoeing them, carries a suggestion that President Wilson and his Cabinet are allowing the German Government to "play them out" in a most ridiculous fashion. If a German submarine wishes to spare neutral ships all it has to do is to look out for the identification marks with which most neutral ships are by this time conspicuously branded. It, is one of the counts in the indictment of Germany that her submarines have on a number of occasions torpedoed neutral ships which were plainly ' marked. _ The' location of American ships in the Atlantic in any case is determined by factors which are not under the control of the American Government—some of them are riot under human control at all—and the idea that a submarine can track the Atlantic picking out this or that ship by virtue of prior information as to its whereabouts, is sheer nonsense. Tlio statement that officials at Washington are hopeful that Germany intends to protect the lives of noncombatants travelling in regular passenger ships of any nationality probably represents another example of German guile. It is not stated that Germany will instruct her submarines to abstain from attacking these ships, and that is the only way in which she can protect the lives of non-combatants travelling in them, It is a poor tribute to the iimucis and strength of purpose of,

the United States Government that it should be willing to enter into pettifogging agreements with Germany while its citizens murdered in the Lusitania are still unavenged, and it is as far as ever from obtaining satisfaction for that, outrage .or any assurance that it will not be repeated.

The contention of the London Times that the time is opportune for summoning a Conference of Imperial Representatives in London to reorianiss the forces of the Empire for war purposes is open to question. l f rom some points of view a confcrcnce on Defence matters would be advantageous, but with the crisis of the war apparently approaching, the leading statesmen of the Dominions will be very fully employed doing what they can in their own countries to, build up the military _ resources of the Empire. Admitting, however that a conference of some kind is desirable, the remark of the Times that Britain so far has taken everything from the Dominions, repaying them only with verbal thanks, shows an almost ludicrous failure to grasp' the realities of the position. Tho people of the Dominions, at all events, are well aware that in assisting the Empire they are fighting their own battle, • ana the suggestion that- their action merits some more definite reward from tho Mother Country is likely to be greeted in the overseas countries with a smile. When one crisis of the war has passed there will, of course, be ample scope for Imperial consolidation, and the first practical step.in that direction will no doubt be the assembling of a conference at London which will enable the Dominions to make their voices heard regarding the terms of peace. Meantime it is certain that the Dominions are only anxious to aid in tho fight for complete and decisive victory.

A London message states that the losses of the various belligerents to date are six million men, dead, wounded, and taken prisoner. ka information received in the past this total would be considerably below the mark. For instance, the French official review estimated the German losses alone (on the basis stated in the London message) at a, rate per month which would now bring the total to close upon four millions. Allowing for Austrian, Russian, French, and British losses, apart from those of the smaller countries engaged,_ it' seems hardly likely that six millions would cover the war losses of all the belligerents. It will bo noticed that the message quoted, like most other computations of war losses, takes no account of deaths and losses due to sickness.