NOTES ON THE CABLES.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 16915, 30 January 1917, Page 5

NOTES ON THE CABLES.

By Shbapnel. SUBMARINE ATTACKS. Tlio Laurentio, a White Star liner of 14,892 tons, has been sank off the coast of Ireland. Sho was built in 1908, and her speed was 18 knots. To the White Star Lino the loss will not bo serious, as the vessel was in the employment of the British Government. It is not long since the Britannio was sunk, and the loss of such large vessels will make a considerable gap in tho British transport service. It is ■scarcely possible that such a large vessel ■was engaged in patrol work, and she would not bo carrying troops off tho west coast of Ireland. A later message says the captain and the crew wero saved, and that makes it clear that the vessel was not carrying troops at the time. What Government service she was doing at the time is difficult to arrive at; but she may have been outward bound to Canada to bring troops to Europe.

The submarine campaign of 1916-17 is remarkable for tho larger ships of higher speed that are being attacked and sunk than those that wero sunk in the first great phase of submarino warfare, the passenger liner, the Lusitania, excepted. In the submarino campaign of 1915 it was noticeable that the faster ships wero comparatively immune from attack, and that when they were chased they invariably managed to • effect their escape. Their immunity was duo to the submarines being of a smaller and slower type than those of to-day, and also to the fact that at first the submarines were not armed with a gun or guns. The newer type of submarine is a much more effective vessel for commerce-raiding. Its radius of action is out of all comparison with tho earlier type, and its speed above and below water is greater. It was not long before the Germans placed guns on the earlier type for the purpose of compelling the victim vessel to stop before it was torpedoed or sunk by other means. The guns, however, were necessarily of small calibre" and length, and a vessel had still a chance of escaping if it had tho speed. These disabilities have been overcome by building larger and speedier submarines carrying one or more larger guns, having a range of 12,000 yards. That is the serious matter to bo considered, as the usual 1 type of gun with which merchantmen have been armed for self-defence, has a range of between 6000 and 8003 yards. The submarine, therefore, can lay off about six miles, be out of range, and shell an armed merchantman at its leisure. GERMANY'S SUBMARINE PURPOSES. In submarine warfare the primary purpose of tho Germans is to starve Britain and prevent raw materials for manufacturing purposes, either industrial or military, from, reaching the country; but experience teaches, and the Germans have learned that by intensifying and extending further afield their submarino warfare the work is safer than in the Channel and tho North Sea, and, also that the widening of the danger zone will lead to a dispersal of the British patrol vessels and tho more highly specialised vessels of war.

All the great routes of commerce cannot be effectively patrolled, and the greater the extension of the field of submarine and raider attacks, the moro easily can victims be found and destroyed. To meet this danger from large submarines Britain will have to arm her merchantmen with heavier guns, and to do that effectively and quieklv the supply to the armies on the western front must of necessity correspondingly be diminished. Moreover, the Germans understand that expert gunners are required to manage any naval guns placed upon merchantmen, and as a consequence, they hope to .weaken the reserves of the navy and the shore patrol of the British Isles. They are trying to impose upon Britain the necessity of convoying the British and neutral merchantmen, thus putting British trade to inconvenience by its dislocation, and they also hope that such a necessity will compel the Allies, and especially Britain, to disperse their war vessels.

THE EAST FRONT. Among the many items, in the cablegram that are of great interest, the most satisfactory from a military point of view are those referring to the East front. From Petrograd there is an unofficial message saying that on the Riga front a furious battle is raging along a 50-kilometre front— about 32 miles. The Germans, who have been reinforced with men and guns, made obstinate attempts to break the Russian lines, but failed, and, 01 course, as a conscquence, must have suffered heavy losses. Another cablegram follows—this time official—and necessarily the- message follows the order of the action. It says the .Russians repulsed two attacks west of Riga, and that the Germans fled in disorder. The German message contradicts the Russian one by saying that the Russian attacks oh the north bank of the Aa broke down with heavy losses, and goes on to admit a reverse on the Bistritza, in the northwestern corner of Hungary, near Bukowina. The admission, of course, relates to the battlo of small magnitude. It would not do for Germany in the present state of political oonditions in Germany and Austria to admit a defeat of great magnitude in a . region where her defences and her forces are strong, and which region she has insisted repeatedly that she intends to retain as the fruits of conquest. From the point of view that the Russians axe fighting purely German forces in the Riga district, these engagements are of great value to the Allies generally. As long as the battles are of great magnitude they go a long way towards winning the wari At this time of the year, though it is important for tho Russians to gain the high ground upon which tho Germans are situated, and there obtain points d'appui from which to advance when tho thaws are over and the floods have receded, it is a strategical necessity for tho Allies to keep tho Germans in full force on. the different fronts, thus preventing them from withdrawing men for munition manufacture and preparing the ground for harvests.

On tho Rumanian front every day sees the conditions becoming more satisfactory. Tho Allies have for the present done more than as they claim * stalemated tho enemy." They are holding Mackensen on tho Sereth and in the Dobrudja, while they are securing advantages in tho Trotus Valley, close to tho border. Mackensen's forces have suffered so badly that ho is crying for reinforcements, while German divisions are really being withdrawn to tho Riga, and other fronts which aro endangered. ' He has made demands on Bulgaria, whose reserves aro exhausted, and whoso authorities aro afraid of Sarrail's armies. Ho has also appealed to tho Turks, who arc finding it difficult enough to defend themselves against the Russians in Armenia, and have their hands full in Syria, Arabia, and Mesopotamia.