Poverty Bay Herald. PUBLISHED EVERY EVENING. GISBORNE, MONDAY, APRIL 30, 1917. THE BATTLES IN THE WEST.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XLIV, Issue 14285, 30 April 1917, Page 2

Poverty Bay Herald. PUBLISHED EVERY EVENING. GISBORNE, MONDAY, APRIL 30, 1917. THE BATTLES IN THE WEST.

The Allied offensive on the Western front goes on without interruption. Incessantly day and night the guns are pounding the German defenoes and preparing the ground' for the advance of .the victorious infantry. Another such advance has been made north of the Scarpe, where, despite desperate resistance from the enemy satisfactory progress has bee a made: The Germans are making every endeavor to maintain the Hindenburg line. Months of toil by a million soldiers and by many thousands of prisoners and impressed laborers from Belgium, France ,apd Poland have been expended on perfecting this new line, which we may be.quite sure, is not one selected haphazard It is not one where the fortunes of battle have forced digging on and! ay consequent- strengthening, such as the old. line they recently abandoned. The battle of the Marne, which was unfavorable to Germany,, forced,. the German armies to make a stand where they could, irrespective of national ad*vantages. The old line was not taken up because of its special strategic- advantages, but the new line is/ It lies on the position where engineers and strategical experts have chosen every feature of topography as an aid. All natural advantages have been utilised and developed. But British gunnery is proving ita ability to break the barrier. Our victories at Gavrelle, : Arleux, " and Oppy bring us well astride the line, and a little further push should, succeed m. giving us a break through. When the Germans surrendered' the Bapaume-Arras salient about five weeks ago and subsequently withdrew Irom the.Noyon salient, the retreat extending over a front of 125! miles, there was much speculation &»■ to! whether , it, was to. be: a: retreat tb -what is known as the Hindenburg* line> which" is based .upon Douai, Cambraiy- St. Quentin, Lafere, and. Laon;. or • whether/it was, the intention to f all back* to. the. FrancoBelgian frontier;, . It . took some little time .for ths British, and' French arises to get m touah'with the enemy and to discover his intentions, but the heavy fighting before Arras m the past ten days has given us the measure of his strength and determination . tp hold on to the new defence system at all costs. An American war correspondent, telegraphing on March 21stf has furnished a good outline, pf the scope of the'operations. Three British and three French armies, he .says, are advancing; on a tolerably straight front: VThe advance is most considerable m the centre and relatively or absolutely- insignificant on the two ends. These six armies have as* their objectives:, six considerable, towns which are recogpised ■as being inside the German 'system of defeijqe, known as the Hindenburg line. Moreover as each of! these six armies has only a .distance of. rather less than 20. miles' to advance to reach its objective, it cannot be long be-/ fore it. is determined whether the Germans can maintain their new. positions. The test is being imposed now.'.'. The British Army at the north of the field* of operations faces towards Douai and has already advanced, substantially over the Arras-Douai roadway. If it reaches Douai wo shall know at* once that the. Germane musfc^fall back to the frontier. The second Britisn' !A.rmy has moved out of' Bapaume along the Bapaume^t&mbrai highway ; it! is . within! . seven miles of Cambrai and), is gradtially edging up towards that centre;/ The Third 1 British Army has moved- out; of Peronne upon Le,, Catlet and' is working round to the north-east of St. ' Quentin. The First French Army .advanced.; from Roye, its northern flank joining the southern flank of, .the Third British. Army, j Its .objective isalsoSt. Queii)tin less than i^niiles. Jrom its? starting; point: and it has, got. within .a few: .miles- of "that city. . ... A second French Army* reached Noyon aiid is moving upthe. Valley of the.Oise?with Laferel as. its, objective* If it reaches that point we shal kpow that the/GeT** mans are gping. tbf make ayldhg retreat', because Lafere it* "tho, keystone of th^.j arch of the HindenbHrg,., liiT|e, -' as Noyoni] was of the old!, line,! and- the, dismantled forts of t Lpiere, which' were.once ai; p,bi*-! tion. of the -second;' line of French defence are probably being utilised* to make fi a stand at tliis position. Finally a third French Arrity, based on Soissons ? has Laon , for its - objective, and it/ is having, some heavy fighting m the* plateau and forest country *of St. Gobain, which favors a sturdy ydefe»K>e frdnj ithe. enemy,' If the Hindejibui:g. line fail^.at any one of ,• . the points 'mentioned' the Germans will be compelled! to retreat to their second reserve, line of defence running from Lille through' Valenciennes, Chaiie r ville and Mezieres to .the, Meuse. This defensive system follows the FrancoBelgian frontier.- practically its entire length; and) finally taken up by the German forces would liberate all but a small part of' France from the heel oi the invader. Such a withdrawal would deprive , Germany'; of ! the? hold she has upon France and would! have a moral effect at home and abroad, that could not bits At # all ..costs Hinden^ burg must, hold on to. his new line, and he is doing so, 1 as to-day's telegrams, show; at a 'tremendous cost of German lives. .One point ■ of interest that:, is mentioned by the; military critics is thai the British are now on top of the water- 1 shedL, The water .runs, hw-ay from them m ■■&[ northreasteply.. direction along the valleys " of the ■•, Scarpe , and , Scheldt.! Every little stream follows the same direction all the Avay to . .Valenciennes aiid Moiisa Facing northeast , from jjapaum.ey towards? the f Mons-.Charlero> Namiii*- line, of glorious and' fated memory, the British have a downhill slope m, front of them,'- generally speaking. Facing due east the watershed of the Oise and Sambre between Guise aud Landrecies is thirty-tliree miles away, the Oisa running, m. .a? south-westerly direction and' the Sambre north-east. The British are. twelve, miles from the* headwaters! of the .Scheldt , and have, all that M-ide, : valley before them., They are over, the great ridge of land which ruiiß north from Peronne to Ypres, .. of which La Bassee is part. It is the ridge which barred Maa-lborougli's invasion of Friance and), saved Marshal Villain after Blenheim.' Colonel Repington, tlie Times' military correspondent^ has raised the question of; the > great : strategic reserve of a* million men Avhich Hindenburg is supposQd.to have at his .command ,in the interior of Germany— \yhat will iti !bib put to. do? It has been suggested ; that this reserve will be employed on an offensive against either Russia oi\. Jtalv/ but evidence accumulates that it will" idl be needed, and is probably being now usedf, to fill up the. gaps m the regular armies caused through the sanguinary repulse ofi every „ desperate.. ; counted attack. Hindenburg may have counted on the- advance disorganising- the Allied fi troops participating m it; and on the French aiid British armies , not having time, to prepare positions, from which to withstand the deadly, attacks that he was ready to launch from his new line. But events of the last few weeks have shown that these counter-attacks are of no avail, except to decimate the armies thrown into the cauldron. Sir Douglas Haig can wish nothing better than tliat Hindenburg -will send more of his troops to the slaughter m such vain

endeavors to check our advance. It, is quite likely that before very long the British and French may enlarge the fighting front with carefully prepared concentrated attacks from the La Bassea and Ypres sectors, and also m Champagne or near Verdun. These would draw off Hindenburg's ctounter-attacks and might succeed m turning* his new positions. Meanwhile the fight astride the northern end of the Hindenburg line proceeds furiously. There is good reason to hope tliat, before. very long the Germans will have had' enough.