THE CAMPAIGNS.

Lyttelton Times, Volume CXVII, Issue 17077, 28 January 1916, Page 6

THE CAMPAIGNS.

It is. suggested that the recent activity of the Gorman air squadrons on the western front has been due to a special concentration, in preparation for the opening of a new offensive. Those hints of the enemy's intention to make another great effqrt in the- west are wonderfully persistent, more so than at any previous stage of the campaign, and we are naturally driven to the conclusion that the imminence of such a development is now taken for granted. Certainly the Germans in their boastful way have been telling us that after the paralysis of Russia the western Allies would feel the full weight of the military power of the Central nations, and we have been promised in the west such; another experience as that which bofel the Russians in Galicia. But there is the comforting reflection that the agony of Russia has given Britain and France a year in which to prepare for the great blow, and although it is obvious to those who have been following events closely that Britain is still far from having her whole force in the field, her armies are very different in size and equipment from those which bore the burden of the campaign at the close of 1914. The German concentration of artillery will bo matched by an equal concentration. All through the year the new divisions ha.ve been taking their place in the firing line, and gradually the Allies ha.vo come to assert their superiority in the machines of war. The new armies have been tested, too, in severe battles, and whatever shortcomings may have been revealed, we are entitled to believe that they will be equal to the strain when the.enemy delivers the long-threatened assault. At the moment there is no direct evidence that big events are at hand. The season is not yet sufficiently advanced to permit of extensive movements, and it may be a month or two before either side is ready to open another general offensive. But it is impossible to be dogmatic on such.-, a subject, and we can but wait and watch. , . There is little news of fighting. The Austrians have been attacking on the Isonzo. where there has been a long period of quiet. In the western theatre the only incident of importance has been the ejection of the Germans from the trenches they captured lately at Neuville St VaSist. No news comes from Russia. Details of the engagement in the desert are cabled from Egypt, showing that the battle was severe in a small way. One other item of interest is cabled, in the report that General Avlmer, instead of being in a few miles of General Townshend s force, which he was despatched to relieve, is sftll over twenty miles away from Kut-el-Amara.