NOTES ON THE WAR CABLES.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 17081, 13 August 1917, Page 11

NOTES ON THE WAR CABLES.

By Shrapnel. CAN RUSSIA USE HER OPPORTUNITY ? Iho details of war activity cabled to-day show- that there is good roason for tho coufideiioo expressed by the generals, political leadiors, and other persona of authority amongst our Allied. Mr Elilm Root, wlio has headed a United States mission to Knssia, js convinced that that country will .establish a form of settled government and will strike heavy blows on the East iron*. I'-ven already she is causing Germany great anxiety by increased resistance on tho Galician front, and to that she is adding renewed signs of aggressiveness on tho right flank at Smorgon and also along t ° Rl s a £ ont > which is the last place where tho German General Staff can wish to see a recrudesceneo of Russian activity since, relying on the military and political disorganisation of Russia, Germany has greatly weakened her lines north of the f " P p- were properly organised Uie ltu-sians con id achieve a series of important successes on tho front from Pinsk to Riga.

Iho country from Pinsk to the Gulf of Kiga is flat and tho rivers aro sluggish, ass forests, marshes, and very numerous th ° country from tho great Pripct Marsh to Dvinsk. From Dvinsk to Riga is tho lino of the Dwina. The country westward of tho Dwina is also a great flat river basin covered with marsh and torest. Communications on both sides of this line are good. During the groat German offensive which ended at the Dwina ' . 020 Hussion communications were superior to thoso of tho Germans. It is now known however, that, in view of the possibility of having to hold that front with weak forces, tho Germans have established a great number of light lines behind their tront, and have used the long period of comparative quiescence to erect a vast system of mechanical devices to enable them to no Id, the line with attenuated forces f y aro now reaping tho reward of their foresight and ingenuity. 4 Tho line with all its sinuosities is probably moro than 900,000 yards long. Owing, however, to the presence of tho lakes, marshes and defensive rivers, |ho Germans were' prior to the present Offensive in Galicia! able to hold it with less than one man to the yard. Since tho Galician offensive began they have further denuded that front. In addition, they withdrew effective divisions to meet the British attacks. Where divisions have been withdrawn they have been replaced with Landsfcurm reserves, and it is now believed by military 'authorities amongst the Allies that half the men on tho northern front in Russia aro Land- , I ! hcro were said to have boen 1.500,000 Anstnans on the front but most ot these now been withdrawn. Marshal von Ilindenburg is sending every available man either to the west front or to tho Galician front. During the past two months both Germans and Austrians have been withdrawn from the flank north of the Pnpet. If, as is believed, General von Eichorn was holding 900,000 yards of Iront in April andi May last with 645 000 men—about two men to every three yards— the effect of the withdrawals must bo that he is now holding that front with one man to every two yards, or else has had Ukpkee of good trooi* taken by aged and inefficient members of the German Landsturm. With plenty of artillery and ammunition and with well organised armies tho Russians have a groat opportunity to clear the Germans from tliousands of square miles of occupied territory. Such a precarious front must give Marshal von Hindtenburg considerable _ anxiety, and, if tho Russians continue thoir present attacks they must affect the position favourably for tho Kusso-Kumanian forces which aro now striving to hold up tho Austro-Gcrman oi tensive.

another phase of the ypres

BATTLE. Severe fighting is gradually, extending along tho front in Belgium and Franco. What was the small Ypres salient, subject to cross-are from the German heavy artillery has now become a' battle front of nearly 20 miles. Incidentally, tho ruined town ot Ypres is now a much safer place to walk through than it was before tho Messines Ridgo was captured and tho third battle of Ypres was commenced and won Ypres was always looked upon by tho Germans as a storm centre from which tho lint might launch a scries of cyclonic attacks upon tho heart -,of West Flanders. It blockod tho road to Calais, and, bein°- on the German sido of the Ypres-Comines banal, was always a menace as a " jumpingplace against the high ground and wooded country Tyhich the Germans occupied m a semi-circular direction round it on tho north, east, and south. Before the battle of Messines Ypres was a death trap. Ine rumed town was untenable and useless owing to tho continual shelling to which it was subjected!. Tho direct roads through to the British trenchcs were not used by the British except at night, and then not often. On the British side four great roads and four railways lead safely into Ypres, and on the other side they lead out of the town into Flanders. Altogether, it is the con verging point from both sides of lb great roads and railways. As a consequence it is feared by the Germans that it may becomo a great British base of operations for clearing West Flandters. If the British go on clearing tho country to tho eastward of it as they aro doing, they will certainly establish a strong base of operations from Ypres to Lixsehoote, the neighbourhood of which is being cleared of the enemy. The River Lya separates the area over which the fighting is taking place from the Muntry round Lille and Roubaix and that which is occupied by the British at Armentaercs. As the British are showing no signs of aggression eastward of Armentieres and between that town and La Bassee, it would appear that it is Sir Douglas Haig's plan to leave that portion of the front alone, and to clear the left bank of tho Lys to the neighbourhood of Menin. At tho same time if he can clear tho difficult wooded country to the east of Ypres, he will no doubt advance to Thorout and Roulers before midwinter. His advanoe will, however, be most desperately opposed by tho Germans, becauso it threatens to relievo the coast of tho presenco of Germans and to turn the German positions between Lille and Cambrai i So much depends upon the battle which has now been begun that the statement of ' the correspondent of tho Petit Parisian can be appreciated. It is that the number of British guns on tho Flanders front is daily increasing, and that the British have resumed their intense, continuous hammering of the German lines. Undoubtedly heavy guns aro being- concentrated behind the British lighter batteries. It is by means of numerous massed batteries that the high ground and hundreds of copses, some largo and somo small, between Ypres and Roulers can bo cleared at a comparatively ' small cost of life. Onse we havo the possession of those woods, the roads northward or eastward will be easier. In contradiction of tho Gorman claim that, though the British broko their line on a five-mile front, they ejected the British from Westhoek, we know from Sir Douglas Haig's report that Westhook and its ridge were retained, and that all counter-attacks wero beaten off, ' with heavy casualties. Tho capture of West- ( hook is important, as the country to tho , north of it_ is more open, and it is a posi- I tion co-ordinated with tho French approach i towards Langemarck, and is a thrust against 1 tho woods to the south, i

A GERMAN OBSESSION. Tho amount of attacking which the Germans are doing against the French suggests that they are clinging to the idea thatlhey will be able to exhaust the French strength beforo tho American, armies are in the field. Tho idea has become a-n obsession. The Germans are gaining little or no ground, and must be losing very heavily at every point. Apparently the German strategists, having bottled on the plan of ""bleeding France white," have, as .at Verdun, become slaves to their conclusion, or else are afraid to withdraw from it. A little more' of this kind 'of fighting, and tho cost becoming impressive, the field staffs on the sectors opposite the French will bo relieved of tho imperious and reckless order by tho General Stall to "bleed France white." On the West front Germany is being "bled white'" faster than Franco is. Sir Douglas Haig has not opened qut yet to the fullest extent of his power, and up to the present tho Gorman losses must be enormous—even einco tho battle of Lens. Ha.lf of tho German attacks and counter-attacks are beaten off by the French artillery before they j reach the French. linaa. I