Poverty Bay Herald. PUBLISHED EVERY EVENING. GISBORNE, TUESDAY, JULY 18, 1916. THE ALLIES' ADVANCE.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XLIII, Issue 14047, 18 July 1916, Page 2

Poverty Bay Herald. PUBLISHED EVERY EVENING. GISBORNE, TUESDAY, JULY 18, 1916. THE ALLIES' ADVANCE.

,! '.. WiU the collapse of Germany come r V -suddenly, or is : she likely to hang out, i stubbornly resisting for a protracted "period? is a question which is uppermost '- m the minds, of many people at' the pre/ i sent time. One at least of .the English "military correspondents is of the opinion that the finish will be swift and decisive. Colonel F. N. Maude, who is 'an authority of high standing, being the author of several valuable works on '■'■ iriilitary strategy and tactics, has given the following simple illustration of what ..he expects to happen'" "Tfike the map of I Europe, m any* school atlas, arid stretch an ordinary .indiarubber band round* the German and Austrian boundary lines .as they existed before the war ; pin 'it-d own with drawing-pins, and then stretch it to include successively all the territory overrun by the enemy forces. Then imagine insects capable of eating rubber if such creatures< exist, steadily gnawing it — m France, All across Russia, m the , Balkans, and so forth-palways -keeping pace one with the other >, SP thai; the band shall snap as nearly as possible simultaneously on every front, and picturei how the i m"oken pieces will roll up : on their several .centres — tile drawingpins. Something very, like this must happen to the German armies before very many months are over, and the more simultaneously the ruptures occur at the different points of attack, the more catastrophic will- be the filial destruction.''Colonel Maude tells' us that 1 the groundwork of this plan was laid at the French General Headquarters at a \ meeting which took place shortly after the failure of the Germans to break Our line at Ypres. Before the war began it was obviously impossible to do more than outline general principles for mutual guidance and support iri cases of active trouble arising. We could only hastily draw up measures of action, .because until we had gained actual experience m war, not only of the many new, weapons and devices which all nations, were then trying for the first time, but also of the armies themselves we could do little else. The latter had undergone profound modifications since they swere tested' under actual fire, and it was not until the end of last December . that each. army, had discovered what its men could be counted upon to endure. By that time Russians^ French, * Belgians and British knew that as individual fighters they possessed a marked superiority pvei* ariy men which the Central Powers could put up against them, the one difficulty being -the Allied want of munitions and equipment ar^d of mobilised numbfers. It was for this reason that we sent an expedition to the "Dardanelles to help the Russians by giving them time to collect, consolidate, and equip their stupendous re-;: sources of men. /.Let no one say .that the precious lives lost on , GalUpoli were thrown away. Those soldiers of our Colonial Dominions and of the United Kingdom who gave their Jives at. Gallipoli, says Colonel Maude, were not wasted*., inasmuch as 3they stood m thegap, so to speak, -through -which the enemy would have-poured to the premature destruction of lUissia, knd hy their •heroism and deaths hate made it possible for the Alliesi to conquer the menace of Germany to the peace of ;the whole world. When, the pick .of the Qei-man armies failed altogether ,to, break and roll up the Allied lines either m France or m Poland, it was" decided) that it was reasonable to assume that they would be equally unsuccessful m any future efforts, and' that where their' best had been kept at bay their second best would be of even le^s avail. The Allies therefore determined it would be perfectly safe to make the .French; Army (the most . numerous and bei-jt equipped) their chief bulwark against the'bhemy' arid under cover of its'pro--tectlon tji'ey proceeded to organise and, develop all their_ resources of "mesh arid material until at length the ' Allied armies should stand ready for- action .m, irresistible numbers to meet' arid over-, thro W ahy -possible assault. By the end of August, 1915, however, the Germans; m tms sector ,had ''shot their 'bolt,-' :asLord Kitchener tojd . us, and hayhig completely failed to ibring .' about anyrevolutionary dembnstrations'.in- Russia, were, coiripelled to attempt their Balkan adyeriture m the hope that by threatening British' interests m particular they might succeed m detaching France, ' Russia and Italy irom the Alliance and so leave Great Britain to face the continu/ation of the war single-handed. '"' "No; sooner were the Central Powers well' committed to this' 1 new attempt than both - French 7 ; and "British struck- sharply m Champagne arid at'l«os ! ';' ; the v "Russiarisj began to press ' -lihi'd^^ iri v '^ss*drabia, 'aii^ m cortsjequehce the Whole' scherrie : of redistribution "' of all the V German armies had to be.. profoundly modified, to meet the threats' of the situation thus created. There was literally' "'tip, cither move left, on the military chessboard but to attack us on the West before our armies wei;e completed and before the end of "the , roadless period" m "Russia allowed the Russian armies to begin their big offen- / sive, and obviously Verdun was the

only place for them to strike at. Qn this point, however, they concentrated everything that could possibly be spared from other areas, and m doing so have played into our hands. In iio other, way could they have proved to us that tlie quality of their had sunk so low that m reason their numbers no. longer matter. After predicting an early commencement of the Allied offensive both on the Eastern and Western fronts, Colonel Maude stated : When *\ye do advance, it will be because the demoralisation of the enemy has been so; completely established by observation at ,the front that the whole series of combined movements wi^l go forward with an irresistible rush. It is quite possible," .though — it always is on' any battlefield— that sudden local allied successes may; break the enemy's line with 'such com- 1 pleteness that ,the hour and direction of our advance may be hastened. Once.' the break-up of an army through gradual demoralisation begins, rip one can say how rapidly events may crowd one on!the other. In the nature of things there 1 is no reason why a beaten German. Army, should not be driven back 'on the Rhine 1 within six weeks ; the; distarice thither has often li-e.en covered m similar circumstances m the same /tjme, arid the passage of ,-the .grea£r£v,er_vtself preserve no. more formidable to usthan did that of the Danube i'W the Rub-' sians m 1877, or the crossing of the' Vistiula to the Germans last spring. How far we may have to fight our "way beyond the Rhine into the middle of Germany' will depend principally on the progress made by Russians and Italians towards/ the meeting of the Allies. My own idea has always been that .the : Germans ."wall... attempt a final' stJMi^l between'" Muideri-Patoerborn arid Hanan, tfyeir extreme left rating ..on jthe Thuringian ; Forest, where ,4 -great French army-,,moying ; do^ii ; the right bank of the- Rhine from Basle will "work round their flank i.while the rest of the allied fprc.es* f rorh. the' West ' wjlU press ■forward on a broad front by all possible roads and river crossings.' Once the Allies have reached' Berlin and ; joined hands, will folloAv a period \ of negotiations, during which, as the Germans did before Paris iri 1870 for the French',. we- shall give the enemy facilities to elect a new Government with which we can treat. Exactly how long this final stage may .iake Ino one can tell . .with .certainty, but from the experience of injury former campaigns six months to a year should see the end of the reckoning with 'that bitter and jriasty- nation,' who, like the Chaldeans of old marched through the breadth of the land to possess, the dwelling-places that are not theirs." Two weeks have gone since t|ie Allied offensive, was commenced, and the progress made. has been good and substantial. Though we are warned m messages from the front to exercise patience and ' not to expect a . dramatic advance, as the Allies' . preparations, with the object^ ? of saving' ;liyes, v , are carried out methodically step by step, can anyone say that Colonel Maude's esti-. mate of six weeks for' operations that will culminate in' the enemy falling back on the Rhine is too sanguine a conculsio? The Germans are certainly .putting up a stubborn fight,/ hut all- .tHe evidence bearing, on the' morale of'jtlieir army wliich breaches us points to the possibility of a collapse Tat any time. . i -_*-_>m-m--_m-miM->-_-i---- ■ " '" 1