PROGRESS OF THE WAR

Dominion, Volume 11, Issue 290, 27 August 1918, Page 4

PROGRESS OF THE WAR

Marshal Foch has so far departed from his customary reticence as to make a brief statement to wan correspondents. "All goes well," ho told them. "You have been ablo to observe our operations since July 18. They have developed well, and we shall continue them." At its face value this is a statement on which high hopes may reasonably be based. So far as tho Allied offensive has taken shape it is certainly well within tho facts to say that it ia going well, and the promise that the operations which have told so heavily upon the enemy since July 18 will be continued is a definite assuranco that the offensive,, formidable as it is, is imposing no exhausting demands on Allied • resources. The Generalissimo's concluding observation, in which he compares the German invasion to a tide which has passed the, high-water mark and is now receding, is perhaps intended in part as a caution against indulging in extravagant hopes of early victory. Such a caution is no doubt wise and timely. Nevertheless, there is a great deal in tho existing situation to encourage a belief that the retiring flow of the German tide will be very much more rapid than its advance.

The commanding fact at this stage is that although the Allies not many weeks ago were stemming as best they could tho enemy's maximum effort to force a decision, they are now engaged in an offensive which already overshadows all their own past efforts. A greater contrast could hardly bo imagined than that which is to be drawn between the offensive the Allies are now developing and their previous efforts to overcome the resistance of the enemy armies on tho Western front. Tho contrast is most strikingly apparent where, as in the present battle, the offensive is developing on_ ground over which the tide of conflict ebbed and flowed in preceding stages of the war. The drive in which British divisions have closed so swiftly <m Bapaumo marks a tremendous change and development from the days of two years ago, when the same goal was approached gradually in battles which involved literally the reduction of an enormously powerful field fortress. The obvious iact that recent developments in battle tactics have made it possible for armies attacking under the conditions that obtain in the Western theatre .to attain objectives with a speed that formerly would haveseemed incredible covers, however, only one aspect of the contrast to be drawn between the present Allied offensive and those which preceded it. Apart from its other results the change from siege to manoeuvre warfare has enormously broadened the practicable scope of offensive operations, and this was never more clearly apparent, than at the present moment. In 191 Cv Bapaiune and Peronne, as two great road-ccntrcs on the approaches to Canibrai, were the principal objectives' of the Allied armies during months of the heaviest fighting. They take a very different, and in some respects a much less important, place in the offensive which is now developing. It is true that in advancing on Bapaume and shortening the distance, which separates them from Peronne, tho Allies are taking a promising means of compelling the enemy to a difficult retreat. But here,all similarity with the conditions of , 1916 ends, In that ■year the Allies relied almost wholly upon their sustained and concentrated attack upon a defined section of the enemy line. Somewhat similar conditions obtained in 1917,' though there might, of course, have been a very different story to tell but for the collapse of Russia. In the pre- | sent offensive tho absence of a, defined area in whicli the Allied armies are committed to their major effort is the most formidable feature of their offensive—and from their own point of view the feature which holds the greatest promise. Tho thrust at Bapaume, seconded already by a movement south of the Sommo which has carried ilio British forces in that region to within eight miles of Peronne, is a serious threat to tho enemy's 'communications. In the conditions of relatively free movement that have been established it is by no meand unlikely that the threat may extend in the comparatively near future to Oainbrai. But the Somme battlefield is only one of several areas in which the Allies are threatening a drive

into the enemy's communications. The whole of tho German front which runs south from ihe Somnic and then turns east by way of Lassigny and Noyon to the Ailettc constitutes a salient which is dangerously menaced on cither ilank. The German line further cast, along tho Aisne and Vesle, is seriously outflanked, and the forces by which it is held are evidently imperilled.

The enemy is in the position that while his lino between Arras and ficims has at a number of points been dangerously invaded, he docs not know where the' next blow will

fall. At tho same timn the vigour of the Allied tactics dcii!-s him the opportunity ho would no doubt gladly seize of falling back on a shorter and safer line. One of today's messages observes that, "Undoubtedly, before our attacks the enemy contemplated a big retirement,

but ho intended taking his time. Wo, have hustled him, and prevented him carrying out his jjlans. This is proved by the number of guns captured, and Ihe very largo number of prisoners taken." Mow far the Allies will he enabled to go this year in exploiting tho tactics of surprise they have turned so effectively upon the' enemy is admittedly an open question. No douhl, th-j near approach of winter and the necessity of waiting until American organisation has been advanced beyond its present stage set definite limits to the possible development of the offensivo during the next month or two. But as matters stand the Allies have added to tlv? achievement of decisively repelling tho enemy offensive and taking heavy toll of his armies in men and material _ the further achievement of gaining a, vastly more advantageous position than' their utmost efforts sufficed to win them in 1916 and 191.7. The enemy retirement at the beginning of the 1917 campaign was directly enforced by the Allies, but. in conditions which gave them liUlc opportunity of exploiting his difticinties. Tho Germans are very much more formidably thivat»r;tcl to-day, but have no such prospects of an easy and safe retirement as they had in 1917.

At time of writing there is very little detail news of late developments in the Sommo region or elsewhere on the Western front. Sir. Douglas Hμ g reports, however, that in spite of the arrival of German reinforcements, continued progress is being made and many prisoners are being captured. Tho British have everywhere passed the section of highroad which runs northeast from Albert to Bapaume, and Martinpuich, Lc Sars and Lβ Barque, villages which became famous in the battles of 1916, are added to the list of captures. At the moment of writing reports which declare that Bapaume has been captured lack official confirmation, but if the town lias not actually been captured the attacking troops are on its immediate outskirts. • • • •

The first definite announcement that Aiistro-Hungarian infantry units have been identified in action on the Western front is made in a French communique ' to-daj\ It states thai prisoners brought, in by patrols on the Verdun front east of the Mouse and in tho Woeuvrc included Austro-Hungarians. -Not long ago it was reported that 'a single Austrian division had been sent to the Western theatre, and the news transmitted to-da-y does . not necessarily mean more that this division has entered the line on a sector which for some- time past has been regarded as quiet. As information stands Germany received considerable reinforcements of Austrian artillery before opening her offensive in March, but with this exception Austrian troops have taken no part in the great battles of the year on the Franco-British front. The somewhat extraordinary position obtains that the Dual Monarchy would have to make a fairly heavy call upon its resources to give such" a reinforcement to Germany as it has already given,' most unwillingly so far'as its present rulers arc concerned, to the Allies. Apart from the Czccho-Slovak troops who arc gallantly upholding the Allied cause in Siberia, several divisions representing the subject races of Austria-Hungary are fighting in other theatres. Southern Slav divisions have reinforced the Serbian Array in Macedonia, Gzecho-Slovak unite are fighting against their oppressors on the Austro-Italian front, and others arc in training in the Western theatre. It is, of course, quite certain that Germany would long ago have called upon her ally to provide reinforcements in the main theatre had she deemed that policy safo and expedient. She has presumably refrained only because she feared that such action might tend to precipitate revolt in the Dual Monarchy.