PROGRESS OF THE WAR

Dominion, Volume 11, Issue 99, 19 January 1918, Page 6

PROGRESS OF THE WAR

A sensational turn is given _to the Caillaux affair by the allegation 'that General Sarrail conspired with the French ex-Premier to set up a military dictatorship for treasonable ends. It is rather strange that nothing has been heard on_tbc subject from General Sarrail. That he is mentioned by Caillaux as a fellow-conspirator in the secret papers found in the latter's safe at Florence does not, of course, prove that he is guilty. But the publication of such an imputation as has been cast upon him should suffice to draw an instant reply, and at time of writing there is nothing to show that he has made any statement in sfclf-vindication. The allegation made against General Sarrail raises extremely questions. Prior to his of the Allied command on the Salonika front he was in command at Verdun. He is a soldier of all but the highest standing, and his implication in the treasonable conspiracies which are now being unravelled would be a staggering proof of tho extraordinary, ramifications of the German campaign of corruption and the dangers it holds. When General Sarrail recently laid down his command at Salonika it was reported that ho had been promoted to a higher post, but what this post was the report did not state. It is obvious, in any case, that General Sarrail must take energetic measures to clear his name, and that speedily, or tacitly admit that he has a case to answer.

With the turn matters have now taken it is possible that questions may be raised concerning the almost uninterrupted stagnation which has reigned so long on the Salonika front. Factors arc in plain sight which go some way towards explaining the delays that have occurred, 'out they do not necessarily go all the way. The Rumanian disaster,' which the Allies were presumably not in a position to avert by action in the Southern Balkans, no doubt set limits to the possibility of offensive action in the latter area, and General Sarrail was handicapped also by internal conditions in Greece while Constantine still held sway at Athens, and in the period of necessary reorganisation which followed upon his removal. It is noteworthy, however, that in a dispatch covering operations from October 9, 1916, to October 1, 1917, Lieutenant-General G. F. Milne, Commander-in-Chief of the British forces on the Salonika front, gives an account of offensivo operations which were suspended by General Sarrail's order for reasons that arc not very clearly explained.

The first events to which this remark refers took shape iu April,, 1917. Under General Sarrail's instructions, the British commander had prepared to open an offensive in the first week of April, but General Sarrail found it necessary to postpone the offensive until April 24, when the British infantry entered the hostile trenches along the whole front attacked (between Lake Doiran and the Vardar). The British troops engaged bore themselves very gallantly in stubborn fighting. Afterwards, to quote a summary of General Milne's dispatch published in the London "Times": \ Preparations had begun to take advantage of tho commanding positions gained on tho ridgo when General Milne learned that "owing to climatic and other reasons" the operations by the Allied troops on tho right bank of tho Vardar and near Jlonastir had had to bo postponed. General Milno was next told that May 8 had been fixed for tho recommencement of tho .Allied advance. Accordingly an assault was made by the British troops on tho enemy positions between Lake Doiran and tho "l'otifc Couronno" Llill. In tho face of great opposition tho troops, among whom tho Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders, tho Oxfordshire and Bucks Light Infantry, and tho Berkshire Regiment are specially noted, made progress, though against repeated counter-attacks all the points gained could not bo held. By May 20 tho new lino was consolidated. A further advance was in progress when, on May 21, General Milne received definite instructions from General Sarrail that offensive operations wero to cease all along tho front. Sinco that dato there lias been, apparently, no essential change in tho situation on tho Doiran-Vardar sector. In minor engagements and raids the Koval Scots, the Scottish Horse, and Lancashire Fusiliers arc named for good work done. ...

General Milne draws attention to the great improvement effected in means .of. communication, in spite of an exceptionally wet winter, and mentions that the health of the troops has been "on the whole satisfactory." It thus appears that on the British section of the front, at least, everything was in order for the continuation of tho offensive, and the reasons which led to its being suspeucled will bear elucidation.

So far as what may bo called the political side of_ the conspiracies now being investigated is concerned there docs not seem to be any reason to suppose that recent and current reports are going outside the region of ascertained facts. At all events such charges as are now being made against Oaillaux were freely made some time ago 'by M. (Jleaienceau aucl others. l r .or instance, on November 15 M. Clemenceau answered

in the following terms an assertion | by Caillaux that he had been misunderstood with regard to his denials of having taken part in "defeatist" palavers in Italy: "I shall not tire of understanding as M. Caillaux of closing his oars. As to his attitude in Italy, I refer him to the French Minister who corresponded with M. Sonnino concerning him. He docs not understand. It is the avowal. If lie did not have pacifist palavers with Cavallini, Scarfoglio, and others, why ever did M. SOXNINO want to expel him? Let him reply if lie can. Why does ho decidedly refuse to tell us what sort of policy lie wanted to preach to those Italian Bochesl Did ho tell them the war must bo pursued to the bitter end 1 Or did he advise them a policy of rapprochement with Germany? Why not havo as much confidence in French ears as in the acoustic tubes going from Cavalljni •to Abbas Hilmi?" * * * * Some of to-day's messages present fairly definite evidence that as time goes'on the breach is widening between the southern provinces of Russia,- in which much of its power and resources are concentrated, and the disorderly factions which still hold an uncertain lease of power in the north and in some other parts of Russia. It is stated that tho Bolshevik Commissioners have resolved to break off negotiations_ with the Ukraine Bada owing to. its failure to reply to a question whether it

would cease to support General luledin and his party. It is reported also that the real reason for the bellicose attitudo the Bolshcviki have adopted towards llumania is that the latter country has thrown in its lot with the Southern Union. Another message speaks of serious fighting between Ukrainian and Bolshevik forces at Odessa. These reports arc of the same general tendency. They all go to show, or at all events to suggest, that the Southern Union is being effectively organised, on a foundation of moderate ideas, certainly as a centre of resistance to the Bolshcviki, and possibly also as a centre of resistance to the Central Empires.

Tiie state of affairs now pictured in some respects strikingly verifies a statement on conditions and prospects in Russia which was published by the Manchester Guardian at the end of November as coming from an authority then lately returned from Russia. As he is reported, this authority said that "the situation in the north was very bad. Yet the armies were still there, and there was a good deal of munitions. In the first month or two after the Revolution the moral of the nation was never higher, and double supplies of munitions were reaching the Armies from the factories. It seemed hopeless to cxpect that an army made of such composite material without leaders would fight, but, on tho other' hand, no one—certainly not the Germans—could be sure that it might not fight. Ho thought still that it might be taken that the armies would never make any concerted movement of retreat for sixty miles, which the Germans demanded. That was one picture of Russia. The other was the south and south-east, where he thought the military position was still formidable, and grain plentiful, and where the great munition works were still working well. The army there is still disciplined and fairly well appointed, and even if the Bolsheviki and the northern army were to make a separate peace he thought that it would have no influence on the south-eastern armies, and that Rumania, which is still very w r ell supplied with munitions, would not be left in tho lurch—a fear that is the particular nightmare of the Allies."

The German Foreign Minister's latest statement at Brest Litovsk certainly suggests that the Pan-Ger-mans are for the time being triumphant. In rejecting the Russian proposals Von Kuiilmann has made a shameless and unqualified avowal of the doctrine that might is right. His comparison between the American Declaration of Independence and the action of the nominal representatives of some of tho occupied territories is, of course, farcical. Except by a German special pleader, the spontaneous action of a free people and the action of so-called representative bodies bribed or coerccd into submission could be brought together only for purposes of contrast. What Von Kuhljunn thinks of his own subterfuge is shown in his further observation that tho Central Empires reserve the right to conclude treaties "of any kind" with the occupied territories—treaties which of course can readily be made to serve all the purposes of annexation—and that it is_ impos- | sible to withdraw the armies from these territories during the war. Germany has in this matter so plainly branded herself as perjured and infamous that oven the most besotted Bolsheviki might be expcctcd to appreciate the facts. -

Brief accounts arc given of another German naval mutiny, whin is said to have originated with the crows of the submarines. As they stiind the reports ar® decidedly plausible. The increasing destruction of submarines is bound to undermine the moral of the surviving crcws, and it is not unlikely that this state of affairs has culminated in open mutiny. That _less_ has been heard about disaffection in the German Navy than in the armies is probably to bo explained on the ground that it is easier to conceal Ihc facts where the Navy is concerned. There have been many reports of disaffection and declining, moral in the German armies. It was computed recently by a Dutch corrcipondcnt of the London Times that there are something like 15,000 German deserters in Holland; that is, men who have deserted directly from the armies and not including those who have fled to escape service, and an even larger number in Switzerland.