THE PELORUS GUARDIAN and Miners' Advocate. TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 26, 1918. NOTES ON THE WAR.

Pelorus Guardian and Miners' Advocate., Volume 30, Issue 16, 26 February 1918, Page 4

THE PELORUS GUARDIAN and Miners' Advocate. TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 26, 1918. NOTES ON THE WAR.

The impending offensive in the West is now overshadowing every other aspect of the war, and the vast preparations being made on both sides indicate that the enemy are to make a supreme and final effort to gain ascendancy over the Allies in the only theatre of war that now counts. The'Allies are perfectly aware that the Germans are concentrating their full strength on ths vital but extended Anglo-French front, but they are fully prepared to meet it. General Haig’s policy to await the thrust is perhaps a wise one, and the Allies supremacy in the air gives them an enormous advantage as a preliminary to any battle. The news that a great artillery battle had begun on the entire French front reads like the opening stages of the titanic struggle—which will probably far surpass any battle in the history of the present or any previous wars.

The great addition of enemy reinforcements in the West (including Turkish and Austrian troops) is said to have caused the Allies’ superiority in man-power to disappear, but the fact that the British have been able to extend their sector by twelve miles is a healthy sign. It means that the French will now be able to concentrate their forces on a shorter front, and that considerable forces are liberated for service elsewhere.

The brilliant raid made by the French the other day, as the result of which over 500 prisoners were captured, provides a pleasing incident in the operations of the West front- -which have practically been barren of interest for some weeks past. The rapidiy improving weather conditions will no doubt soon permit the resumptioh of hostlites in earnest.

Affairs in Eussia are Hot improving, and the outlook for that country, If

anything, is blacker than before. Germany has not been slow to follow up tho failure of peace negotiations by further military aggression, and her armies are said to be marching rapidly over Russian territory practically unopposed It is believed that she is now determined to demand the whole of tho Baltic coast, including possession 9 of the Russian Baltic fleet. In a military sense Russia is almost as completely disorganised as in a social and poltical sense. Mainly through the operations of German agents her guns and military equipment lack essential parts, and are practically useless. It is therefore difficult to see what effective defence the country can now put up to resist the ‘modest’ demands of Germany. The menace of Pctrograd is exciting the closest attention, in view of the imminence of complete German domination in Russia.

The question of whether Japan will eventually bo compelled to take an active part in the war is revived by tho presence of Japanese warships at Vladivostok. Japanese assistance hitherto has been purely naval and financial, but the country is evidently alive to tho danger of the eontnued German advance eastward, which will probably give Germany control of the TransSiberian railway.

A correspondent at Pctrograd expresses the opinion that pestilence and famine will keep Russian soil safe from German inroads long enough to enable the Allies on the West front to deal with the common enemy.

The announcement received on Saturday that the Australians had captured Jericho marks another important advance in the conquest of the Holy Land The air service co-operated and rendered valuable assistance by bombing camps and depots many miles inland and ahead of the advancing troops,

In tho House of Commons, Mr Macpherson, introducing the Army Estimates, said the British captures in 1917 include 168 heavy howitzers, 68 heavy guns, 437 field-guns, 1055 trenchmortars, and 2842 machine-guns. The Labour Corps now numbered 350,000. At least two million tods of shipping will be saved in 1918. During the year nearly 7,000,000 men, 500,000 animals, 200,000 vehicles, and 9,500,000 tons of stores have been conveyed to the various fronts. ’ ’

In the course of a speech as the guest of tho Aldwych Club (London). Lord Jellicoe, referring to the submarine menace, paid a fine tribute to the work of the destroyers. He said that destroyers were the great antidote to submarine piracy. We were short of destroyers at the outbreak of war. We thought too much about Dreadnoughts. The Germans feared our destroyers above anything else. The people must not wonder that enemy destroyers got past the patrols occasionally, or even frequently. If they came often and fought tip-and-run raids, they would get caught, as they were by the Broke and Swift. The visibility of enemy destroyers at night was represented by a pin-point on a big map of the North Sea. “You do not hear of the visits we pay to German waters,” said Lord Jellicoo, ‘‘but the Germans know about them. There are no targets for our submarines. Tho enemy only come out once a year. It is boring business waitng for our annual shot. I believe that the Navy has sunk 50 per cent, of the German submarines in the North Sea, Atlantic, and the Arctic.”

America’s hustle is evidently a thorn in the side of the Central Powers. In addition to tho fact that her troops on the West front will soon be a development that may be a deciding factor in the coming great offensive, we learn that a new submarine destroyer, described as tho most efficient of all types, has been developed by the United States Navy Department. Germany’s object is no doubt to strike in the West before the weight of the American troops in the fighting line becomes a power to be reckoned with.