Nelson Evening Mail. TUESDAY, JULY 18, 1916. THE ROAD TO VICTORY.

Nelson Evening Mail, 18 July 1916, Page 4

Nelson Evening Mail. TUESDAY, JULY 18, 1916. THE ROAD TO VICTORY.

IX an informative article the Telegraph pr'.ves a. striking outline of essential facts underlying the present concerted offens.vc recently commenced 'by the Allies. It says : —We have to consider the present advance of the Anglo-FVern.-h armies in the light of two facts,, which essentially differentiate it from any previous, movement, .since the .war began. A .British army of Continental size- is for the first time engaged, and the attack is being- niade after two years' tuition in tho new methods of warfare. during which the Allies have had to learn largely froni the teaching oT their foes. When this war was forced upon us, we -.wre unprepared for it in every way. '-. he Allies had not the men nor the muni tions, nor -the knowledge of trench warfare which had to be 'gathered from the fighting as it proceeded. In this ghastly England's "contemptible little army" had to >ho sacrificed, and a .;ew force created of a size that the Empire hud never contemplated and educated to fight with new weapons and by new methods. The <nse of field guns of un-heard-of quantity was the- stacruering surprise with which. Germany had opened the war. England possessed none of j this material, and had no soldiers trained in the use of it. Poison gas was another'innovation of which the 'Germans had the exclusive advantage. But now all that is changed. The Allies -'ue quite as well, if not- -better, equipped for the new kind of warfare than the enemy. It was not until the Romans had learned from the (.'arthageniaus. the art of building warships that the naval supremacy of Carthage was doomed. Similarly the Ali'.es were powerless to do more thaui stand on the defensive until they had turned to practical account ' the lessons learned from the German ; offensive. And now, after two of the most terrible years known to human 1 record, has come Ihe time for restarting on new lines laid down iu accordance with the knowledge thus acquired. What the Allies have learned is that any success obtained without enormous reserves of artillery to back it up is but a costly futility. This was the teaching of the Aisne battle, and it was repeated with sanguinary emphasis at Neuve Chapelle, at Loos, in the Champagne, and wherever a premature attempt to go forward has been made. That .was on the West front. On the East, where the Russians thrust first into East Prussia, and' next into Austria-Hungary, without .provision to meet a demand for heavy guns .Mtd high explosive shells, hitherto regarded as impossible, the experience was repeated on a vastly more disastrous scale. It would' be quite unreasonable to suppose that the present offensive on all the Allied lines will fail from the simti reason. As far as the numerical reconstruction, of the British army is concerned that is a. matter of no doubt whatever. It is now ten times the size it was at the commencement of the war. In guns and munitions the supplies of the Allies have increased by much more than that proportion. Their air service has .been vastly improved, and the Germans no longer have the- monopoly of gas for fighting purposes. Unless all these revolutionary changes are to go .for nothing, whatever the Allies gain now they will he able to hold and use as a steppiing-stone to further gains. We may also he pretty sure that after the lessons of the past they will not seize nor attempt to seize more than they are able to make secure by the immediate backing of the advance with auequate reserves of men and munitions. inder those circumstances it is a matter of congratulation to see the advance proceeding on such conservative lines. Germany is still a tremendous power, capable of putting up. a. defensive fignt that .will strain every nerve of the Allies to the utmost tension. She has the best of soldiers, the best of skill, the best of armaments, and the best of defensive positions that humani foresight could provide. Audi the military caste which controls and directs this terrible

machine knows that it is fighting for its life. We mnst expect, progress, therefore, 1d .be but step by stop, until the ■debacle, comes. ft is a. case in. which ninro hurry would result, in less ireed, ;uid. tlio imperturba-ble patience of the Allies. which stood to them so nobly in defeat, is licit likely to fail in victory. It is too v-ariy to put much faitb in

.-tnr.es of panic in Berlin or any approach to that- psychological collapse or the. German people, which, whenever it comes, will bring the military ensi.e down along with it. Tha.t may be nearer ■than present appearances would justify us in hoping. But while the war is outside German territory it will always be difficult, to make the German populace, fed up as t-hoy are on lying communiques, re.-U.ise. that the army is beat.en ; and it has yet a. .long way io be pushed ba<k before they see its defeat with their own eves.