PROGRESS OF THE WAR

Evening Post, Volume XC, Issue 8, 9 July 1915, Page 7

PROGRESS OF THE WAR

-■ ' «» AN UGLY STORY FROM ATHENS WHERE IS THE ALLIES' FLEET? A BARK WITHOUT A BITE. A sensational and, on the face of it, very unpleasant message regarding the Gallipoli campaign appeared in the late cable messages yesterday, It came from London, but was attributed to Athens, where, it must be added, a great number of messages which have not been confirmed have originated. The message says that the British and French Admiralties are disturbed at the news that seven big German submarines have arrived in the Aegean Sea, "compelling the withdrawal of the big ships, and involving a catastrophe to the Army." For a single item of news this is a statement which will undoubtedly cause a deal of unhappiness in the homes of the brave young men who are fighting the Turks ; for everyone knows now how vitally necessary a navy can be for the support and maintenance of an army. The Army on Gallipoli Peninsula is com* pletely dependent for its existence upon the Navy. Yet for that very reason there h no need to be over-anxious. Athens is drawing the long-bow. Because of its apparent deep significance, the message is worth analysis to see how much of its sting can safely be removed. _ In the first place, Athens is not the right place to report the anxiety of the Allies' Admiralties. London and Paris are the only acceptable authorities ; and, if they are really anxious, the mouthpieces of Athens will not bo tho first to hear of it. In the second place, a navy, among its great duties, includes in a high place the work of maintaining the communications of any land force with which it is co-operating. The British Navy has traditions of the most noble character ; and it can be trusted implicitly. That the fear of destruction by submarines, or any other danger, would induce the Navy to abandon an army > to destruction is inconceivable. In this case not only is there an army to think of; the fate of a most important campaign is in the keeping of the Navy. Tho British and Australasian fighting men upon Turkey's narrow peninsula will not be abandoned by the warships which have faced for months tho peril of submarines in the North Sea. _ Moreover, if the Athens report, were literally true, it could not have been put more bluntly. The British censors could not have adopted a much harsher .way of breaking bad news. Further, as the subject is purely a naval one, a statement of such importance would have been made in the first place by an unimpeachable authority, sth5 the t British Admiralty. In view of these considerations, which must be acceptable to all who know anything of the Navy or have absorbed anything of the natural faith in that magnificent organisation, it may well be asked why this story has been published, with the obvious approval of the British censors. There may be a deep meaning in these Athens messages, which co frequently exaggerate things that happen and report other things that do not happen. Several times Athens has told the world that Krithia, and Maidos. and even Kilid Bahr, have been occupied, when those who have followed the operations even on the scanty details cabled know that theee were impossibilities. Now, instead ol announcing an impossible success, Athens says the Allies have in an incredible way turned tail upon a danger which has not concretely manifested itself. Possibly the story has the motive of misleading the enemy. But it looks a good deal more like the sort of thing the German newsmongers construct upon a skeleton of fact. The fleet of big ships which has bo often shelled the Turkish forts is undoubtedly gone. It has gone so far that even a timorous Turkish battleship has been in the Narrows, firing on the Allies' trenches fit a range so great (at lenst twelve miles) that it looks very like the Goeben's work. But we may be quite sure that the army has only to hold up its hand to have the ships,* back ngnin, doing whatever is required. RUSSIANS ADMINISTER A CHECK. At last the tide seems to be turning on the eastern front. Krasnik, twenty miles east of the Vistula, and the same distance north of the Galician frontier, is the scene of a marked check to the enemy's advance, which is in evidence also at tlrzedof, in thi> pa mo neighbourhood. During the pursuit on the Vistula.'a whole division was routed by the Russians at Tomazow (which is neither the Tomazow shown on tho maps in Western Poland, nor that just within Russia, north-west of Lemberg, but some other town of the same name). An official message also states that the enemy was compelled to suspend the offensive bclwyi'ii Kamionka and Gliniaity, the aectov-uf Uio. River Bug to the east and

north-east of the city of iLemberg. The Russians have also assumed the offensive on the front between the Pruth and the Vistula, that' is on the Bessarabian frontier; but this is at percent not important, since a renewed invasion here would be extremely hazardous. An Austrian message admits that the fighting near Krasnik has become fiercer owing to the arrival of strong Russian reserves ; and there is a German statement that guns of naval type, fetched from Kronstadt and other fortresses, are being used. If the Russians have, during the past two months, been able to organise new armies, and equip forces of naval guns for which there is possibly a very ample supply of aininuition, thesd elements might easily _ have an important effect upon the position. It is equally likely that the checking of the offensive is due to the removal of enemy troops, regarding which the current news is full of hints. The Geneva correspondent of the Daily Express says that next month a million. German troops, consisting of Landsturm who have never served before, and of recovered wounded are te take the field, and a large part of the force is to go to Russia. If there ift truth in this, it suggests that the enemy is preparing to be content with a defen* sive attitude over the partb of tho front to which these troops are sent. NO CHANGE IN THE WEST. On the western front the story ie the same as that of yesterday— German attacks here and there, all repulsed or nipped in the bud. A French officer was reported yesterday to have stated that ■ the enemy is to multiply these attacks so as to disguise the real objective. That is, of course, quite an elementary device, used habitually. He adds that the Allies' line is so strongly held and supported by artillery that it cannot be broken, and any serious offensive would be enormously costly. As far 4« the defence is concerned, the Allies have repeatedly proved the soundness of their oiganisaitic*! ; and there ne.ed bo no fear that the line can be attacked anywhere without ample mobile reserves being immediately available. The French wealth in artillery, too, is very great. The famous "seventy-five" (or as the French literally call it, the "sixty-fifteen") is the backbone of this arm.' A very powerful organisation of heavy artillery has been built up. New big guns, built, in reply to the German equipment, are soid to constitute a large proportion of this force, as in the British Army. But in addition^ the French have, ever since the beginning of the war, drawn on the enormous stock of foitress artillery, of all sizes and patterns, and are thus equipped with a tremendous armament which makes up in quantity for what it may lack in quality. RETALIATIONS. A late message yesterday reported a rumour that the French possess an important new weapon. While this may be a gun, or one of many other devices, the fact that it is described as both for defence and attack suggests that it is related to_ the asphyxiating gases; the hint is delicate, but otherwise only waste words. It will be remembered that on 18th May Lord Kitchener announced that it had been decided to use against the Germans 'their own weapon, the primitive "stink-pot" brought up to date; and forthwith there began to appear evidence that fae work was in hand. A French correspondent, for instance, described in. an English paper a laboi'atory experiment, upon a number of French soldiers, with a new fighting chemical. Some oi it was let loose, and the men were marched into it. _ They marched out again, not torn with anguish and with lungs slowly filling with the froth of death, bufc still utterly incapacitated as fighting men. For they were blinded with tears. _ The gaßes had irritated their eyes till they were utterly unable to see; and the effect lasted long enough for an enemy to have captured them all. Another piece of evidence came out in connection with the sinking of the Lusitania. It was stated that her cargo included certain "cases of drugs." These were afterwards explained to have consisted of a very large quantity of "tetrachloride," intended for the manufacture of_ bombs. Enquiry of an expert chemist in Wellington showed that the most likely tetrachloride for such a purpose is carbon tetrachloride. This is a heavy volatile fuel, closely related to chloroform, the difference being that it has an extra chlorine atom. The liquid is frequently used for filling fire extinguishers. This fluid, the writer was informed, would be quite effective as an asphyxiator of troops, but, as compared with the vile and torturing com* pounds of the enemy, completely humane.