PROGRESS OF THE WAR

Evening Post, Volume LXXXVIII, Issue LXXXVIII, 10 September 1914, Page 8

PROGRESS OF THE WAR

i FORCING BACK OF THE RIGHT [ WHAT OF THE CENTRE? The importance of the Allies' successful counter-attack (led by the British) agaiu.st Germany's hitherto conquering right-wing is set forth to-day in tho leading columns. The object of this aiticle is to consider the position more in detail. A feature of the last fortnight's news is that we have heard much about the retirement of the Allies' left before tho German right ; little about the centre. We do not even know whether the right or the centre is, on the German side, the more numerous. But it is almost certain that the great turning movement of the right was led by the elite of tho troops. TWO LINES OF ADVANCE. From Belgium the right swept round via Tournai (Belgium) and the French towns of Cambrai, Arras,' St. Quentin, Amiens, and Compeigne ; '.and a rapid advance thus placed it before Paris in about a week. In the course of this movement it became widely detached from its centre, which was pointing at the Reims-Verdun gap. When north of Paris, tho right wheeled south-eastward, converging towards the centre and incidentally upon the Marne River. Here the Allies counter-attacked, and, according to the circumstantial statement of the Daily Chronicle's correspondent, fought so successfully that the German right is now well back along its own tracks, pointing -towards Cambrai and Tournai. It abandoned Amiens, along with its seriously- wounded men, and" sent the less seriously wounded to Arras. Its retirement may become a rout. Though the German centre has been covered by " the fog of war," its course may be fixed by deduction. Its troops would probably have pome through the Belgian country forming the angle of the Meuse and the Sambre, thi'ough Luxembourg (the pivot of the right's big turning movement), and perhaps northern Lorraine. On crossing tho Belgian frontier, a main road — passing between Reims and Verdun — leads from Stenay, via Vouziers and Suippcs. to Chalons, on the Marne. and further southward to Vitry-le-Francois. Suippes and Vitry have figured in the fighting at the centre, and this must have been the main line of advance of the central armies. The Argonne forest separates it from the great fortress of Verdun. COUNTER-ATTACK WELL TIMED. Had the German right fought its way through from the lower' Marne and junctioned with the centre on the higher reaches of the Marne, the invaders would have had an immense force with which to strike in the rear of tho Verdun-Toul line of forts, cutting them off from the French armies and possibly opening the Toul-Epinal gap, probably tho key to the French right. But the counter-at-tack of the French left, by rolling back the German right, has clearly prevented the contemplated junction. The right has been repulsed in detail, while the centre has been held by a battle, the isfiue of Which is not yet clear. The counter-attack was evidently timed to catch the right just when it had in sight the goal it was aiming for — just when its communications' would be most strained and its ammunition supply most likely to be deficient. (As, according to all accounts, it was.) The fact that, according to the Daily Chronicle's correspondent, the German right is retiring in the direction in which it came, proves that effective communication could not have been established between it and its centre. It also suggests that the 'French line from La Fere to Laon to Rheims is still intact. If that is so, tho centre cannot directly succour the right, but it will no doubt hammer as hard as it can on the French centre to distract the Allies from following up the right. Much now depends on the issue of the battle in the centre. A Bordeaux message states that the Allies progress, though with difficulty. MYSTERY OF CENTRAL ACTIONS. About this centre we possess almost no information. Tho much-killed German Crown Prince seems to command the main army there"; and as the country is more difficult than that traversed by the right, operations will probably be slower. But in the long run they are more likely to be decisive. In the Franco-Prussian war the central army was Germany's greatest. To-day it includes the 4th and sth army corps, for the 4th was recently reported to be at Suippes, and the Verdun garrison (it is further cabled) sortied and captured some supplies of the sth corps. The question raised in this column yesterday, whether the falling back of the German right was absolute ov m«ely "preliminary to a fresh advance," meets to-day with a specific answer. According to the Daily Chronicle's correspondent, it is "a definite retirement rather than a temporary retreat." The Allies seek to detach the battered right from its main body and to annihilate it, and the gathering momentum of the retirement may turn, it into rout and disaster. The Germans are placed as the British were, and must fight rearguard actions as their' only means of safety, with insufficiency of food and ammunition and in a state _of exhaustion. AWAITING A DECISIVE STAGE. , By the precipitousness of its advance the German right wing incurred those risks which are generally attendant on military dash. How far the situation in which it found itself was due to accident or to strategical lures of tho Allies is a 'question which timo only will decide. There is not sufficient data to show whether the rapid retirement of the Allies from the frontier was due to envelopment by superior numbers or to specific defeate ; but it is clear that the line which they have now reached is to be stubbornly held. Possibly reinforcements from India have so strengthened their ranks thai they . can afford to give battle on something like equal term?, and to command something of that depth of attack which the Germans hare employed expensively, but successfully, at vital points. It is easier to defend In force when you know which way the enemy is coming and in what numbers. And that at auy rate must now be clear to the defenders. When the action in the centre has culminated, tho battle as a whole should have reached a decisive stage. Despite denials, reports of Russian troops in tho western theatre persist. It is said that they came by Archangel, and this is possible. .The denial of the Russian Embassy applies to France. American advices assert that the Russians are in Belgium. The whole thing is too nebulous for any confident expression of opinion. '/ ' _