THE New Zealand Herald AND DAILY SOUTHERN CROSS. TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER, 28, 1915. THE ALLIED ADVANCE.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LII, Issue 16034, 28 September 1915, Page 6

THE New Zealand Herald AND DAILY SOUTHERN CROSS. TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER, 28, 1915. THE ALLIED ADVANCE.

The three critical months— as July, August, and September were termed by Lord Kitchener drawing to a close and with the closing of this most anxious period wo havo news of an advance that may prove to be of momentous importance. The bare outline of the combined Anglo-French movement throws into strong relief the essential necessity of the passionate appeals made by Mr. Lloyd George to the British munition workers, for the artillery-fire of the Allies was accentuated along the entire front from the sea, where warships cooperated, to the Swiss frontier; in some sectors, according to German reports, it was continued for 50 hours. In the face of this general cannonading and with strong forces confronting them at every point, the Germans would obviously be unable to practice their favourite tactics of concentrating their strength to meet partial attacks, leaving their lines to be generally held by a reduced number of securely trenched defenders. The main Allied attacks have evidently been delivered in the neighbourhood of Lens, the British to the north and the French to the south of that strategic centre of a network of railways. At the same time the French pressed upon the German positions in the Champagne, which the enemy has succeeded in holding since its retreat from the Marne, over a year ago. The general results of the Allied effort are undoubtedly good and may be taken | as indicative of further progress in the near future. Not only have the German lines been penetrated in a way that imperils railway communication between Belgium and the huge salient held by the enemy in France, but a superiority of Allied artillery has at last been demonstrated, and it would seem that the German troops have been considerably disorganised. Evidence of this disorganisation and of the successful advance of the Allies is to be found in the capture of no less than 20,000 unwounded Germans. The French officially announce the storming and capturing of Souchez, so long the storm centre of desperate local fighting.

In estimating the military value of strategic advances in the west, it must always be borne in mind that the country being fought over has been the most densely populated and the most highly developed district in Europe. It is literally netted by railways, canals and modern roads, is packed with cities, towns, and villages, is one of the great mining and manufacturing regions of the world. The Germans have had ample time to make every possible preparation for resisting the Allied advance and have laboured indefatigably. Were the problem the pushing back of the invader mile by mile over the whole length of the front, the task might be impossible of accomplishment, but by securing commanding positions and cutting communications his retirement may be forced from areas thus rendered untenable. This has been recognised in Berlin, and other lines of defence have been constructed, to which lines the German forces would be withdrawn in the event of Allied encroachments threatening them with disaster. Such withdrawals are always difficult, however. The Russians lost heavily in reaching the positions they now occupy and where they are now standing and the Germans could not hope to withdraw in the face of a superior enemy without paying heavy toll. We may, therefore, expect to see the most obstinate resistance made to every Allied advance, which can only be made effective by inexhaustible munitions and abundant men.

While the western allies arc thus grappling with the common enemy the Russians are thrusting back on the lines of their retreat and the Italians are toiling undauntedly amid the, mountains of Italian Austria, where those of the inhabitants whom Austrian methods have left to greet them speak the Italian tongue and hail them as deliverers. It may safely be taken for granted

that the renewed Russian pressure in the east is being exerted by fraternal arrangement, and we may be sure that neither at Petrograd, London nor Paris is the position in the Balkans and on Gallipoli being lost sight of. If we may judge from change of tone the Germans are no longer confident of their ability to send an army to the relief of the Turk and the Bulgarians have craftily replaced the mask they so nearly discarded. The German press, like German preachers and German professors, is subordinate to the official mind and is employed to prepare the German public for official action or inaction. The German publication of reports that the Turks object to a German army coming to their country has a meaning as obvious as the Bulgarian pretence that mobilisation was intended as a precaution against AustroGerman invasion. The fact is that Germany has too pressing business on her main fronts to attempt to reach Turkey with Greece ready to join the Allies if Bulgaria assists the Kaiser against Servia. Greece is unmistakably loyal to her compact with Servia and the Balkans would be in arms if Bulgaria turned traitor. An important item of news which filters from German sources is that over 100,000 Allied reinforcements are at Lemnos. Whatever may be the exact truth of this it is certain that the Turks anticipate the worst, and it is widely believed that the Dardanelles will soon be opened and that the fall of Constantinople will be a prelude to the raising of the Black Sea blockade. Taken altogether, the three critical months are closing not wholly unsatisfactorily. Germany's extraordinary exhibition of strength during the Bummer has not broken any member of the Great Alliance, and leaves them fighting with renewed vigour and unabated determination.