NOTES ON THE WAR.

Lyttelton Times, Volume CXVII, Issue 17098, 22 February 1916, Page 6

NOTES ON THE WAR.

There is plenty of evidence that north and south of Ypres the Germans have been delivering a series of fierce attacks, and yet singularly little information concerning the fighting is permitted to reach New Zealand'. The first news stated that the enemy was attacking between the railway and the Ypres-Comines canal, and that 600yds of British trench had. fallen into his hands. This was obviously a drive on the southern flank of the Ypres salient, delivered, probably, from the famous Hill 60 southwards. Few portions of the British front have been more persistently hammered than this, and, although' after the last battle of Yores there was a period' of comparative quiescence, it did not last long. The cabled statement that the trenches had been battered almost level probably refers mainly to the result of recent bombardment, but it must have been approximately true, even before tho Germans opened their new offensive.

The latest, attack has occurred' on the other flank of the salient, on the sector where tho Germans opened their famous gas attack at the end of April. On that occasion, itj will be remembered, the northern face was held by French troops, whose lines took a wide sweep from the Yser canal below Steenstraet, through Bixschoote and Langemarck. where they linked up with the Canadians. The result of the gas tactics was to force back the French and British front until it rested along the canal as far as Boesinghe, a'dear loss of two miles of territory. Indeed, at one stage the Germans had opened' a wide breach in the Allied line and were well across the canal. The attack now reported came at Boesinghe, where the Germans endeavoured to force the passage of the canal.' Presumably the attacks will be repeated on both flanks of the Ypres salient, in the. hope either of making a breach in the defence or of squeezing in the gorge of the salient, if such a term is permissible. In either event a substantial German success would endanger the possession of Ypres.

The city itself is sometimes described as being untenable,' but it is still used as the distributing centre for the outer British positions. There arc five or six roads branching out to the surrounding villages, and according to a recent account they are used by night, though the general conditions suggest that the supplying of the-ad-vanced linevS must be carried out by underground passages and covered ways. The enemy can drop shells into Ypres whenever he chooses, and consequently the town cannot be a safe base.

Sir Douglas Haig reports another attack on the British front, this time on a sector that has seldom figured in the communiques. There is a little group of villages seven or eight'miles north of Albert—Hebuterue, Commecourt, Puisieux and Serre—where, early in June, the French made a daring and successful attack one bright morning, capturing about a mile of double trenches, and taking somo 400 unwounded prisoners. This was the sccno of the latest German effort. Hitherto there has been no indication that the British had taken over the sector, although it was to he inferred that if the- transfer had not already been made it could not. long be delayed, but to-day's message puts it beyond doullt that Hebuterne is now in a British sector.

A ' correspondent, referring 'to the completion of the conquest of the Cameroons, suggests that the campaign has received a good deal less attention than it deserves. Of course, it has been a. minor campaign at best, engaging comparatively very small forces, but the men who carried out the arduous task of dispossessing the Germans are entitled to the highest praise. The campaign began with the advance of a British force across the border from Yola, in Northern Nigeria, on August 25, 1914. This force, having reduced Tepe and Saratse, captured one of the forts' of Garua, but then suffered a serious reverse and had to retire with heavy loss back into British territory, and it was not until the following June that Garua was taken. Meanwhile two forces from Southern Nigeria easilycaptured Nsanaka-njr, five miles from the frontier, and Archibong, respectively, but the former place was retaken by the enemy on September.. 6.

While these land operations' were in progress H.M.S. Cumberland and Dwarf reconnoitred the mouth of the Cameroon River and the approaches to Duala, and after a bombardment on September 27 the port and also Bona*-* beri surrendered unconditionally to an Angib-French force. On October 8 an attack up the Wuri River on Jabassi with a naval and military force failed, but a second attack on October 14 wad successful, and on'October 19 another force took Susa, on the railway which runs north from Bonaberi. The important post of Edea, fifty-six miles eastward from the coast, on the Sanga River, fell to two French and British columns, composed of naval and military forces, on October 26.

Preparations were then made for extensive operations north and northwest of Duala, and on November 13, after a bombardment by the. French cruiser Bruix and the Nigerian Government yacht Ivy. a force of Royal Marines seized Victoria, the seaport of Buea, the seat of the German Colonial Government. On the»6ame day a column advancing from Susa occupied Mujuka, on'the railway line fifty miles north of Bonaberi. This advance was continued, and by December 10 the whole of this railway, with a considerable amount of rolling stock and two airplanes, was in the Allies' hands. A determined German assault on F.dea failed, and after months of stubborn fighting the enemy were compelled to withdraw to the high plateaus in the centre of the colony and transfer their seat of Government to Yaunde.

While British and French columns were pushing eastwards from Edea towards Yaunde, the French were advancing westward from the southeastern corner of Cameroon and Allied forces were pressing down from the north. Garua surrendered on June 10 and Ngaundere, 120 miles due south of Garua, on June 29. Next day Kontsba was taken, Tingr fell a fortnight later, Gashaka on August 16, and Tibati on November 3. Meanwhile the force from the south-east reached

Abong-Mbang on August 29. The British force coming east from Edea captured Wumbiagason after thirty hours' fighting on October 9, and northern forces having captured Bamenda and Banyo before the end of the month all the important posts surrounding Yaunde in a large circle were in British or French possession. Yaunde was captured on New Year's Day by a British force, the German officials taking flight to the border, and eventually seeking refuge in Spanish territory. One or two small bodies of the enemy were still to bo accounted lor, but within the past day or two the last of these surrendered, and the campaign came to an end.