PROGRESS OF THE WAR

Dominion, Volume 8, Issue 2530, 3 August 1915, Page 4

PROGRESS OF THE WAR

Events in the Eastern theatre are still to an extent undefined, though there is no doubt as to the general trend. A Russian semi-official communique reports that Warsaw has not yet been evacuated, and that the lines west of the city are still firmly held. The same message states, ■however, th'at the deliberation of the withdrawal is an encouraging feature of the situation.. This no doubt sums up. the facts as far as the retreat has gone. Petrograd and Berlin reports show equally, though with some detail discrepancies,' that the outer lines of the Russian position havo been driven in at various points. The Germans have crossed the A r istula between Warsaw and Ivangorod, and the Russians have evacuated ' portion of the Lublin railway (running east and west across Southern Poland), in advance of which they were originally aligned. In the main tho enemy would appear to be still held up where he is endeavouring to reach the vital Russian railways. This is" plainly the case in the angle of the Narew and the Bug, north of Warsaw, though tho enemy has forced ,tho Narew at a new'point about'fifty miles north of the earlier n-ossing. A strenuous resistance is also being offered to tho German advance in Southern Poland, which menace* another important railway, but a 'strange silence continues regarding the operations of General von Butt) w's army in tho Baltic Provinces, which, with others further south, threatens the Petrograd-Warsa-w communications. Most of the news points to an orderly and successful Russian retreat. Some suggestion's arc made,that the Germans are already finding that they have won a hollow victory, but it is rather soon to take as much for granted.

Every indication is afforded that the Russian people are meeting tho ills and porils of tho moment with unabated courage. The Tsar .is calling upon the nation to redouble its efforts, and in the Duma the Russian Prime Minister and tlie Minister of Foreign Affairs have expressed Russia's perfect confidence in her Allies and firm determination to continue the struggle until the war has been carried to a victorious end. This spirit gives life and meaning to tho statement that the retirement in Poland is temporary.

Tub use of "flamo projectors" in an attack upon the British trendies at Hoogo apparently represents an addition to the list of infamous devices by which' Germany is seeking to improve upon the methods of legitimate warfare. Although the new form of attack was successful to tho nstflOk ol ci>W)»eli|Hg the British to j-eliaauißh 9, liae of treMhes. its.

effect appears to have been transitory for portion of the lost trenches were recaptured on the same day. It is ralhor strange that the British military authorities do not answer the German methods by reprisals in kind, as they have announced their intention of doing, but possibly they .are storing up a surprise for the Huns to be used at a favourable opportunity. Colonel Maude and gome other experts take the view that the use of poisonous gas and other criminal instruments of war, setting aside tho moral aspect, is of slight practical importance. They maintain that the energy and resources devoted to tho production of. such instruments would be more profitably devoted to the production of guns and shells. Allowance must always bo made for the possibility that tho Germans may devise some more deadly instrument than they have yet brought into use. but it can be said with a good deal of confidcncc that neither poisonous gas, "flame projectors," nor pumps used for ejecting burning liquid, seriously challenge the supremacy of the gun. An army depending upon the use of poisonous gas is at tho mercy of tho wind, and the flame projecting devices used in close fighting can be employed only under cover of an equality or superiority of artillery. * * * *

News that Holland is enrolling her whole available manhood and is in proccss of almost doubling the strength of her army is not at all surprising. The neighbour of Belgium is naturally anxious to escape tho fate of Belgium, and has to guard against contingencies of which the gravest is that the Germans, if they are compelled to retreat in tho west, may attempt to thrust tho llank of their lino through Holland to the sea. Besides, an army whioh is being raised to a- strength of more than half a million, Holland has a system of defence by inundation. By sacrificing a portion of her territory she could opposo a wide belt of flooded country to the advance of an invading army, and her whole defensive scheme is organised accordingly. The belt of inundation would cover the principal seaports and a considerable area besides in which the army would be massed.

Until the destination of the new British army, which must now be ready for the field or nearly so, has been determined, it will remain a question whether Holland may not choosc rather to throw' in her lot with the Entente thaii await a German invasion. Holland is a gateway into Germany where her western frontier is weakest, and it is for this reason that a German invasion of Holland is likely to be attempted when the armies of the ICaiser aro no longer able to maintain . themselves on their present line. Holland is no doubt as anxious as Belgium was to maintain neutrality, but faith in the honesty of Dutch intentions is not likely to govern German policy. On that account Holland might with entire justification choose tlio least of two evils if she invited the Allies to use her territory as a gateway into Germany. For the time being the increase in their army is no doubt symptomatic chiefly of the anxiety of the Dutch to avoid being entangled in the war, but they arc unquestionably exposed to a German menace, and experience has shown that it is most unwise to wait for a German menacc. to develop.

Accounts of continued Italian successes are supplemented to-day by an unofficial report that the Austrians are preparing to evacuate Trieste. As yet, however, the Italians have not captured Gorizia, the great Austrian stronghold on the Isonzo which blocks the road to Trieste, though they are reported to have made important headway on the Carso plateau, which lies between Gorizia and the head of the Adriatic.

A cheerful addition is made to the news from the Dardanelles'by a Reuter correspondent, who describes an abortive Turkish attack on the Allied southern line on July 23, the anniversary of the proclamation of the Turkish Constitution. The Turks decided to celebrate the occasion by driving the invaders into the sea, but very signally failed. They are being consoled, it seems, with an explanation that the British have actually been driven into the sea on several occasions, but, aided by their known aquatic propensities, have most ungenerously persisted in swimming back again!

A Mitylene report that two German submarines have been taken overland and are ready for service in the Gulf of Smyrna, presumably means that' they have been taken, by tho overland route from the Sea of Marmora to the Aegean coast of Asia Minor, and riot that two additional submarines have been eonveyed overland to Turkey from Germany. The latter supposition runs counter to tlie assurances given and repeated of lato that Rumania is blocking all war supplies consigned to Turkey, and, moreover, submarines can easily voyage from Germany to the Aegean by sea. The transportation of submarines overland from tho Sea' of Marmora to the outer coast of Asia Minor would imply that the Allies havo succeeded in blocking the mouth of the Dardanelles by mines orjDtherwise, or at all events that-Hostile submarines now regard the passage of tho Strait as too risky. The whole story, however, is open to doubt. Any German submarines which have made the passage to the Dardanelles are of a largo and powerful type, and it is most unlikely that Turkey has means at command of transporting such craft overland in sections and reconstructing them on the outer coast. IB is mentioned in the message that the Allied Fleet is blockading the coast of Asia Minor. . The possibilities of hostile submarines working from bases outside tho Dardanelles and harrying the Allied supply ships have been touched upon in earlier notes. Any depots on tho Asia Minor coast would be apt to be located and destroyed by the Allied warships. Safer depots would be found in the Austrian ports on tho Adriatic, but these are so distant that submarines using them would spend much of their time in voyaging to and from their, bases.

One item iu tbe compound oE falsehood and special pleading which Count von Heventlow has put forward on behalf of the German Navy may be accepted with some faith. It is tho statement that since tbe autumn half a dozen British submarines have been in the Baltic_ assisting tho Russians that a British flotilla is operating iu tho Baltic may be taken as quite certain, for when incjuiry was made in tho House of Commons recently as to the identity of tho British submarine which sank ii. German-■. pro-Dreadnought battleship in too Baltic tho Admiralty bad t.« aliKtiln tlw iiifot-uiutipn fn,im jAtaogßfcd, oals. B',

plication is that more than one British submarine is stationed in the Baltic, and that the flotilla is operating from a Russian base. Count yon Bbyentlow's mention of half a- dozen British submarines is presumably a guess at the strength of the flotilla, which may or may not be correct. As to his remark that the presence of the British flotilla- has made it necessary to station a portion of the German fleet in the Baltic, it is probably a simple inversion of the truth. If Germany has been prevented from completely dominating the Baltic it must be becausc liussian and British submarines have created a danger to which she is unwilling to expose her warships. The Baltic appears to be the one important sea in which Germany is placed by the submarine at an absolute disadvantage. At the Dardanelles both sides have been able to use submarines with effect, but so far as the Baltic is. concerned Germany would be better off if submarines did not exist. With the underwater craft' eliminated she could easily overawe the comparatively \Aak Russian fleet and bottle it up in its ports. Even if nothing more were done the Baltic would then become a German lake, across which any supplies obtainable in the Scandinavian countries could be transported without let or hindrance. From the reports of the recent naval engagements it is evident that this is not the state of affairs that actually obtains. Since both'Eussian and German squajdrons were cruising in the Baltic, the latter are evidently restricted to the policy of making occasional sorties, and whether or not Russia is obtaining any supplies by way of tho Baltic, tho transport of German supplies by that route must bo at best precarious. For. the fact that a state of something like balance exists in the Baltic, instead of the Russians being confined to their ports, Russian and British submarines must be held largely responsible.

A message from Melbourne to-day refers to_ the request of the Imperial authorities that the Commonwealth should supply- a second Australian Division. Senator Pearce (Commonwealth Defence Minister) stated the other day that the infantry for the threo brigades of the new division is already in Egypt, and that the remaining units will be sent from men already enrolled. A division comprises three brigades of infantry, with a divisional headquarters and# artillery and other units attached, and numbers, roughly, 15,000 men. According to the Melbourne Ar/e of July 26, Australia has enrolled to date 110,000 men, of whom nearly 80,000 have already left the Commonwealth. Australian military expenditure for the first eleven months of the war amounted to £13,000,000, the greater part of it upon the land forces. The reinforcement drafts hitherto numbering 5300 a month are to be doubled in October and November.

Canada i> playing its part in the war not only by sending soldiers to the front 1 and mechanics to work in the munitions factories,, in England, but by manufacturing munitions locally. According to an exchange, the manufacture of munitions is now going on in 247 factories in 78 Canadian c.ities. Between sixty and. seventy _ thousand artisans are employed in this work, and last month it was estimated that the output of shells in Canada would shortly reach a total of 50,000 per day.