PROGRESS OF THE WAR

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXIX, Issue 8810, 13 August 1914, Page 4

PROGRESS OF THE WAR

The situation at Liege, docs not improve for the Belgians. There is even a report that the bulk of the small forts of the system have bsen captured. It makes one remember that the Gormans were hurrying up siege guns the other day, for there is no other artillery that can make any impression on these forts of Liege. Tho Germans are making tho most the time left to them before the French and British come up. The report, of the capture of the Liege small forts is, however, contradicted. It is announced that very little raws can bo expected of importance just yet, because movements of troops cannot ba reported. Tho thoroughness of this plan may be gauged by the regulation in oases of casualties forbidding mention to the relatives—who are to be told of their losses—of the places where they occurred. We note that in the statement of impossibility of news on account of movements, mention is made of British troops. Is this the army in Belgium to which reference was made yesterday, the army which the Liege people were asking about? It is remarkable that there were no cries of “ When are the French coming F” That must ba considered with the fact that the official statement is that the French are moving down into Belgium very methodically. Also with the statement that tho Germans are sending siege guns to Namur, higher up the Meuse. It is remarkable that no note of any opposition to this movement is made. We begin to realise fully that tho main attack is being very strongly made by the Germans. Captured dispatches show that the line was by Liege, and Brussels, and Lille, making a comprehensive sweep of NorthAVestern France to Paris. To carry out the movement an immense force was prepared. The latest messages estimate that force at • twelve army corps, numbering 600,000 men (probably an exaggeration), moving—between. Liege . and Thionvillo close to the northernmost point of Luxembourg—on a front of 100 miles. As the French troops iiastirled to reinforce the Belgian stand at Liege, and the stand to be made presently at Namur, have to cross the front of a substantial portion of this tremendous force, it is not wonderful that they are moving methodic-, ally. AVhen the, British come up it will be from Antwerp. But this is by no means all. We publish a cable from “The Times” military correspondent, which reveals further masses of Germans on the move, showing the frontier about to be attacked at many points. The numbers he avers aggregate a million, and they are so placed as to be able to act promptly in any direction. It is- the most tremendous spectacle of war over witnessed. , For meeting the Russian invasion, the same correspondent shows us another vast assemblage of soldiery. Tho great German military machine is about to put forth its full strength, ,md the greatest campaign of- history is m full swing.

At the Alsace end the two .-Austrian corps mentioned yesterday are said to have materialised. But whatever thi force against them in Alsace and Lorraine the French apparently are quite at ease. They are on the high ground about Mulhausen, they have taken Colmar, and they are facing a large army of the enemy in the neighbourhood of the Hart,Forest. Possibly > these may be the Austrians, and their presence seems to have enabled the Germans to detach troops, to swell the masses moving on Belgium. However this may be, France has declared war against Austria. The two countries are therefore at war. How Austria and Britain can be said, in the fact of this, not to be at war, is a mystery. That there must bo very Strong French forces -between tho Vosges and Verdun stationed at Epinal, Toul and Verdun and in the neighbourhood is certain. Probably when the situation develops on the extreme left of the frontier , area they may be thrown into .the scale with effect, of course, leaving tho fortresses above named strongly held. But at present it is useless to conjecture. What the French just now are proud of is that there is not a single German soldier on French soil. There is no change in the position on the Servian side, and no mention of any Austrian attempt to stop the Servian advance. In Galicia an Austrian force is reported to have fallen back. , . On the other hand an advance is reported of Austrian troops from Cracow into Russian territory, in connection with which a German movement is said to have driven the Russian m- ■ vadiug army out of East Prussia back into Russian Poland, and to have captured half a dozen frontier towns of that country, in one of which they are said to have behaved with some brutality. The last , is not a German account- The rest, relating to the rolling back of the Russian invasion of Germany, is from German sources. We have to remember at the same tune that German accounts are current in the Fatherland Liege to have been carried at tho point of the bayonet, Antwerp to bo in flames, and tho Kaiser getting ready to make a triumphal entry into Paris. ' What does appear clear is that the immense armies of Russia do not seem to have made any headway either in Germany or in Austria. But in this connection we must consider the enormous distances their men have to travel. This the German knew when' he declared war, thinking to crush France before the Russian cam© up. The persistent gathering of the German masses between Liege and Thionville and the calm German determination to pursue the plan of invading Franco, by way of Belgium, are proofs that the German commander feels himself secure for a time on the side of Russia. That seems the only feasible conjecture out of all tho vast mass of information coming through. In England the report is of ah astonishing rush of recruits for the second army called for by Lord Kitchener, which has reached a very large daily ’ tal. It is net surprising that he feels it difficult to find officers for these mfen. It will probably be found in the ©nd that the training of men and officers is not so hard a thing as the professional soldiers have made the world believe it to be. Tho experience of New Zealand and Australia is in this respect very encouraging. Tho territorials of England are not to go to Ireland, as was first intended, for Ireland is to be left - to her volunteers. Lord Kitchener has jumped at the chance, and nobody double

that both sections of the Irish will give a rood account of themselves as defenders ot tho Empire above all things. Through the mazes of this information come definite statements about Kitchener’s “second army.” Where is the first? There is no information, but we take leave to think that it is in Belgium. AA 7 e should like to believe also that Lord Kitchener is in command of it. In preparation for tho gigantic battle at hand in Belgium a vast amount of organisation -.-{U Pave + o be in-’prortssd on the spot, for the supply and the moving cf an army. AABio better than Lord Kitchener for that work? In this connection it is interesting to learn that a special committee of responsible men with Lord Aiersey at their head has been appointed to arrange for requisitioning '■hips for tho King’s service. It looks as if Britain is drte-'uiino-’ to maintain in this War powerful land forces in the continental field on a scale proportionate to her position as a great Power among great Powers.