PROGRESS OF THE WAR

Evening Post, Volume LXXXIX, Issue 146, 22 June 1915, Page 7

PROGRESS OF THE WAR

— i»i STALEMATE OF THE DAR* DANELLES IS THE PENINSULA TOO SMALL! ATTRITION IN THE WEST. A Petrograd message yesterday con. ' Uined an interesting statement of an - alleged German military theory that the Dardanelles campaign lias reached the condition of stalemate. Stalemate is a, chess term, applied to a position in < which the player who has the move cannot shift any piece, and it closes the game in a draw. The idea is based on the theory that the narrow land of Ifae Gallipoli Peninsula is so crowded with i troops that no more can be brought into SV^ "V^ **m*. «?' tLT ha i mg a decieive effect, in m ogress extends across the Peninsula gft" mi <* «* south-vveVteTei!' W JJ \ T f ** ' S not »«™.than five miles, & • ls eas y t0 arriv c at the pro- " bable maximum number of men who can ' be profitably employed on such a front liven m a continuous line of entrench rnents, with three lines fully manned one behind the other, it is diflfculfc to crowd thM an 00 °. m ?, n into a mi)e of *»™t j tins gives nearly three men to the yard and makes 25,000 on a front of five ,S2' Ivven a very large allowance or rre™r c™ e ™ make the total manning of the front Joes not make up an army of very S S bew .« certainl y it is of a si^fE either side can easily maintain, as long, as its communications are reasonably free for a very long time. And it is quite clear that the nature of the Turkhi™ 1B SUOh hat attrition ™U have to do a great share of the work, lii its present form, and regarded purely | I s , * h ™ d it is difficult to see ! when the campaign will end. INFLUENCE OP THE FLEET, t But the theory which gives this coit. i elusion omits one factor of Tremendous campaign. The influence of the war" a ups upon the Turks' trenches musTi limited to some extent, possibly a laree extent, by the broken nature of tho TtT'^t t h t - fire su §P^ithat ot the field batteries and heavy land BE* form U f! 6 d i *t Bufc ifc «»° ! Already some Turkish transports have* been sunk; and that sort of thing haL its effect. If the campaign in i£f pS sent form is so much of a stalementthab ' no finality promises within a rewSnSK; time^ it is safe to assume that it will be ' modified by the Allies, for tfaeyhavS lor instance, a new extended front might' [be formed from the Australasian tjp l base at Gaba, Tepe, or by new landings on the coast of the Gulf of SS f, ef f ceon tbe Wlb on the coasts pioved that an army supported by *, I fleet can go almost anywhe^; and when ■ dSt«SI ? T*? to ny ont an | disposit on to break up the stalemate, tho fleet will play lte part . . J» * ot room on the peninsula for the gameto be redeveloped and stalemate avoided! , WHITTLING THE GERMAN EINES. In a discussion of the general situation j in Europe m these notes on Saturday, All)pf •« f 6d "** Principle that thY undertake a general offensive till they Tt •» f a rer c 6Up . port of the Russians, notwithstanding the desire to apply extra, force in order to relieve the pressure under which the Russians are sufferImg very severely at present. Thie does not seem to accord with the fact that during come weeks put the Germans have been subjected to very heavy pressure, by the French especially. IJut it is not to be assumed that wnat tho ljrench are doing now is. anything in the nature of an offensive movement intended to be final in its effect. It is rather the result of the unflagging process of wearing down, the work of atariturn. It has been one of the discoveries ot the war that the Frenucft, who previously would, by most people,, have been thought rather ill' adapted for trench warfare, have ■ a special skill in it. They have with indomitable patience, kept whit'tlmg away at the obstacle in front of •them; and always somewhere they have gained ground. At one time their prograss was marked in one place-; at another, somewhere else. Lately it has been, sensational in the Arras-Lens-La Bassee' section of the front, and very tough" German defences have been -subjugated here. It is significant as well as gratifying, that the French successes north of Arras have found echoes at many other places. Ihere was an advahce at Touvent, between the Aisne and the Oise; there Has been, after a considerable interval, an advance in Alsace more marked than, several which have previously bean reported. To-day there is news of tha capture of trenches in Lorraine (at places, east of Nancy) and near Peronne. These are "reflex" effects. They are very satisfactory, because they indicate that the enemy, in order to stave off thoheavy pressure lately instituted at Arras, has by degrees depleted his strength ab points i thought to be comparatively safe. Thus is indicated the fact that the Gormans have only been able to make their colossal attack upon Russia at the cost of taking every possible man out of the supports in the west. THE BATTLE OF GRODER. • The great battle for Lemberg has not yet properly materialised in the cablegrams. Only the merest glimpses of if are seen, and some, of them are not such as can be accepted without confirmation. The enemy report having driven the Russians out of the Grodek positions west of Lemberg. and practically to the walls of the city, and the Russians admit having retired from across the line of lakes. The Russian report is as brief as possible, and only covers part of the ground, while the enemy messages are circumstantial and descriptive. Consequently, the battle can only be discussed on tho basis of the enemy reports. According to these, the attack was directed against the Russian positions from Grodek north wards, on a front the greater part of which was based on hills which covered the railway from Lemberg ttu Kavajru^a,

Th©' attack was, if the report* are accurate, crowned with success in. a remarkably short time, for the positions were all carried in one day — laet Saturday. That night, the Russians, having been driven back over the hills and even over the Zolkief-Ravaruska line, and therefore to a point directly north of Lehiberg, had to withdraw from th© Grodek line of swamps, streams, and lakes, upon which they had set great store. That retirement brought them to Lemberg ; and at the outskirts of the city the Teporte leave them. There is, at the time of writing, no further word about the situation, which, is in a most critical state for the Russian hold on Galicia. The Kaiser saw the battle.