PROGRESS OF THE WAR

Evening Post, Volume LXXXIX, Issue 56, 8 March 1915, Page 8

PROGRESS OF THE WAR

THE SUBMARINES' FAILURE LOSSES ADMITTED BY ENEMY. A SERIOUS REDUCTION OF STRENGTH. A leading BeTlin newspaper makes a highly important admission regarding the losses of submarines since the 18th February, the date at which the famous and unsuccessful attempt to blockade Great Britain officially began. Calculat- . ing from the statements of neutrals, probably because German officials' statements were either not available or were prohibited from use, it admits that more than seven of these vessels have been lost. Several were certainly sunk before that date; and the risks of submarine work are so great that it is most probable that others of which we have not .heard have also found a resting plaoe on the bottom. It is not too big an estimate to put the total loss of submarines at about fifteen. Owing to the skill with which the German Admiralty preserves the secrets of the submarine service, there has always been doubt as to the actual number of these craft available for use. At the beginning of last year a new class of six vessels, beginning with No. 21, was begun ; these boats are of about 800 tons displacement, with a surface speed of about 18 knots. A subsequent class, of ten boats, measuring 900 tons, and reputed to have a speed of 18 knots, represent the latest boats of which the public have been allowed to know. When the war began, it was generally believed that probably only twenty-seven, and certainly not more than thirty, represented the total number of the German submarines ; and the fact that of the . very first class one was completed only in 1913, eight years after the group was established, suggests that in some respects the building output was not very rapid. NO MYSTERY BOATS. There has been no evidence of which we have heard that any boats later than. U2l have been seen ; and certainly none that any new types have appeared. Even the small ones which were reported to have been transported in sections by rail and erected in Belgian ports, have not, apparently, been indentified as new vessels. Many of the earlier' types, email vessels, can be parted into sections. To-day, M. Augagneur, the French Minister of Marine, with all the information available to his Admiralty, is reported to have said positively that the enemy has not, been building any new : large submarines such as have been an- ' nounced from time to time to assist in ' scaring the folk of the sea. Consequently, it is fairly safe to assume, not only that the enemy's force in this department < is no larger than it was, but that it ; has been reduced by a. very large proportion, perhaps even by half. IMPORTANT LOSSES OF MEN. The mere loss of boats, too, is not the most serious matter for Germany. Successful submarine tactics depend far more upon the skill and daring of command' ers and upon the spirit of the crews than upon the bdate. Evidence of this is given by the fact that very good work has been done by such early types as the British. 81l and the German U9. The former entered the Dardanelles and sank the 1 Turkish warship Messoudien, ■and the latter is credited with the sin*c- < ing of the three big Cressy cruisers and other feats. The special combination of qualities required in the personnel is not well nurtured, many experts believe, in the German navy : and in particular that service lacks facilities for the growth, of the extraordinary camaraderie between men and officers which, is peculiarly essential in submarines. To get the best results from the submarine blockade, th': Germans probably put their best available men into the boats ,• and it is more likely that the best workers among them, through, taking the most risks, have been lost. . .. A SPELL IN THE BLOCKADE. The Copenhagen news service contains the report that German admirals state that, owing to the strain on the crews, some weeks must elapse before fresh attempts are made in_ the 'carrying on of the blockade. If this is not a wily bu>, thinly veiled attempt to put warship and merchantmen off their guard — in which respect it will scarcely succeed— it is a valuable admission > that the utter failure of the "blockade" is recognised in Germany. IThe fact is that, as the blockade has never afc any moment been effective, it has never been binding Upon any ships ; and the latest admission is in line with Germany's recent diplo inatic efforts to shuffle the issues and cliange the look of the poor hand shfc has been holding. The messages of the past few days indicate that possibly four of the enemy's submarines have been destroyed by war ships and merchantmen ; and some of these are_ jjrobably-in addition to those counted in the estimate of the Berliner Tageblatt. The recent claim of the little steamer Thordis is admitted by Germany ; she struck a submarine, but it has returned to port, t in spite of the damage due to the collision. SHELLING TURKISH FORTS. The Allied fleets are continuing their target practice at the Turkish forts at the Dardanelles, and the defences are" gradually being worn away. The great new battleship Queen Elizabeth has been firing her 15-inch guns at the forts on the Gallipoli peninsula, overlooking the Gulf of Saros, and apparently has shot well, destroying some of the batteries containing guns as large as 14 inches. These are probably old heavy ordnance ; Krupp's works' are not likely to have sent any modern guns of that size to Turkey. ' In addition to the shelling of the ' Dardanelles forts, Smyrna is also being bombarded, and this operation is described as being an essential part of the main "operation. While the nature : of the general plan of campaign against the Turks, is unknown, it can only be caid that the smashing of Smyrna as a naval and military position may be connected with plans for landing an army in Asia Minor with the object of cutting off reinforcements coming to the relief of the Ottoman armies in Turkey-in-Eui'ope. THE RUSSIAN CAMPAIGN. _ As far as the reports show, the positions in the East Prussian campaign have_ not | changed notably since the Russian victory at Prasnysz. Details of the battle show that the Russians succeeded in almost surrounding two or three army corps, and inflicted very heavy losses upon them as they were escaping from the narrow gate which the Russians were unable to close in time. The operation, from the few particulars which have been sent out, was evidently a clever piece of strategy, in which the Germans, who were trying to envelop the Russians, had their own, methods turned. against them. The result is reminiscent of the predicament, of General Mackensen's German army, at Lodz, where a similar trap was formed and worked with partial success by the Russians. In the £.oclz.

affair the failure of the Russians lo close the ring rounjp Mackeiisen cheated them of a great victory and brought disgrace upon the head of the General who should have been there in time to close tho door, but failed. So far there is no word of such a failure of plans at Prasnysz; and, in view of the events, it is_ more likely that the Russians improvised a startling manoeuvre, and carried it out as nearly to perfection as the conditions could have promised. It was a vital point in the Russian strategy of retiring from East Prussia that the Germans who pushed forward after them would lose the invaluable support of their railways ; and the fact that Germans who were captured at Grodno had been for days without bread, and were suffering from gastric troubles, indicates that in this respect the . Russians had counted, aright. But at the same tme, early victory was only, to be attained by the Russians through swift counter-attack; and though it was gained at Prasnysz, it shows no sign of developing on the other parts of the front. The Germans are still bombarding Ossoweic. They do not seem to have been forced to give much ground over the greater part of their line; and if they have a little time they will be able to organise their communications thoroughly. Then the battle will become like those of the recent past, matters of long and hard fighting, to be followed by a fresh attack somewhere else. No new developments have occurred in the Carpathians or in Western Galicia,; but the reports indicate a continuance of the hard fighting to retain the passes. There is confirmation of the report that the Russians have regained Czernowitz, the capital of Bukowina ; and they have effected tho crossing of the Lukwa Raver, which is not indentifiable on tho maps now available. A Rome message states that the Austrian armies in Bukowina are in full retreat ; and, while it is not safe to accept a general statement like that at_ its face value, it may be taken as an indication that the Russians are able to force their way still further into their lately lost ground. FRENCH PROGRESS. On the west front activity is reported at several points. In the north, where .the British are operating over most of the Flanders front, there is no change ; but further south,, at Notre Dame de Lorette, a few miles north-west of Lens, the enemy are paying dearly for a slight advance they made there recently, and have been driven back beyond their starting point. Reims is still suffering from bombardment from the positions which the Germans have long maintained round the north and east of the city. They aro not being dislodged, and appear, if anything, to have effected some improvements in their hold on this section. The French are continuing their slow advance to the north in the neighbourhood just west of Ville-sur-Tourbe, and the villages of Perthes, Beausejour, and Mesnil, but have made no important progress between this point and the middle of the Vosges positions. They have, however, captured a couple of hills at Imburg, close to the Alsatian town of Munster ; and further south, at the most forward point of the salient which is pushed out a little northward of Mulhausen, they have made further progress, the locality being Hartmann's Wielerkopf.