SUBMARINES

Evening Post, Volume XCI, Issue 5, 7 January 1916, Page 2

SUBMARINES

THE NEW CAMPAIGN

U BOATS IN THE MEDITER-

RANEAN

THE ILLUSION OF SUCCESS.

We have sustained another" loss in tho Dardanelles—Submarine E20 —and there is reason to fear that most of her crew have made' the great sacrifice for King and country, since the Turks claim as prisoners only three officers and six men (wrote Ai'chibald Hurd in the London Telegraph-of 20th November) This submarine was one of the largest, swiftest, and most powerful; she went to southern waters late in the summer, and had done'eplendid work in the .Seaof Marmora. The disappearance of one under-water craft is a small thing; it is the lives which matter We must be prepared to receive from time to time unpleasant news from tho Mediterranean—the scene of varied activities — particnlarly now that the enemy's submarines have invaded those waters. The incursion has been arranged to correspond with important military movements on the part of the Allies. The groat General Staff of the enemy always looks ahead of events, and cooperates closely with the naval authorities ; it realises that a constant initiative must be sustained. And for two reasons. An endeavour must be made to confuse the plans of the Allies; just as they have decided on one course m one theatre, it is Germany's policy to develop fresh [ activity in some other field. That <*?> plains the Balkan adventure and the arrival of submarines in the Mediterranean. There i« a second reason; public confidence must be maintained. Events must- he arranged in succession, so as to lead tho general population to continue believing that Germany is invincible. EXCITING GERMAN IMAGINATION That point has been well put by an American journal, tho New. York Times : '" The eye of popular imagination must not be allowed to roll at will about the horizon, as it docs in England. Hipe must be focussed. ' "War, as a moving picture, must preoccupy the mind outwardly, and save it from falling in upon itself. When the drama- takes a- wrong turn, or when it ceases altogether, another film must be snapped on in the place of the one that lias turned out to be disappointing. "Thus, the mass imagination of Germany .has been officially fixed,- now upon this picture and then upon that. The first film was the capture of Paris, unfinished. The'next was the crushing of tho Slav, unfinished. Another was tho mastery of the sea by submarines, unfinished. "The picture now running is the union of Europe and Asia through a TurcoGerman corridor The enthusiasm of the people for it is in proportion to their previous disappointments. It is extravagant." Now notice how that explanation applies to the sending of submarines into tho Mediterranean. Piracy in the waters around these islands lias been a costly failure. The offensive-defensive measures improvised by the Navy with splendid resourcefulness "have proved so effective that the campaign was being pursued with difficulty, and day by day the tally of submarines which failed to return was . lengthening". ;.It" was not merely the ships ■which,, went down, tmt tho crews; and not merely the working crews, but the raw hands carried for training purposes. In money and in lives—military lives—the enemy has recently been' losing heavily : ATTEMPT TO CONCEAL DEFEAT. So in order to cover up this defeat tho new submarines, as completed, have been sent into the Mediterranean. It is not difficult for them to travel long distances, for they have very efficient engines, and carry large supplies of oil; hut there is reason to believe that they have secret sources oE supply—skilfully, disguised neutral ships, as well as littlefrequented neutral harbours. As the Germans have discovered, if money cannot do everything, it can do a great deal in the way of securing support from neutrals. So the pay: "film" has been put on, and, jigging by the reception of the news of the destruction of the Lusitania, with the murder of 1200 men, women, and children, the civil population must have been encouraged by the sinking of the Ancona, with the assassination of a further crowd of children, as well as men and women. It constitutes part of a new "film"; it is one of horror to the world at large, but to the Germans it is proof of their ruthlessness, their will to win. The new campaign presents difficulties to the Allies. The Mediterranean'offers many advantages to the Germans—for they and not the Austrians are responsible for this policy of murder, though the Austrian flag is employed. It is a great sea. It is about 2100 miles long from Gibraltar to the Syrian coast, it varies in breadth from 250 to 500 miles, and it has an area-of a million square miles. Such a stretch of water is a tempting scene for the enemy's operations, particularly as there are hundreds of islands where supplies car be stored and plenty of neutrals wlio can be tempted to render aid. If the submarines are large ships, as there is every ground. for supposing, they can remain at sea without fresh fuel or food for three weeks or. so. So they are under no necessity of making frequent visits to their "larders," and thus revealing their location. THE BOTTLE NECK. But.there is one weakness in tho configuration of the Mediterranean, viewed from the point of view of the Germans. The Strait of .Gibraltar is like the- neck of a bottle ; it is less than twelve miles broad at the narrowest —that is between Europa Point and the Moroccan coast. T(. is over- twenty miles from Dover to I Calais, and there the Admiralty has been able to place a very effective barrier. But while the Allies control both shores of the Channel, the coast opposite Gibraltar is Spanish, in accordance v/it.h tho treaty of 1911 between France and the Government at Madrid. But in a matter of this kind the British Navy will no doubt prove once more its competency.

The whole business is annoying, but the naval resources of Franco and Italy are great; if they are employed with energy, courage, and the experience which the war has supplied, the German submarines ought soon to find existence very hazardous even in so large and favourable a theatre of operations. These countries are weak in cruisers, but they must have in these waters about 200 destroyers and torpedo-boats, and they have an immense number of yachts, presumably armed by this time, besides small craft of their merchant navies. ■In addition it must be remembered that the British Navy is also well represented. But unless the present emergency has been foreseen by the French and Italian authorities, and suitable precautionary measures prepared, there may be a period when we shall learn of further untoward incidents. We may have confidence, however, that, as in the North Sea, Channel, and Atlantic,

the enemy will eventually have to pay a heavy price for whatever. temporary success he may achieve. For a time the Germans may gain the advantage of the prevision which the military and naval staffs in Berlin are continually exhibiting. They fully realise the value of initiative in war; they are always looking ahc'.d, and no sooner does one expedient fail than they have another ready. They are thus able to produce the illusion of success; to the, eyes of the civil population of'the German Empire they are always springing a fresh surprise on t!he Allies. Germany's eventual defeat will not ba due to defects in the' Higher Command, but to attrition—to the inadequacy of the moa?is to sustain the succession of ambitious coups by which tho Allies are temporarily disconcerted and the Teutonic population kept in a state of sanguine expectancy It is a most- costly type of warfare.