PROGRESS OF THE WAR

Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 10, 7 October 1918, Page 4

PROGRESS OF THE WAR

To-day's news-makes it.seem more than ever likely that the Allies only need another week or two of passable weather to compel the enemy to make a great and hurried retreat in the Western theatre, Following up the German retirement south of. Armentieres' the British are now within four and a half miles of Lille, a mile closer to that city than they were last year. The change in the" situation is greater than theso figures in themselves would suggest, for the front on which the British last year were five and a half miles distant from Lille was the apex of tho Armentieres salient. They aro now a mile nearer to tho city on a straight' front. Attacks are beinp maintained with full vigour on the Cambrai-St. O.uentin front, and Sir Douglas Haig reports an important enemy withdrawal between Crcvecoeur, four miles south of Cambrai; and 1c Catelet, half a dozen miles farther south. The French, who have taken over a section of front north of St. Quentin, have made an appreciable advance in that region. At tho same time the French and Americans have niado another highly successful drive into the enemy defences in the Champagne, and the Americans arc again pushing forward between the Meuse and the Argonnc. As a wholc\ tho enemy is-faced br a staggering array of defensive problems.

.. ThE rapid progress made by the Franco-Americans in their latest, •thrust in the Champagne makes a striking addition to the evidence lately supplied that the enemy's defensive resources arc overtaxed. In their advance the attaching troops ■■covered*a distance of "six miles or more from south to north, hut the operation,is' best described as a westward extension of the already wide front on which the Allies are attacking in the Champagne and as far east'as the Meuse—an extension .which'_ paves the way for a. further widening of the front in the same direction. The attack has cleared the in the angle .between. fche..Eiver Suippe, which runs northwest, passing about 15 miles east of Reims,' and the "Aines, which runs west to ;the Suippe. a little north of the latitude.of Reims. It is in the valley of the-Suippe as matters stand; that the Allies have., made; their maximum advance, but important gains were made to a point ten miles farther east.

An important feature of the operations; is brought out in the statement in a French official message: "We hold tho whole course of the Ames a-nd'ha-ye recrossed the Suippe at several points.": As they advanced on the Arnes the French had tho Suippe:-on their left, and' tho reference, in fclie message just ouqted, to the recrossing of tho Suippe means that they are. striking west as well as north. In the valley of the Suippe, south of the point at whicji it is entered by the Arnes, they are faeing into the flank of the Moronvillers massif/, an important section of the hilly' country which runs fouth-ea'sfc from _ the Aisne _ past Reims and constitutes a formidable obstacle to a northward advance. The French are now well placed to attack- the Mils around Moronvillers, and the 'recrossing of the Suippo along the flank of their latest advance means that the attack has begun. The widening out of tho front on which the French and American armies have made such notable headway during tho last "week or two means, of course, that the drain upon the enemy's resources is being rapidly and heavily increased.

In the retirement mentioned by Sir Douglas Haig the Germans are falling back from the Escaut Canal in the only remaining area in which it served tbcm as a defensive line. Between Crcvacoeur, four miles south of Cambrai, and le Catelet, the canal curves to the west. Established hero on high ground; with the canal as a moat along his front, the enemy had a strong defensive position. It was already outflanked on tho north, however, by the capture of Crevecoeur, and was even more badly outflanked by the capture of le Oatelet and Gouy (east of the canal at the southern end of the loop), and other positions farther east. Recent British progress east and south of le Catelet gave the form of a fairly pronounced salient to the German positions extending to the Escaut Canal north of le Catelet, and it was apparently the heavy pressure imposed on the southern flank of this salient that enforced the retirement now in progress. The clearance of tho area between Crevecoeur and le Catelet is another considerable step forward in the movement around Cambrai on the south.

One heavy disadvantage the Allies are under is that they are anxious to limit in every possible way the destruction of French and Belgian towns and cities in the battle zone. But for Hie restrictions thus imposed it is certain that the enemy would have been much more rapidly dislodged from cities like Lens, St. Qucntin, and Cambrai. Freely shelling such places, the Allies would speedily convert them into death-traps. The . fact that Lens and St. Qucntin we're ' long held against attack, and that Cam"brai is still so held, though the British lines are wrapped closely about it, moans, of course, that the Allies are- refraining from bombardment. This policy may entail heavy disabilities in the case of such an advance as is now being' made on Lille. A limited forward movement from tho line now reached will enable the Allies to very greatly reduce Hie valuo of that city to the enemy, but 1 so far. as its capture is concfimed

they will no doubt rely largely upon Hanking movements on north and south.

Often when the Germans credit the Allies with some very ambitious design their aim is to minimise a defeat by representing that they liavc escaped some much greater disaster. One of to-day's messages supplies what may be a case in point. German newspapers, it states,- are warning their readers that tho real battle lias not yet begun, that Fooh hitherto has been occupied in- attracting the German _ reserves in hope of forcing a decision before winter, and that his main attack will be directed against the MetzSedan railway and the Briey basin. It is, of course, true that the Allied offensive as it is developing tends to rapidly absorb and pin down the enemy's available reserves, and this state of affairs naturally raises expectations of some even greater stroke yet to come. The suggestion of an attack towards Briey also looks reasonable. Briey, tho centre of an important ironfield, ■ stands on the railway named about 17 miles from the positions the Allies now hold cast of-Verdun, and this railway is one of the most valuable in the enemy's whole of comBut suggestions that the Allies aim at forcing a decision before winter arc to be received with caution, whether they aro advanced by the enemy or anybody else! There arc reasonably good prospects ,that the enemy may be compelled to evacuate much of the ■ occupied tevritory in France and Flanders in the near future. Forcing a decision is a somewhat different matter. » * " w» .

At the moment the position in th>> Balkans is a- little obscure,: but a convincing reply 'to enemy, talk about regaining control over Bulgaria is supplied in the news that tho Serbs have'recovered Ms s h and are advancing farther north.''* This 'means that the main railway route to Constantinople is cut, and that the enemy has lost his most valuable asset in the Balkans. That he was unequal to a. determined effort to retain it supports a. belief; that the best prospect before- him- is' that of a,war-of- movement on the Danube .line. There arc only rumours about- Turkey meantime,- but it is evident that she has the strongest reasons for seeking peace. If it is true that General ji'Esperey has announced that the Allies' next blow- will be towards Constantinople, the announcement is a broad bjnfc to Turkey to be wise in -time;