PROGRESS OF THE WAR

Dominion, Volume 10, Issue 3197, 22 September 1917, Page 6

PROGRESS OF THE WAR

Whatever plans the Germans hive lately formed of offensive action in the Eastern theatre, or, as is suggested to-day, against the French on the Aisne front and in the Champagne, will be rudely disturbed by the latest development in Flanders. The British have attacked,on a front of eight miles, cast of Yprcs, and as reports stand arc making good headway in'a battle which seems likely to "develop on a considerable scale. The full scope of the operations h:.;s yet to be disclosed, but already it is stated that the enemy's positions have been penetrated to a depth ot a mile in an area in which his remaining foothold on relatively high ground elevated above the general level of the Flanders plain is now very limited. All reports agree that the attack is being conducted with masterly skill and has achieved pronounced' success. The attacking forces swept over a series of strong positions, including a number whkh had previously resisted heavy assaults, and it is noted that the pillboxes"—concrete emplacements for machine-guns in which the Germans reposed much reliance-proved much less formidable obstacles than had been anticipated. «■. * * *. How far it is intended- to develop the attack is at the moment an open question, but although the Western Allies are committed to a Fabian policy until America is enabled to bring her force to bear, it is quite possible that they may' attempt before winter sets in to lever tho German line away from tho Belgian coast, and they may challenge the enemy's hold upon the great fortified 'depots he has established ■" at Lille and in the region to tho cast. Tho latest British advance in any case means a perceptible approach to a battle in tho open plain, which would definitely threaten the enemy lino ou north and south. An announcement by the American Secretary for War shows that an even bigger programme of military preparation is being developed in tho United States than had been thought possible. The proposal to equip and supply an army ot 5,300,000 men during tho next year is probably- intended to cover tho contingency of a war extending into 1919, but it suggests that Americahopes to throw considerably more than a million men into tho scale, during 1918. Mb.-Bakers statement that American troops will start active duty in the trenches before Christmas indicates that tho force of 24,000 regulars which reached France at tho end of June is not, intended to go to the front unaccompanied. The probability is that these troops, having themselves undergone training in France, are now being used in connection, with the training of other ..American divisions, and that America s first contribution to the fighting forces ot the Allies in-the Western theatie will be not one, but several divisions. \" x In showering assurances of favour on Count Luxburg, his late Ambassador to Argentina, the Kaisbr has most unwisely neglected the sage advice recently tendered by a German newspaper, when it said: lno best thing we can do is to sink LmnußO without a. trace. -J. hat undoubtedly would have been tho wisest course from the German point of view, and the Kaiser has taken instead a course which, from the same point of view, is calculated to make a bad case worse. His action should be the last thing needed to induce Argentina to break off relations with Germany, if not to declare war, and it should have its influence also in Sweden ana elsewhere. Only the Ivaiser could onenlv and shamelessly applaud an ambassador convicted of feloniously conspiring against the country m which he was harbouring.