NOTES ON THE WAR CABLES.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 17319, 20 May 1918, Page 5

NOTES ON THE WAR CABLES.

Bx SIIEAPKKL, i THE WEST FRONT. The operations on the West Front con- ' tinue generally {% bo of minor importance. ' \ cry heavy bombardments at various points, however, arc reported on the part of the enemy. From all accounts it seems that tho main enemy concentrations are being made ou the Arras-Sommo sector , and on tho French front from Montdidier , to Noyon. In air work there has been ■ very great activity by both the British 1 and tho French. A great deal of bombing of important railway junctions, billets, nad concentration bases is taking place, all of which is necessarily accompanied by severe engagements between the opposing scouts and lighting planes. In tho main tho initiation in this respect lies with the Allies, and great and useful work is being i done by the allied airmen whenever the weather is suitable. This kind of activity has been organised in such a way that airmen aro continuously standing by their machines to attack or meet attacks. As soon as the visibility improves for any useful period of time—morning, noon, or night—tho machines rise to perform tho operations that have been planned for them. No suitable lift in the weather is allowed to pass without some of the bombing machines being sent out to hamper the enemy communications and harass the enemy troops. The Germans, for their part, are being stung into activity. This is shown in the fact that their airmen are more frequently attempting to carry out raids behind the British lines. The German High Command apparently has become alarmed at tho number of German machines that aro being brought down behind their own lines and at tho small amount of useful scouting and bombing work that is being done by them as compared with what the Allies aro doing. As a result of the German attempt to rival tho Allies in the operations they aro carrying out, several enemy machines have been brought down behind tho British lines. In face of the undoubted Allied superiority in widespread activity, and as far as can be seen, in numbers, it seems to have been the decision of the German High Command to make reconnaisances as often as possible and as quickly as possible before tho number of German machines aro so greatly outnumbered by tho Allies that all their attempts to obtain information or to bomb the Allies' concentrations and dumps will be entirely smothered in their birth by fighting squadrons of tho Allies. The increased activity on the part of the Germans in their efforts to work behind the lines of the Allies may be taken as an indication that German organisation of their forces for another attack is very near completion. Sometime between now and the end of next week, unless tho German rulers and tho General Staff have taken fright, there should be a resumption of the offensive. If the German militarists are going to make a bid for a decision on the west front this year, they cannot afford to put • off much more time, because the reserves and material strength of the Allies are daily augmented and their dispositions to meet any attacks are being improved. More and more Americans are being brigaded s with tho British, and British units that . havo been engaged in tho brunt of the . fighting are being "rested" and refitted. Possibly, never since the beginning of the j war have tho Allies been so well prepared 5 to meet the enemy, the chief drawbaok being, it has to be admitted, the cramped I area behind tho British and the Somme- , Montdidier front. Any penetration of the | line by the Germans will involve the most j bitter and desperate fighting of the war, as tho Allies cannot afford to lose another , two or throo miles of tho ground they are 6 holding. i °