THE AUTUMN WAR.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XLIV, Issue 14449, 8 November 1917, Page 7

THE AUTUMN WAR.

HUNS' GRIP- 'CfSt FLANDERS.

AN EAGERLY SOUGHT PRIZE

TWO ARMEES COMPARED,

LONDON; August 10. It is 'now no secret that British arid French" commanders hope by the end of the atitomn fightirig tb drive 1 the Hiiris from thi' Flemish coast. Our guns, far *iore* numerous, than the enemy 's^ ba,t.»; tei* ceaselessly 'against the Huns' trerich'es and strong posts. The character of the country is changing. '.' Villages are disappearing, farms are becoming mere brown dust, canals are taking new courses. The Germans groan, not only m the line and the depots behind, but at home. •* . ■•.<•„ ■ ; ' ■■>■'•<:'

"■Oar grandchildren," 'writes 1 one Berlin newspaper, "will not be able to say the word Flanders without "^ shudder. For us, the thought of it all-is ap'pallingi" A Munich paper openly .confesses that the losses are terrible;, and -that dur? ing the long boiribardniehts, which Germans know Will 1 last for many weeks, great new graveyards wili be needed behind the German lines.

But there is no note of defeat m the German comments, nor is there any general recognition of defeat amongst German troops. Hindenburg's m«in: are st^ll m the main invincible" ih ; their'confidence and optimism. They fight stoutly, die bravely, talk proudly when captured. In all these ways they are just a little under the standard of our men — that incomparable standard which the world has never before seen aniongsfcl soldiers. For the Germans, there ia much excuse for their tough spirit. They believe that Russia has been knocked out .of the ring, that France has been bled to death, that these great gains of territory m their hands can be held against British and Americans until the submarine has brought peace. They have immense faith m the new Hindenburg policy of "an elastic front]" They think that by giving a little before British massive bombardments, and then throwing m reserves m counter-attacks, they can defeat any prospective attempt to break their lines. How much greater m virtue is the unfailing hopefulness which* makes the British and Australian soldier, never so pronounced as now, although even their greatest victories have had no obvious results and their finest achievements have but proved the toughness of the task ahead ! " VALUABLE WORK DONE. They have gone^ into this offensive m the happy position of doing useful work whether they win or lose their objectives. If they win— -good j the Huns are driven from Roulers, from Ostend and Zeebrugge, submarining is damaged, a large part of Belgium is redeemed. And if these things are too much for their hands to grasp— well, they will still have many Germans killed or wounded or unnerved, and victory will be so much nearer. The policy of 'attrition goes forward m either case. Tlie' Huns' will-to-war is further damaged. ( An*d who knows thai ' his grip, on despoiled Belgium will nbti ahtc'keh and fail? He has, it is true, fortified this sector with prodigal wealth, of labor .and material. No part of the! world is more heavily fortified, than the Belgian coast to-day, unless it be the great fortifications of the German coast, where even Nelson would not have dared to, attack a sheltering fleet. Ostend -itself has been nearly blown to atoms by British airmen, and Zeebrugge is '.badly tforn; But right up the coast, screened m shami houses, m shrubberies and amongst sand dunes arc powerful batteries. Vulnerable points of the coast are wired, and railways have been' built, with guns on steel trucks, so. that' attacks\maW be', met at ari£ J6i4t. ■' Zeebrbgge itself has! been developed into a large submarine From it the commerce destroyers, including raiders larger ' than submarines, steal out to sea. Basins and docks have been built. Heavy guns, some of them 15-inch naval guns, are mounted along ",the foreshore. > 'Large minefields : with secret passages: have been laacT off the coast. Aerodromes, from which the London raiders come, have. b r eeji, constructed'in the rear 'oY the : difcyi'anct airships and large f flotillas: mf Aeroplanes have been. estapliflhe.<j. f there. .;, . \, ■:■. A.SE&rt^fij) £R4& '.'■&>"'. ■ But thejßritish haying chosen \-^the battle ground, will hatter away against the Germans *.for' "^the* rest of the year, well cOrrfeirtt v ' even , if Zeebruggee . is not gained, but the Germans w-illrtb-war is 1 further impaired., From the .front to-day the most cheerful, optimists m the world are coming. . I' have never met men so .convinced! . that /,their^V.i§n^nies are poor and weak? things, thai yictory/lies with' them, and all the wonderful future is before them. The front' is still the most bracing place m, Europe— especially the Australian front, where men, find strength to laugh m the face J of death, and to' endure great hardships cheerfully for the sake off their .country, arid their home "folk. ; ' ■'■ V> ; , ;.; - • ':'■

The British Tommy looks a very different man to-day from the Tommy of two years. ago. H« is," fit, hard^: tanned, and confident; He^f eels a man's streflgth, ahd has. a strong man's determination. He seems to., s&y, "Whatever happens, we know we con do" a itian'S' : work.' 1 ■You can . see now the difference between a trained and a raw army— aft^ army which hasi fought, andl one which has not even been hardened -on" the.' drill^ground; : The oldl-German contempt' Y for the British soldier is dead. In' itfe place are fear ,and praise, and though even; now a raw division newly outWr'om England may , do, only. moderately well, m ite.l&rs't .fights, Berlin .confesses that"' the British' soldiers are great foes. The German war 'correspondents have framed!' a list of "British regiments m their order of > "frightfvilness." . They put the Highlanders first, and among the first for offensive fighting they put the Australians.

AUSTRALIA IN THE AIR,

' Sir Douglas has had aupeiil?-sup-port from, his' flying- nien. Our 1 Australian contribution to the air fighting is by no means negligible. Only one -of -our rew, Australian , Flying Corps squadrons is . .yet < m France, • but there rii-e. many 1 hundreds of Aiistralian flyers distributed! amongst British squadrons. Soon we wjli have six ' squadrons m Franpei each increasing at the rate of 30 flying men every month or so. Colonel ''.Reynolda, at Horsefeiry road, 'is fashioning the new service, and the British Wai; Office is helping with itri full organisation -of instruction, equipment, ■ and' formation. The .Under-Secre.J*ry.'fpr' W«* admitted m the House of Commons t]iis week, m

the course of a generous tribute to Aus- 1 tralfan flyers, that our contribution had been invaluable to the army m France. ' It would be ungracious, -however, to claim anything: like a large proportion of the British flying successes. These British boys go up time and again, sometimes five times a day,- to meet Huns m the air. They find the enemy frequently bettei* equipped", better trained. Th^y , have to meet German' squadrons as famous as any British. 'But' "by sticking to i,t, responding every time''t6 tlttf'call of duty, and doing th'^ir best, . ■flftey have secured unquestionable 'supremacy; The Germans are finding it difficult to maintain their standard of munitions. A larger proportion .of their shells are "duds" than ever before. Their gun-power has fallen definitely far below ours. It is of course still strong. But it kills and haims a substantially smaller pispprti6n of men than ours kill and maim. Moreover, though their men look cleSn arid strong enough, and well enough clothed, when taken prisoner; it' is undoubted that a large percentage of th^ir army is clothed m shoddy. A numbei?.'of uniforms were taken from dead Germans for analysis, and found to be 60 per cent, paper and the rest some'other substitute.

Their boots are becoriiirig inferior; ,' No one need doubt that Germany is'"'ihdeeclin a parlous condition for supjplies- Icspecially for cotton, 'wopl, leather, and rubber. ■ ; •'?.•'"' • 1 ' i * CAN HANG OUT. XONG.r But she can 1 ha'rig out arid fight for a long time yet. It is incbritestabV ; that her army is fighting now practically as V^sell as ever, and that its numbers are greater thaii ever; It is iiwontestTaWe that b^ her crime and mean trick of striking through Belgium she has gained territories which represent ■ a big pfize m warfare. Arid it is incontestable that m modern warfare the defensive, when organised with machine guns, with concrete a.nd earth, arid an almost unlimited backing of heavy guns, has an immense advantage." *. How then will Germany crack? What part will go first? jfktch her ciyil'i^iris^ In this wai" it has 'begin tjie civil; element to crack, riot the army eleriient. There is little sign yet. • But iiiriorig Her Allies the rot has. already set m. , Austria writhes with internal strife. Turkey is held up only by German threaW and money. There may be a long' way to go. But these cracks m the civilian columns indicate that Jt,,may_ be shorter than we dare to think.— Sydney Sun/