PROGRESS OF THE WAR

Dominion, Volume 11, Issue 293, 30 August 1918, Page 4

PROGRESS OF THE WAR

To-day's news from the Western theatre is of evon bettor promise than that of earlier days. Ground is being steadily gained by the Allies along a great part of the front from north of Arras to the Oise. In two sectors in particular they have won conspicuous success in the latest fighting. In the area between Arras and Cambrai the British; troops have penetrated deeply into a range of positions every foot of which the enemy_ would undoubtedly have maintained had his resources been equal to the task. On the southern part of the battlcfront tho Fre-nch, keeping in close touch with tho enemy rearguards, haveswiftly recovered a wide belt of territory in tho region of Eoyo and Ghaulnes. They have not only captured these centres, but have advanced beyond tho road and railway junction of Ncsle, five miles further east. In Bomo places' the French hayo already covered in this advance a' distance of more than seven miles. They have, driven a broad salient into the enemy line, with the result that on a front of half-a-dozon miles or more the Germans occupy only a mile or two of country west of the Sommc, which flows in their rear.

In addition it is reported, unofficially as yet, that General Mangin's army, fighting between \ the Oisc-Ailottc line and the Aisno. has farced the passage of the Ailette. If the report is accurate it means that a dangerous threat is developing on the southern flank of the retiring enemy armies, It is true that in passing the Ailette General Mangin's troops will find themselves on the fringe of the rugged and wooded country of the Laon-La Fere massif, which the enemy has heavily organised for defence. But it has been strikingly demonstrated in recent days that even tho strongest' positions aro apt to prove too weak to stem the onset of the Allied armies. There are possibilities also of attack on cither flank of the Laon-La. Fore massif. An attack across the Qisc, west- of tho massif, would be aimed at breaking into tho southern flank of the great bulge in the German lino which still extends to west of Noyon. An attack further cast would be directed towards the wide valley which oxtends south-west from Laon between tho Laon-La Fere massif and the high ridge north of tho Ailette. Any advance up this valley would not only imporil tho enemy front to tho west and north, but would seriously accentuate tho pressure already imposed upon the flank of tho German lino along the Aisne and Veslc. General Mangin's army is ro placed that and) an advance as is reported to-day would hold most important possibilities. For the'moment, however, there is no detail news of developments on this part of the front.

J» * 4 *. , No such uncertainty obtains in regard to events cast of Arras and in the area whore tho French ,ha-ve made their brilliant advance to the near neighbourhood of the Soramo, These events without a doubt have heavily reduced whatever chances (he enemy had at the outset of carrying out his scheme of retirement with reasonable success. This is more especially true of tho British advance in tho Arras region. Though it has not attained anything like the _ speed of the drive which has carried tho French cast of Ncsle, it is decidedly tho more- important movement of the two, alike in its results and in.the prospects it opens. As a, Renter correspondent points out to-day, the significance of tho present fighting in the Arras region is that the attacking troops are approaching the main arteries ,of communication behind the Hindenburg line, and therq is no doubt that an Allied success in this quarter would constitute a serious strategical menace.

The active front in tho Arras region extends at present from east of the Vimy Ridge to tho neighbourhood of Groisilles, but Bapaume, still further south, also has an important place in the Allied scheme of attack, because it stands on one of the two main roads which approach Cambrai from, the west. Ono of these roads runs cast-south-east from Arras and tho other east-north-cast from Albert. Groisilles, north of Bapaume, and fifteen miles west of Cambrai, stands approximately midway between the two roads. In capturing Croisillcs tho British have surmounted a sorious obstacle on the approaches to Cambrai, and materially extended tho movement which is outflanking Bapaume and other positions in its neighbourhood still held by the enemy. Even greater importance attaches, however, to the progress that has been made in the grim struggle which is being waged further north on, and in places well beyond, tho Hindenburg line. East of Arras mid astride the" highway which runs from that city to Cambrai Uie British arc pressing forward and making Headway against the utmost , resistance of which the enemy is capable. At ViscivArtois, on the ArrasrCambrai highroad, the attacking troops are more than a mile east of tho line on which tho British stood prior to tho

German offensive this year. At Boiry-Notre Dame, a couple of miles further north, they are nearly two miles east of this line. As reports stand, the attack is developing with good promise on a widening front. Already the Hindcnhurg lino has been breached over,a distance of two miles ov more. I There is no question on this part of the front of an enemy rearguard action, nor can it for a moment be supposed that the Germans have voluntarily selected n> new lino eastward of the formidable field 1 fortifications they defended with such desperate tenacity last year. It is literally true that they arc here defending vital positions which would lose importance only after a very great part of tho area they now occupy in France had been evacuated. The so-called Hindenburg line was established by tho enemy as a substitute- defensive' barrier after he had been dislodged from the immensely strong positions based on tho'Vimy Ridge. It covers by a somewhat narrow margin the great railway system extending south from Lille which affords essential channels of supply to a great part of the enemy front to the south and east. Even if the enemy swung.back his front to St. Quentin and north of the heights of the Aisne he would still be as dependent as ever upon the railways running south from Lille, which in itself is his greatest distributing centre, standing as it does at the head of his principal lino of communications along the Meuse. It is by these facts that the importance of the British advance east of Arras is measured. The advance across tho Hindcnburg lino has its place- in tho _ extended movement which is clearing the approaches to Cambrai, a railway , junction only less important than Lille. The advance has at the same time a more immediate objective in the highly important junction of Douai, which stands midway between Lille and Cambrai. In their advanced lines the British are now just about eight miles distant from Douai. * * ,i * Late particulars of tho Allied advance south of tho Sommo show that in his retirement the enemy is suffering disastrous losses and is rapidly losing his remaining foothold in the angle, of tho river. A French. official report mentions tho capture of three trains of war material—a highly significant indication of the state- of demoyalisation into which the enemy has been thrown. The Allied commanders have evidently little time at present in which to furnish details of captures, but an occasional item like that which has been mentioned is illuminating as an indication of the ruling state of affairs. Another striking fact in the same category mentioned in the news to-day is that in their pursuit tho British have re-covered dumps of their own shells, with the result, of course, that their advance has been much facilitated. Nothing short of a very serious breakdown in tho enemy's organisation will account for his thus leaving ready to the hand of tho pursuing armies precisely the supplies which they most need.