NOTES ON THE WAR

Evening Post, Volume CXXXVIII, Issue 80, 2 October 1944, Page 4

NOTES ON THE WAR

SLOW, BUT STEADY

ADVANCE ON THE REICH

October has opened, the middle month of the autumn season in the Northern Hemisphere, with the possibility, but not probability, of a few days of what is called in North America "Indian summer," a mild, calm spell, a pause- in the fall of the year before the onset of winter. Rain is rather the characteristic of autumn in Western Europe, followed by the fogs and early frosts of November. Earlier expectations that the war might end in Europe in October are not likely now to be realised. There is too much still to do, and not much suitable weather left to do it in. In the last war operations on a large scale usually closed down on the Western Front by October. The most notable exception was Passchendaele, prolonged through October into the first ten days of November, 1917, when the Ypres salient was wiped out at heavy cost. The battle was fought in mud under conditions that discouraged any repetition.

With winter now not. very far ahead -the Allies are moving into action on all the fronts with the idea of forcing a decision, or at any rate gaining a foothold in the Reich before the end of the year. There is fighting in northern Finland between Finns and Germans for the possession of evacuation ports, Tornio and Kemi, at the head of the Gulf of Bothnia, the northern arm of the 'Baltic close to the Swedish frontier. The Russians, having cleaned up the Germans in Estonia, are pressing into the outskirts of Riga, the capital of Latvia, and its principal port, heavily fortified and strongly defended by the Germans. The next main scene of battle on the Eastern Front is at Warsaw, a three-cornered struggle, with the Germans not only fighting the Red Army across the Vistula, but pressing hard on the little army of Polish patriots, under General Bor, in the city and to the west. Immediately to the south of Warsaw and along the Vistula the position is somewhat obscure, especially in regard to the Red Army's bridgehead at Sandomierz, but south ol this region the Russians are driving i into the Carpathian passes through I Ruthenia and eastern Slovakia to take the Germans still in. Transylvania on the flank. These same German forces are threatened on the south flank by the Russo-Rumanian drive into south- I east Hungary. . | In the Balkans. ' It is west of this area (that some of the most important recent operations are reported. The Russians have crossed the Danube, near the Iron Gates at Turnu Severin, and are! driving south and west in the Morava Valley towards Nish and Belgrade. Here they should be in contact at last, after a long and unexplained delay, with Tito's Yugoslav army. The Rus-sians-are also reported to be advancing through Greek Thrace westward towards Salonica. British forces have been landed in Albania from the Adriatic, and' no doubt will be moving east through the mountains to meet the Russians and the Balkan patriot forces somewhere in the Vardar Valley, the highroad to the Danube Basin from the Mediterranean. The objective will be to mop up remaining German forces in the Balkans and liberate the entire peninsula south of the Save and the Danube. Weather in Italy. The Allied campaign in Italy is being retarded by the. weather as it was a year ago in the south on the outskirts of Kesselring's "Winter Line " which did stand right through the winter of 1943-44 and was not broken until the offensive which began on May 12 and took Rome, in its stride on June 4. The Gothic Line was ;clearly intended by Kesselring to form another "winter line," to hold, if possible, the Allies through the oncoming •winter. Fortunately, it has been pierced just in time, and while the Germans are still fighting desperately, and delaying our advance, they are on the wrong side of the line along its eastern half and must soon be pushed off the foothills of the Apennines on to the plains of the Po: The weather is again intervening to the disadvantage of the Allies, and progress over slippery mountain tracks and the muddy flat lands, intersected with rivers, strongly defended by the enemy, is necessarily slow. But it is sure, and it cannot be long now before the Germans will have to retreat, taking their chance in the open against Allied aircraft. There are political as well as military reasons for the liberation of Lombardy. It is the richest part of Italy, with a, population capable of rendering valuable assistance to the Allies. The Western Front. The Western Front, from Belfort to the North Sea at Antwerp, is the scene of much bitter fighting, with the Germans counter-attacking at many points with a good deal of vigour. This may be taken, on the basis of experience in Russia and in Normandy, as an indication that the Allies are working up to a- big off en-: sive, which the Germans, anticipating, ain> to nip in the bud. This is especially characteristic of the fighting in Holland, where the British Second Army spearhead at Nijmegen is a very real threat to areas vital for the defence of the Reich. The Germans are on both sides of the British salient and round the tip endeavouring to reduce it at all costs. They are having no success, and the salient is being steadily expanded and secured. To the east is the Meuse, and if the British . can reach the river all along its 'course to where it crosses the tip.of the salient south of Nijmegen, the eastern flank will be safe. This is practically accomplished now. To the west the Germans are still strong, but their supplies have been restricted by Allied air operations. The main Allied objective is Bosch (Hertogenbosch), an important road and rail centre, just south of the Meuse before it joins the Waal. Towards it the Canadians are coming up from Turnhout through Tilburg to the south-west. Advances over all this country have to be undertaken - with caution, as wide stretches along vthe Maas (Meuse) I Waal, and Ysel, as far the Zuyder Zee can be flooded by blowing the dikes,' which are here in the hands of the enemy. It cannot be part of Allied policy to precipitate action by the enemy of a kind that would be disastrous to Holland. , - • .