PROGRESS OF'THE, WAR

Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 21, 19 October 1918, Page 6

PROGRESS OF'THE, WAR

'The events' on the West front re- -I ported to-day are of capital importance, and mark a tremendous forward stride by the Allied armies towards their goal.' Lille has fallen and Bouai has been entered. To the south .the British have opened a drive froni the Le, Cateau area against the enemy's main communications, v-West and ''east' of the .Meuse, the Americans; with French arid Italian troops co-operating, are widening the- breach they have brbken in defences which, 1 as a captured enemy order correctly , points out, are vital to the stability of the German Western line as a whole. To the news of the enemy's defeats and retirements in the land campaign it 'is added that Ostend has been occupied froni the sea, and is clear of the "enemy. ...In the aggregate these developments' raise, far-reaching possibilities of.'.'dieasler to the German armies. There is every apparent justification for the observation made by 'Slit. Philip-Gibbs: "Things should move quickly now."

: NOTHIKO could better emphasise the magnitude of the enemy's defeat at' its present' , stage than the fact that the recovery or Lille is all but overshadowed by -surrounding events., Until ivery recently Lille was the. most important of all the railway, centres supporting the Germain'.Western line. As the enemy defensive front' was constituted Lille received a main artery of communication from the east, and was the principal' distributing centre from which supplies passed to a great part of tho front to the south, as well as to the north. The manufacturing area in which Lille and the neighbouring cities of Tourcoing and Roubaix on.the north-east are situated was organised by Ihe Germans as a ! vast military depot, and it is likely that in spite of all efforts at hasty removal the retirement has entailed the- sacrifice of an enormous accumulation of military material. The problem of disW'ring the enemy from Lille was ' "-lidable not only because the It-' , ;. , area in which it is situated Irn." ''self to

defemr against frontal at ■••■;< from the wjM. but because thc-AlJ'cs from

first to last have been unwilling to carry'the destniotive trail of battle through this populous and'highlydeveloped region. Though it was justified on these .grounds, their forbcaranre subjected them to a heavy bandicnn in .oarlicv stages of the campaign, but it scons to have boon imt. wholly in vain. Although snecifii , . information on the subject

is la.ck'inir .'if 'the inonwut, fh/ , fc-nnr

(if •siYiiikl.'U' Tcjmrts suggests that Lillr. has wiiped the wanton and

systematic destruction which tho Huns have visited upon so many cities, towns, and villages in France and Belgium. Tnu'enemy evacuation of Lille was enforced by the enveloping movement on. the north in which the Allies have reached Courtrai and advanced beyond Menin. There is little doubt that Tourcoing and Iloubaix will speedily share the fate of the greater city, and, other considerations apart, the enemy's retirement from the Lille area as a whole is likely to seriously aggravate the congestion of \ his avenues of communication and retreat which was already a. marked feature of the campaign at the stage to which it has been carried. It cannot be doubted that had the thing .been luimanly possible the enemy, would have clung to Lille and the Flanders coast at. all costs until winter had to some extent reduced the impetus of the Allied offensives. • Lille would have been of priceless value as a strong pillar supporting the northern flank of his line, even if he had determined forthwith to abandon' the whole of his - great salient in France between Liiie and Verdun. v-.

As a result of the Allied eastward drive hi Flanders, the north- , ern flank is now one of the most critically menaced sectors of tho German line, but the danger of a rapid extension of this northern outflanking -movement is only one of several which visibly and imminently threaten the enemy.armies. Between Lille and the area in which the Allies are driving into and through his vital flank defences 'north of Verdun,, the enemy's front now runs in two big salients.. The salient which lately turned roun'd Lille and Douai is still pronounced, and further south the enemy is holding a more acute 'salient, -extending west between tho rivers Oise and Serre, and with its apex within a f ew miles of La Fere. , Between these, enemy salients the British occupy a broad salient turning round Lc Gateau, and it is in this area that, simultaneously with the fall of Lille, they have resumed!, tho offensive, and as reports stand arc maleing a powerful thrust towards the Valcriciennes-Hirson railway. This isa.section of the Mctz-Lille railway which, closely, following the .FrancoBelgian frontier, serves as a. line of lateral communication behind the greater.-part of, thc-Gcrinan line in France.- Tho-.cutting of this line at any point-would be a serious matterfor tho enemy,. • If, as , -seems likely to happen, it is presently cut or brought under comparatively close bombardment at several points, a considerable section of • the enemy armies will be imminently threaten-' ed with envelopment. The cutting of' the great lateral railway would not'only break the enemy's cross communications' and make him everywhere more vulnerable to attack, but at. some of the points at which such .an interruption is.in prospect would cut off important sections of his forces from their best lines of supply and retreat. Meantime tho British arc reported, unofficially, to be within five miles of the lateral, va.ilway and" within eight miles of Valenciennes junction. .. . ■ ..

■. # * * * ' ." As his affairs stand, ifc is safe to. assume that ■■the. enemy desires nothing more than to get back with all possible speed to the shortest available front. It is suggested today that he is intent on retiring-to a line extending south frorh'Brussols by ■way of Niimur, and along the right bank of the Mouse. Nothing is said 'about, the- area 'north, of Brussels, but now that he has lost the Flanders coast (though the Allies 'as reports- stand have not completely occupied ifc) the enemy has no reason for holding any other line north of Brussels than the shortest available—that, is to say,' a line 'to Antwerp. . It. is far .from certain, however, that ■ the enemy will reach the line just indicated with his armies unbroken and in fighting trim. His present problem, is that of extricating'his armies'fi'bm two , salients, each of them menaced on both flanks, and ' with Allied armies vigorously thrusting towards his main communications ! and much nearer to them than a considerable proportion of his retiring troops. There is general agreement also that the avenues of. communication 'behind the perman ,armies' are rapidly becoming congested in -a degree which in itself involves the gravest peril. To armies which'in the last three months have lost 300,000 men in: the category of prisoners alone, and-a third of their ar.tillery, a retreat under these conditions may easily mean far greater disasters than any they have yet suffered. , . . .