A War Note.

Manawatu Times, Volume XL, Issue 13524, 7 October 1916, Page 7

A War Note.

SUBMARINES IN THE CHANNEL. A remarkable piece of news is published by the "New York World" from its London correspondent. The correspondent states that the Germans last week sent all their available submarines to the English Channel with the object of fulfilling the boast that they could close it. But the Navy, he says, was quick to deal with the new menace; and the Germans learned that they could not send submarines to English waters with any more impunity than they can send Zeppelins to London. Apparently the Channel was closed for a time to passenger traffic. The correspondent thus implies that the submarine efforts were futile. Certainly there- has been no news of successful attacks on any vessels in the Channel, which has been throughout the war extraordinarily immune from German submarine operations. The enemy may have boasted that his U-boats could close the Channel; but the mere fact that he has never even begun to do so is proof that he cannot. Across the narrow waters there is a continual bustle of ships, carrying- troops and warlike stores; and it goes on free from the ugly menace of torpedoes. It is thoroughly protected by an elaborate system of stationary and mobile defences, which have accounted for many of the German craft, and have never failed. If the "World's" story is true, the motive for the German adventure is clearly not the one mentioned. The boast has called for fulfilment ever since it was made; but the risks and difficulties in the way of making it; good were prohibitive 1 . Only a new motive, demanding the most desperate sacrifice, could compel the enemy to make such an effort. That motive is, of course, the offensive on the Somme. To try to close Che Channel was a regular attempt to cut the British lines of communications, so as to hamper the movement of troops, and in particular to check the flow of ammunition, which is vital to the offensive, and which, from the enemy's point of view, is in its magnitude the most unpleasant feature of the offensive. The "World's" correspondent has naturally been unable to publish, details of what happened. But his story certainly leads to the belief that a fresh batch of expensive boats and venturesome crews has been removed from the active list of the' German Navy.—"Post."