PROGRESS OF THE WAR

Dominion, Volume 11, Issue 40, 10 November 1917, Page 6

PROGRESS OF THE WAR

A cheering item in these dark days is the- big dropMn (shipping losses from submarine attacks. -It is not merely the heavy decrease in the loss of.British, shipping that affords ground for congratulation. French, Italian, and neutral shipping have also' shared m the bettered conditions, 'thus not only emphasising the greater effectiveness of the British Navy's methods of coping with the enemy's underwater craft but suggesting that -our Allies, too, are- now meeting with •greater success heretofore. In America it'seems.to be generally recognised that, so far as shipping directly under British and American naval protection is'•concerned, thoanti-suhmarine defence has been placed on. a most satjsja'cto/y. foot-' ing, but doubts,have.bcen expressed regarding the -measures. :taken by Franco and Italy. It is stated that, there has long been discontent in "Paris.with the ■ineffectiveness of the. anti-submarine campaign, and that this accounted for the retirement of Admiral Lacazk from the Ministry of Marino and the organisation of a special anti-submarine department. Prior to the war the French mercantile fleet was one-tenth; thesize of Britain's, so that in calculating tho effects of losses it can be seen that in proportion to the size of her fleet France, despite her .numerically smaller losses, has been on the whole harder bit than Britain. The signs of improvement now recorded are said: to "be "duetto* the development of anti-submarine devices, of the non-spectacular but useful.kind and tho employment .of. convoy. ♦ * # *

With what authority has yet to appear a message by way of Washington states that a.decisive battle is beginning in Italy—that the Italian armies are manoeuvring for position, and that Franco-British reinforcements are massing on the River fiiave, .that, is to .say, on a •line covering Venice with a margin of 15 miles.-; The- Germans, meantime, report a vigorous continuation of their pursuit and big additions to their captures of men and guns, but the only- detail captures they mention were evidently not effected in tho most recent, fighting. It is on the Tagliamento, between Tolmezzo and Gemona, a- locality which the Italians have- now left well behind them, that they claim to have cap; tured 17,000 men and 80 guns as the result of an outflanking movement. Their further claim that they have forced tho. paesago of fcho Livenza docs not necessarily mean more than that the Italians have abandoned that river/in its turn in pursuing their retirement to the Piavc.. An Italian .official report claims that all tho larger unite retired unmolested in the later stages of tho retirement, and that success was achieved in delaying tho AustroGermau advance. Allowing for an clemont of exaggeration in the enemy reports, the news as a wholo is consistent with the viow that the Italians, now in immediate toudi with Franco-British reinforcements, aro preparing to give the enemy battle on the Piave line. It is probably true, as a message from Switzerland suggests,, that General Cadorna would gain important military advantages by considerably ex'ton'ding his re'treat,.- but thatpoli'tical motives aro likely to dictate the policy of arresting the enemy's advance at tho earliest possible moment. * •• * * * Until it is seen in what mariner tho loyal sections of tho Russian nation propose to deal with the Bolskeviki Government (if it can be so described) set. up at Petrograd, no attempt Can be made even to estimate the military effect of the events reported to-day. The conclusion of a separate peace between Russia and tho Central Empires would release about 130 enemy divisions, or possibly a somewhat larger number, taking account of tho forces arrayed against Rumania. This, of course, would heavily affect the existing balance in all theatres. At the same time, though Russia is in a state of economic chaos, the enemy, concludiug.a separate peace, would probably bo able to obtain a volume of supplies which would

mitigate'the effect of the Allied blockade. There is no immediate prospect, however, of a separate peace being concluded. There is a prospect of internal conflict in Russia which may further gravely weaken her, and correspondingly militate- against the general interests of the Allies, but the situation and outlook are so complex.as to make theorising unprofitable.

That the Turks, for the time at least, arc in serious difficulties, is indicated not only in the rapid and [successful development of the British offensive in Palestine, but in late events in Mesopotamia. It is reported to-day that iu the latter theatre British and Indian troops have captured Tekrit, on the west bank of the Tigris, after heavily defeating a Turkish force which attempted to bar their advance. Tekrit stands thirty miles up-riyer from Samarra, where the British came to a halt in the spring, and 100 miles north-north-'west o'i Bagdad. The latest news from Palestine speaks of a general Turkish retreat. Detailed reports yesterday' showed that British troops advancing northwards of Bcersueha were within about thirty miles of Jerusalem. This distance has perhaps already been considerably shortened. The success of the British operations in the Turkish theatres is particularly striking in view of the relief the Turks have gained in Armenia, where a large proportion of their total available force was formerly pitted against the Russians. It would seem that Turkey is incapable of making head against the 'British attacks unless her available armies are heavily reinforced by troops now engaged in the European theatres

No events of importance are reported in the Western theatre at the moment of writing, but this is a, state of affairs which may be accounted in the highest degree satisfactory. It means that the Germans 'have made no cffcctus.l attempt to retrieve the signal defeat lately inflicted upon them in Flanders. Since this defeat has fatally laid open their defensive line, their present inaction can only be ascribed to lack of reserves and a recognition of their inferiority.