PROGRESS OF THE WAR

Evening Post, Volume LXXXVIII, Issue 37, 12 August 1914, Page 8

PROGRESS OF THE WAR

ARE THE BRITISH IN BELGIUM? GERMANY'S INITIAL SET-BACK. A remarkable silence prevails concerning the reported British naval blockade of Germany in the North Sea; the alleged anti-Russian operations of the German fleet in the Baltic ; and the naval position in the Mediterranean, where the German Dreadnought-cruiser Goeben and her smaller consort may be placed in the mobile category of the Flying Dutchman. Concerning operations on land, there is almost nothing to hand about the Russian attack on the eastern frontiers of Germany and Austria. What little reliable information we have concerns mostly the theatre of war on Germany's western frontier. Here the position may be summarised briefly as follows : STRUGGLE FOR THE MEUSE. Germany struck at Liege because it is the key to the Meuse Valley, the natural highway from Germany into Belgium, and thence to France. South Belgium provides several railway systems, with which Germany has linked herself, but the country is so wooded and mountainous that the line of advance by way of the Meuse and the flat country north-west of it would certainly be preferable for the purposes of the huge armies of Germany with their immense baggage trains./ Therefore Germany struck quickly and frantically at Liege, seeking to" carry its ring of forts at the first rush, and then, having repeated the operation at Namur, to control the whole line of the Meuse, the strategic route to France. The way in which German blood has been spilled at Liege shows that the Germans aimed at more than holding back the Belgians along the Meuse, while the German armies swung round through Southern Belgium upon the French left. The Germans aimed at a complete conquest of the Meuse, and a rapid one ; in fact, one of their generals had summarised the programme in the words "to Antwerp in live days." MYSTERY OF THE EXPEDITION. Enough is now known to show that the Belgians in and around Liege have inflicted on the invaders^ utterly unexpected losses in valuable 'men and still more valuable time; losses that may wreck the whole plan of Germany's attack. While Liege held up the armed inundation, Belgian armies were mobilising in the flat country beyond the Meuse. French forces by this time must be in touch with them — in fact, a cablegram to-day announces the junction with the Belgians of the French and also of the British; thus inferring that the first portion of the British Expeditionary Force has, amid profound secrecy, already crossed the Channel and reached its position. This inferential statement must not be accepted as absolute; still, it is supported by a further cablegram to the- effect that Lord Kitchener's chief difficulty ,is to find officers and non-c6mmissioned officers for "the second army of one hundred thousand." This infers the existence of a first army of similar number. The, reader can couple this statement with the message about the junctioning in Belgium, and draw his' own conclusion. Censorship prevents us getting any closer than that to actual fact. ENTER AUSTRIA— WHAT ABOUT ' ITALY?,' " ' -The main point is that, though the town of Liege is in German hands, most of the forts still appear to be holding out. The great plan of carrying the Meuse in the fifrst rush has failed, and the defending armies have been allowed time to mobilise and make ready to repel the invader. Everything appears to be in train for another Waterloo. Only this time the Germans and the French have changed sides. While Germany has been checked in her turning movement on France's left, 'the French have struck hard on the German left and appear to bo holding in Alsace-Lorraine the ground they have won. In fact, the cablegrams credit them with , having marched north and seized Colmar, an important centre confronting the German stronghold of N«uBrieach. This brings Austria into the picture. To strengthen her left against tho French attack, Germany has, it is cabled, called up two Austrian army corps. A declaration of war by France against Austria follows aa a matter of course; and logically, it would seem,' Britain must take a similar step. Austrian action makes it more ' and more desirable, from the Triple Entente point of view, that Italy should give Austria something to do on < her southern frontier. A FIGHT ON TWO FRONTS. The presence of Austrian troops in Alsace-Lorraine would be a strong indication that Germany already feels unexpected pressure. What will happen when Russia, hammecs in' slow -moving but ponderous strength on the eastern frontiers of Austria and Germany ? Whether the blow comes from Russia alone, or from Russia and Italy together, every hour brings the day nearer when the two countries who started this war will have to fight for their lives on the two fronts. And every hour diminishes the hope of , Berlin that German armies would crush France in one dash, and then turn round and defeat Russia- at their leisure. Germany's plan has failed in its first vital particular. A great German victory on land or . sea is needed to counter-balance the blow, and to impress Italy. Failing that, time appears to be steadily fighting against the Austro-German plot to bring all Europe under 'the Teutonic heel.