NOTES ON THE CABLES.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 16668, 13 April 1916, Page 5

NOTES ON THE CABLES.

B? Shbapnel. FIGHTING WEST OF THE MEUSE. TJio report from Paris of the repulse of ihe German eif ort in tho heights of the Meuso shows that tho Crown; Prince was cleverly outger.oralled by tho French commander. A blunt saJient south of Betliincourt was quickly abandoned by the French, tho probablo reason being- that the positions were enfiladed by tho German {runs at Malanoourt and from the direction of Forges. Near the Mouse, in the region of Chattoncourt, again a.. position wiiich also was enfiladed from tho right bank of the river, tho French withdrew from an unfavourable position. Attacks in great forco were made by the Germans against tho two points from which tho French had withdrawn. Between Malancourt and tho position east of Avocourt tho Germans attacked in dense formation, but were repulsed. Throo attempts of this nature were made, with tho only result that tho Germane offered themselves ae marks to tho French gunners, suffered great carnage, and gained nothing. Morthomme, which is situated south of Bethincourt, was also attacked at the same time, ono portion attacking from the north and the other along tho valley, of tho Forges brook. In these attempts, tho Germans reached tho French trenches, where a deeperato hand-to-hand struggle occurred, in which the Frencih proved their superiority. Concurrently with this, the Crown Prince sent several battalions to attempt a surprise flank movement from the side of the Meu'se through the terrain south of Cumieres. Thcee battalions were caught by the French " seventy-fives" and machine guns, and were practically wiped out. It is evident from the failure of the attacks that, with the exception of a epctor near Morthomme, the French iow occupy positions from which they will' be able to take a terrible toll of the German troops that aro sent against them. Tho French report says:- "The French guns' in their now positions covered tho ground wherever tho enemy advanced." Between Esnos Hill and the Meuse, the French position is a strong one, and any further attempts by tho will be directed south-west from Malancourt and Bethincourt.

The- Germans could weaken tho position between Esncs and tho Meuso by advancing their lino on the right bank and by bringing up heavy artillery to the heights near Vaoherville. It is not unlikely that there will soon be an attempt by them to force the French back upon Charny, in order to weaken the position south of Cumieres; but as tho Germans seem in a hurry to cut the railway, and it is apparent that the view from Avancourt towards Nouvilly bulks eo largely in their minds as to obsess them, they may ©till concentrate all their efforts in that direction.

GERMAN FORCES ROUND VERDUN. It is authoritatively estimated that .the Germans, from February 20 to April 1, lost half of their effective forces. The calculatione have been based upon the losses of certain units ' that attacked east and west of the Mouse. That is a fairly accurate way of estimating the enemy's loss, as the officers defending positions are in a good position to judge the numbers of the attackers and to estimate from the retreating- numbers how many have been lost. Experienced officers can always gauge fairly accurately the number of men covering a certain area whether the enemy is in line or in column. The estimate thai half a million men were engaged does not cover the total number of men the Germans had mobilised for the attack upon Verdun. Tho cable says plainly enough that the total number of infantry alono engaged in action against the French up to April 1 was a little short of 300,000 men, and the aggregate faced by the French in the course of the campaign was 450,000. Out of these, according to the estimates lately cabled, the Germans have' lost over 200,000, but that is a fairly mode6t' estimate for over seven weeks' strenuous fighting. Early in March the New York Times put the losses of the Germans at 150,000 on tho east side of the Meuse.

Tho battle is said! to bo the greatest of tho "vvar, but at Ypres the British held the line against, it is said, at least 600,000 Germans. If, therefore, it is to be accepted that the battle of Verdun is greater than that of Ypree, the first estimate , that the Germans concentrated for the attack 750,000 men must be near the. mark, and out of those they have lost,. according to the latest account, half of tho effectives actually engaged in the battle. If tho number engaged was 500,000, then the Germans have lost one-third of the original estimate, and unless that force is being continually 'kept up to its primary strength, the Germans are virtually a beaten force. An army cannot continue a struggle in the field of open battle when it loses 20 per cent, of its men. Therefore it must look a hopeless task to take an enormously strong position after losing 33 1-3 per cent, and more so as there does not seem to be much chance of outflanking the position.

ENEMY SUBMARINES. In regard to the second great submarine attempt to destroy Britain's commerce it is noticeable that in a' gueat many instances the crews have been saved, and* also that most of the ships sunk are small vessels, chiefly cargo carriers. It therefore seems that there is on the part of some of the enemy submarine commanders a tendency to modify tho policy of frightfulness. Aβ time goes on there probably "will be a complete reversal of the callous policy, the reason being that Germany is not now so suro of winning as she was, and the authorities in Berlin are afraid of tho day when they will" be called to account for murder. The new submarine blockade is claiming a considerable number of victims, and the submarines eeem to be acting over a very extensive area. Germany has evidently been very actively engaged in building new submarines to fill the great gap which the British Navy made in the number of boats that were employed in the first campaign or blockade. The lull prior to the announcement of the eo-called new policy was due to the inroads made by the British submarine hunters, and the second announcement of a more active submarine policy against Britain denotes that there ie nothing extraordinarily new except that Germany has had time to build a few of the • larger type of submarines, and has ohanged the hunting grounds. The, new large boats have, of course, a greater radius of action, and carry moro torpedoes, and probably a gun of heavier calibre. From Amsterdam there lias come a report that tho new typo of submarine uses lenses instead of a periscope. Unless the lenses are in the conning tower, that is tin impossibility. It is not unlikely that the Germans arc using some sort of a teleecopio periscope that can be raised or lowered quickly. Lenses in the conning towep would be an element of weakness, and the vessel would require to raise the tower abovo the surface to procure a serviceable view. The conning tower is necessarily tho heaviest armoured part of a submarine, and lenses would be particularly liable to destruction from machino gun fire or shrapnel. If the Germans had discovered a method of using lenses, and tho use of them was a great improvement on the use of the periscope, it is not likely that they would have allowed tho secret to becoino known abroad.

It is expected (says the Argus) that Captain C. E. W. Bean, tho official Australian reporter with the Expeditionary Forces, and Mr Malcolm Ross (the iNew Zealand official correspondent) will shortly arrive in England, Mr G. F. Mitchell, Balelutha, has received <i letter from his oldest son, Major Geo. Mitchell, who was invalided, wounded,< from Galli'poli to England, stating (says tho Free Press) that ho ie convalescent, and is going back to tho front. Major Mitchell had the chance of visiting Now Zealand, but decided that his placo was with tho " Anzacs." NO GOLD IS "NAZOL" PROOF.