THE SOMME BATTLEFIELD.

Manawatu Standard, Volume XLI, Issue 10526, 2 December 1916, Page 9

THE SOMME BATTLEFIELD.

MORE INFANTRY NEEDED. LONDON. Oct. 3. A London correspondent write*: —To-day (October o) I have returned f ro m the Somine battlefield, and although my dominant impression is one of the compression of a vast and immeasurable struggle into a few poor miles of wasted earth, f can bear witness to the possibly vast importance of the live miles gained. ll' winter falls with our men still west of the Bapaumc system of railways we shall indeed have to be satisfied with dead Germans as the main rest.it of the Sorame effort, for the enemy wiil remain on his present line, and dig in anew opposite our stemmed advance. But we have excellent prospeco-, of winning Bapaumc, from which-we arc separated now by only three miles of easy slope; and with the I'.apaumo railway there will fall into our hands a line of communications upon which the gigantic supply system of a considerable section of the German front depends. The enemy will have no choice but to Ml back fo his next line, which may bo oiil\ 20 utiles, and mat be all the way to the Mouse. Had we had more infantry the Sommo successes would already have been made inn. a urcai victory. When (he Australians reached the high ground beyond Pozierr*. with what was known as the old German lines behind them—rwo strong and deeply wired (ranches running north and south o! Pozicres.—there was little opposition ahead, and a long advance could have been mad.-. \„ ; ,ii, after the Courcelette triumph.- c! the Canadians the few poor German line ahead could have been carried, and a deep salient pushed into the German defences. [ n geneva] j| mas be said that had we now ii lni"f reserve army, or army ol pursuit, we could break the last layers of the crust of German lines and roll back the German armies But tho lighting has taken terr-ble ,oil of our infantry, and even a complete break of the German hue to-day wo Id not ,rive us satisfactory results. We ha\e cav-•Tb-y of course—British, French, and Indian. But'cavalry can be held up by verv lew "ti.e" posts" especially m tins shell-torn country, whore for miles the land is o mass of deep shell-holes, in which man and norse , (/11 |d ea-ilv disappear Imagine how cult cavahv would find a road ,Hewn with barbed wire of lead-pencu thickness, and machine guns and field artilk-ry playing here our artillery could not reach them. Advance in Face of protected machine guns has lo be made after artillery preparation. ! whether the advancing force be infantry or ' Ml'matter written by cot respondents at the iron,, ha* to be censored ui Genera Headouarters, and such descriptions ot tlie battlefield and the fighting as I have bee., nblc to S.i'te arc still with him. But 1 am allowed to ay in this letter that tin uictralians have won new laurels, and that in thifSule the British, Canadian. South African, and Australasian brigades |ia\c j.-.V,.,, tVn'e appreciation ol each other and fo led ties of comradeship more binding than manv influences of the past. No- one ~..,, bec our -oldies on the bomnie without feelings of deep admiration, for tl. ugh thev make n grim army, and know well to chances all men undertake m this deadlj 1 usiue-s. thev are cheerful and confident, Mel thor glowing health and resolutu pur\ct -iv, them the beting and appearance of something more than orchnarj men. " IN THE EAST. There is sadness in the great attacks being made this week by Russia on her southernmost front, trom Baninovitchi to its link with the Roumanians in the Larnathians; for these attacks cannot achieve serious gains, and are mere sacrifice ol gallant men for the purpose of holding enemy forces to the sector, and thus re lieving Boumania. Russia, for the time being, has reached ihe >->u\ of her dash, unci ii would best suit her to have some mom us ol vest, while new men are coming onward from her limitless depots, and new guns are rolling in to bring her artillery strength up to that of her opponents She has had a wonderful autumn, and has broken the ane.es of Austria ami reduced Germany to begging for aid I rem her poor dupe*. Turkey and Bulgaria. Inij s |,c is not vet the micrhty new Russia that she is to be next year, and he. efforts durim- last month and this have been to keep the enemy occupied, and help her friends. Boi . ~„.„• have been during tie. last few davs advancing against the solid walls o. organised Teuton defences in wave titter wave, alwavs without such artillery preparation as' in the west crumples up any trenches or villages to be attacked. Ihe Russian Guards have on one day gone out in I7different waves; less famous brigades | lllV e advanced from seven to 12 times ~.a . ns. their foe. The attacks nave broken sections of the Gorman hue, and ,-here have been prisoners token. but their success lies in the fad that they have held all the Turkish forces m Galicin; to .-oiher with large Austria!, and German armies, riveted to that spot. They have aided Koumania at a most critical time. K,,r Koiunania is the subject ol the most concentrated hare of which the Central Powers have as yer been capable, and vainsl her are rushing forces designed to overthrow her, as Scrvin was overthrown, •ind -s Bch'itmi earlv in the war was oyerihrown. One force is commanded by Maekensen who, until General Averescu broke his line in the Dobrudja, bad never suffered debs,i. Tho other ts gathered under General von h'alkonhayn, the I: Men favourite of the Kaiser and the Crown Prince, who has in this first field command received his great chance to restore his »ood name and prove himself as great a lighting eonuuarde. as his abhorred rival ifindenbiirg. There is for the moment a mystifying absence of figures concerning he south-eastern armies, but experts ag'ce th it Kalkenhavn would not have accepted command of an inferior force, and his earliest, movement, have resulted in immediate defeat of our newest Ally at the Transylvania pass nearest to Bucharesti!m. thulierlurm Pass. t'hc strategical situation of the Roumanians does not satisfy their friend-,, and it is clearly realised that thev should have merely held Ihe Carpaathin passes tightly and thrown their fresh voting arm.es against Buiearia With their own territory invaded by Mackensen, and their direct route to their capital threatened by •alkenhayn, ,hey may have to bring back all their men from Tra.lsylvartia, and meet _ the German Austrian, Bulgarian and lurk in decisive combat on Roumanian tory ' J' is from such a fate that Russia ,s trying to sine her by dashing against the e: >,., v lines in Galicin, while.we in the west do our par., by holding there all 1124 German divisions engaged on too Somme and in trench warfare. .Already Roumania has begun to learn .hose lessons every belligerent has required. She has changed her principal command twice. and yet another- change- is being pressed- ... , n her She has found how costly it is tr have generals who are not fully trained and strong-minded, and o have political influence interfering with military experts For ir is agreed that Roumania s earlv strategical mistakes arose through well' meaning but inefficient commanders, and through the political value ol an invasion of Transylvania dominating the minds of her rulers.