PROGRESS OF THE WAR

Dominion, Volume 11, Issue 47, 19 November 1917, Page 4

PROGRESS OF THE WAR

Though they tell of one of the grimmest struggles of the-war, .reports dealing with.the Italian campaign call fov little remark. The Italians are meeting heavy and increasing enemy attacks both in tho mountain country v of the Trentino border and tho Piave. As reports stand their defences do not appear to havo been penetrated at any vital-point, though a German roport alleging the capture of •a mountain position" between the Brenta and tno Piave raises a measure of uncertainty. A late Italian report states that tho enemy forced a river line between Follina and Fagare. ' Tho river in is not the Piave, but a tributary which enters it from the north. Passing this stream—and it.is not clear that they have maintained a foothold on the right bank—tho Austro-Germans would still bo faced by tho obstaclo of tho main river.

Late reports declare that tho Turks are offering a stubborn resistance to General Allendy's advance in Palestine, but that their defeat is developing apace. The British ai'o now closing in on Jaffa, and it is said that the Turks are endeavouring to prepare a defensive lino north of that place. * * * *

Though it tells no very clear story, to-day's news from Eussia is not promising. The weight of testimony is that M. Kerensky has been defeated, and there is no evidence that the non-Socialists are finding any strong support in their efforts to restore order. A very real danger appears that Russia may break up under internal stress, but reports as they stand arc confused and obscure.

Writing as long ago as the middle of last year, in tho opening days of the Battle of the Somme, a special' correspondent of the London Times suggested that the essential featuro ot tho future fighting on the Western front would be, on tho one hand,'■ an increasing effort to hide maohine-guns in more and more impregnable positions, and, on the other, a growing intensity of heavy gunfire to endeavour to knock thorn out. Anyone who has followed the progress of the Western campaign knows that tho skilful placing of machine-guns has become the essence of the German defence. ' It is known, also, that the Allies, having shaped their tactics to that end, aro_ in a position, as the winter campaign opens, to make such effectivo use of thoir superior artillery as to set definite .limits to the benefits derived by the enemy from his unsparing use of machineguns,''and make his defence exceedingly costly.. Since th& earliest days of the war the enemy has made free use of machine-guns, but in tho later stages of the Western campaign ho has used theso weapons' in largely increased numbers, and has made it his essential aim to so place and conccal them as to enable as many as possible to survive tho Allied bombardment and remain in being to meet the advancing infantry. The painstaking way in which the enemy deyoloped these tactics is well described by the correspondent quoted above. He remarks that when the Somme battle began tho Germans had their machine-guns disposed along their trenches, generally at commanding angles, with wooden emplacements ivhich raised them iust above the parapets. "We soon learned," ho adds, "to pour upon tho lino of a trench such a concentration of gunfiro that nothing could live under it, so that no machine-gun along the trench lino survived when our men went over." Later, the Germans tried disposing machine-guns, in addition to those which were in the trcnchcs, in scattered positions in rear. This device provod ineffective, and in sev-

oral cases, at least, the "machinegun barrage" caused largo casualties among tho Germans themselves. As time went on and tho increasing intensity of artillery bombardment created what is called the crater area, tho Germans began to mako increasing uso of tho snell-holes in this area for machine-gun posts.

Experience showed that machincgunners in' open shell-holes had a poor chanco o£ surviving bombardment, but the concrete redoubts— the "pill-boxes" so often mentioned in dispatches—proved to havo better resisting powers. Tho first' of these concreto redoubts were built in tho autumn of 1916; they havo since been constructed on an immensely extended scale: "The more recent fighting," tho correspondent goes on to observe, "has seen a great and general increase of these tactics, and a tremendous growth in the use of concrete. In every dispatch dealing with' tho fighting around Ypres I have had to speak of the scattered concreto strongholds, 'pill-boxes,' redoubts, armed with machine-guns, which form the backbone of tho German resistance. They are everywhere, especial use being made of the cellars of old farmhouses, cross-roads, estaminets, and othei buildings, as" well as of old gunpits, and any inequality of the ground, whether natural or artificial, such as quarries or cuttings of any kind. Tho.chief feature of these defenoes is that .they can be, and are, disposed in indefinite depth, so that there is no definite lino through which, once penetrated, our men can proceed over open country. There are defences always beyond defences. . . '. What, of course, tho German would like would be for us to advance in dense masses across country protected in this way without artillery preparation. ... Instead, wo stride always at limited objectives behind tho protecting barrage of our guns, with not tho remotest intention of being taunted into an effort at that wonderful manoeuvre which the enemy calls 'breaking through. 1 . , . Such of tho machine-gun positions or redoubts as survive our barrage our men stalk or tho 'tanks' 'do in.' . ._.

Such is tho present formula of this war. It is a very terrible war, because the German garrisons of the ground which we attack are almost certainly doomed: snoh machineguns as escape demolition by our artillery may, on the other nand, inflict very heavy casualties on us before they are reduced, and after winning the ground we may suffer very badly from the onemy artillery, while, finally, the slaughter of the enemy in his counter-attacks is often prodigious. It is warfare sanguinary beyond anything which lias formerly been devised or dreamed of; and in proportion to its terribleness are tho courage and heroism of our men."

This compact statement of essential facts assists an appreciation of the Allied achievements this year, and of the existing position in the Western theatre. By tho defensivo plans in which the free use of ma-chine-guns has an important place, the oncmy evidently hoped to maintain vital sections of his line intact and to subject the Allies to losses, out of all proportion to anything they might accomplish in attack. He would havo attained the height of his desire if tho Allies had attempted a sweeping advance which could not have been adequately supported by artillery. It is to he conceded that the enemy's . tactics and defonsive measures, in conjunction with the Russian collapse, made such an advance this year impossible. But tho Germans have little enough reason to congratulate themselves upon tho results of tho Allied offensive as it actually took shape. All available information is to the effect that in developing their oftensivo the Allies havo inflicted much, heavier losses than they have suffered. Complete and detailed evidence on tliis subject is not available, but the visible march of events shows plainly enough how disastrously, from his own point of view, the enomy has _ been outgeneralled. Tho enemy's reliance upon skilfullyplaced and concealed machine-gun redoubts gives greatly added importance to dominating observation points. In his own hands these elevations minimise his artillery inferiority. In the hands of the Allies they facilitate tho searching artillery preparation which is now more than ever necessary. Since the Allies opened their offensive in April practically all the vital observation points which formerly stiffened the enemy's front ,from Flanders ' to Verdun have ■ been wrested from his grasp. He has been given no opportunity of dealing with the reckless infantry drive which his tactics are no doubt well adapted to meet, and 1 no such opportunity is in prospect. The policy of the limited objective has enabled the Allies to make full use of their artillery superiority in developing their offensivo t-o its present stage, and they are splendidly placed to make it tell with mum effect even'if tho fighting of tho winter campaign should be practically stationary.

In Flanders, Northern France, and along a great part of the front which stretches from south-west of Laon to Verdun; tho enemy is in the position of ■ having to defend _ vital sections of his lino in positions dominated and overlooked from the high groundhc has lost. The sectors in question are vital in the 6ense that their defence is essential if the line as a whole is to stand in its present location. That they arc dominated means not only the enemy s forward and supporting lines arc exposed to a withering bombardment, hut in many cases that his communications far in rear are laid open to similar treatment. It is in these circumstances - that $16 enemy, as recent reports show, is trying to make good deficiencies in his defence by an increased intensity of artillery bombardment. This, of course, docs not mean that he has devised a new system of tactics. Instead, it marks and emphasises tho failure of the measures, including the extensive use and concealment of machine-guns, by which he endeavoured to neutralise the Allied artillery superiority. Whether or not it leads up to. a German retirement during the winter a development not at all unlikely—such a contest of artillery as is reported is bound to turn heavily to the advantage of the Allies. This for the reason that they arc, and arc likely to be, much better .supplied than the enemy with guns and munitions, and aro much better placed to uso them with effect. » * * *

While ho lias overy possible incentive to regain his lost vantage points on the Flanders ridges, the enemy is making no progress in that direction, but, on the contrary, is suffering new losses. Sir. Dougms

Haig to-day records the capture of further ground 011 the northern section of the Passchendacie llidgo and also sonic progress in tho low country west of that elevation.