THE CAMPAIGNS.

Lyttelton Times, Volume CXV, Issue 16665, 25 September 1914, Page 6

THE CAMPAIGNS.

The prime need of the moment is authentic news from the left wing of the Allied Army in France. It is more than a week now since the Germans, retreating from the Marne, found a new line of defence on the Aisne.

Driven back from the river at Compeigne and Soissons, they entrenched themselves afresh, their right resting on the Oise at Noyon, and against this position the Allies, afteri the necessary pause for rest and reuoting, commenced a long range attack, varied by frequent rushes of the infantry. Further to the east there was a sustained artillery fight at Rheims, and further east still the German centre was pushed gradually back on the Argonne ridge, until direct communication was restored between Chalons and Verdun. But the interest of the week has been concentrated on the operations near the Oise. The German right was occupying highly important strategic points, and against it the British, supported on either side by French troops, have been battling first for a foothold north of the river, and then for possession of the hills beyond. Then came a new development, the appearance to the west of the Oise of anothor Allied force, destined to • attack the flank of the German position, and although we have had one or two unoffioial references to its operations we are still without authoritative news of its progress. If the report we publish this morning is correct, the Germans must have fallen back under pressure and their position on the right is now so seriously threatened that it looks almost impossible for them to hold any portion of their present line. The message suggests that the enemy's flank is actually turned, and if that is the case there must be a precipitate retreat. La Fere and Laon should be untenable if the line has given way at St Quentin, to which point, it will be remembered, the German patrols from as far west as Arras were withdrawn. Success on this wing would open up tremendous possibilities for the Allies, since the retreating Germans would still be liable to flank attack from southern Belgium, and even if ultimately they " attempted to hold the line of the Sambre and Meuso) against attack from the west, thero would be an army from France rolling them up from the south. In the battle of the Maine, after the German right had been broken, tho centre was able to save itself, and reserves' held the* line of the Aisne while the disordered right rallied and wa9 reinforced. The defeat of the Germans, therefore, was not decisive enough to compel a withdrawal from France, and in the circumstances so great a result was probably out of the question. But the possibility of ridding France of Germans is undoubtedly now presented, and it depends almost entirely- on tho result of the struggle raging on the German right. Failing ■ here, the Allies may be able to reinforce their pwn right near Verdun in tim'e ta strike a decisive blow, but the hopes of the friends of France are undoubtedly centrjed now on the battle raging in the, country between St Quentin and Laon. From the Eastern theatre the newa is important but still unreliable. The Russian defeat in East Prussia seems to have been sufficiently complete to compel the evacuation of German territory, and the Germans are now operating across the border in Russia, where, however, their activities are not likely to be very serious. The Russian invading' force wias probably never as strong as the reports stated, but it is difficult to believe that the Germans, on the other hand, can spare troops for extensive operations in Russian territory. In Galicia, according to reports from Petrogmd, the Au&trians have been driven back to a position along the San, where that river runs east from Dynow to Przemysl. The capture of Jaroslar breaks the central Galician railway, cutting the direct connection between Przemysl and Cracow, and no doubt! by this time the Russians from Lemr berg have cut off the retreat from Przemysl into Hungary by the southern railway. Provided the weather . permits operations to continue, we should hear shortly whath'er the Austriana have really been smashed beyond hopa of immediate recovery.