THE WAR

Evening Post, Volume XCIII, Issue 96, 23 April 1917, Page 6

THE WAR

The Germans officially report that the " Siegfried" positions in the Hindenburg line have now been occupied, after operations which have been in progress since 16th March—the moment when Bapaume and Peronne fell and heralded the beginning of the great German retreat. The completion of this rearward movement, according to the German story, Was the abandonment of the bank of the Aisne between Fort de Cqnde (five miles east, of Soissons) aud Soupir—a distance of about five miles. The enemy's only contact with the River Aisne now is where the trench-line crosses it at Berry-au-Bac, ten miles north-west of Reims. The plateau which extends along the north side of the Aisne between Soissons and Craonne has been'a powerful instrument in German hands, but the retirement has allowed the French to reach its top over the full length, and at least in places to pass down on the northern side. The plateau is' no longer a German weapon; its' advantages are turned, in favour of the French. The enemy, in .his repprt, allows that the French, are " following hesitatingly," but this phrase seems- to have been carefully selected from those, mosfc unsuitable. Other messages show that the following up has been brilliantly done, and the capture of large as well as small batches' of prisoners proves that the advancing troops have little hesitation in getting into grips with the Germans. ■ '

A second German report emphasises the steady growth of the artillery battle On the northern portion of the British offensive front, and takes the opportunity to praise the undoubted heroism of the Germans who are enduring the Allies' terrible fire. As a Paris telegram stated on Saturday, the ability to keep up an unlimited bombardment is the most important factor in the offensive. When the Germans launched the #ar upon Europe, they moved light-heartedly and full of hope, for they possessed the conquering weapon. It was on guns, and a vast array of guns, that they relied for victory. But as time has passed, thanks to. the wonderful resistance of the under-gunned Allied armies, the preponderance of the German artillery has gradually disappeared. To-day the superiority is all on the other side. Not only have the Allies more' guns, but they have more ammunition; they have inexhaustible supplies, of raw materials for making explosives. It is not necessary for them to wait lor a man to be killed so that they can make out of his remains a cartridge to shoot his slayer. As long as offensive.power remains thtis out of balance, and as long as entrenchments prove 1 Unable to withstand continuous shelling, it .seems inevitable that the Germans must retire. In most cases thfey will try to put ( a good face oft it. For instance, the high-sounding names of ■■ the Siefgried and Wodin lines may go some way towards reconciling the Germans to the fact that they.'represent retreat. '■'. "

But it is not clear yet that any amount of 'gunfire can compel anything like a rapid retreat unless it happens to precipitate a strategic crisis, such as occurred on the fall of; Pd'onhe,. When, all the ground west of the Somme was bbandonsd in two or three days. Apart from th^,t, the ,whole of the German retreat so far has :been essentially slow. The eileniy has recognised that ground under intense bombardment is Untenable by a densely packed .army; if he uses dense formations, they stlSer. But he lias also shown that rear-guards and outposts can be effectively used to hamper the advance. The offensive has developed new tactics which are in the long yim irresistible.. But the defenders have adopted other tactics Which, while they do not and cannot Stop the advance, have certainly slowed it down.- The Allied cavalry is in the saddle'; but the battle has not yet been branded OVer to the horsemen. The oflensive seems to. await another fresh development.

Lord CurZori, in a speech just delivered at Derby, has emphasised the power of the Allied artillery, and also the necessity for military defeat as the only means of brinjjing Germany to a frame of niind with which the Allies are prepared to treat. Again there arises the question whether 1 guns alone can win the war.. The singular position exists on parts of the front that the. full might of the Allies, both in man-power and in artillery, is held up at. times by com. paratively light fringes of enemy troops, which can, of course, be replaced With comparative eass. But as soon as the retreat stops, upon some chosen line, the opposing forces in contact become greater, and there arises a condition somewHat similar as fat as manpower is concerned to that which originally existed. A question of importance is whether the losses inflicted upon the Germans in their retreat,'chiefly by the wiping Out of rearguards, are / a serious drain upon the reservoir of men atailabk for top 'West front. It was reported on SatuTd;.;,- that. 360,000 fresh troops had been recognised between Soissons and Auberive (the chief French offensive front). This is a huge number of men, representing about 8000 'or 9000 men to the mild of front. While it is probable that the Germans have considerable fresh reserves yet ignorant of the sight, of war, it is highly probable that this great batch of men consists largely of Veterans from the East. Russia has relaxed to some yet unknown degree the grip by which. German troops were rivotted down to tha East front; and she can only slowly reestablish it. The 1* conquest of Rumania' is probably aa complete as .it is likely to be, and there is no reason to fear a reverse there until Russia is restored to military health after the fever of the revolution. Large forces of enemy troops must therefore have been released from the Eastern and South-Ekstsrri fronts, to render still more arduous the task of effectively defeating the Germans in the West.

The destroyer raid on Dover on Friday, night was a much more serious affair for the Germans than the previous "dashes" into the Channel. Although it is suggested that the Germans had in view some fantastic notidn of catching Mr. Llo3'd George oil his way home from the Continent, the facts of the case hardly support the idea. In the first place, the five destroyers from Zeebrugge made their first appearance ofi Dover, at which they fired'a-few. mis-, directed rounds. This, of course, inevitably meant that the patvols would be warned of their presence; and any hope of a successful secret attack on the Premier's or any other ship was deliberately thrown away. , The Germans were quickly faced by the British patrols, and some of them—the number is placed as high as three—were sunk. About 120 German officers and men were picked up ; thirty were brought in dead; and the British had only 22 casualties.

Speaking in the Concert Chamber of ! the Town Hall the Other evening on the " Physical Condition of School Children," Dr. Ada Patterson condemned the, frequent attendance of children at pieiatejshovis. Defective eyesight, for instate, could be attributed to the pic-, tiire shows, as could several other disabilities. The doctor empli&sised .the tiftfccl for as much fresh ail; lor ths child as it \v»« possibla to obtain. j