The Rangitikei Advocate. TWO EDITIONS DAILY. TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 20, 1917 WAR EVENTS.

Rangitikei Advocate and Manawatu Argus, Volume XLI, Issue 11400, 20 November 1917, Page 4

The Rangitikei Advocate. TWO EDITIONS DAILY. TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 20, 1917 WAR EVENTS.

THE Kaiser has frequently informed tiro world that ho has Divine cooperation in the Avar, therefore Iris fresh outburst in regard to the defeat of the Italians will cause little notice. The immense and unexpoctodxsucccss of the Austro-Ger-mans, lie says, could not ho otherwise explained. A pparontly his God does not extend tiro same help to the Turks in Palestine, though on the Kaiser’s side in the'war, for the retreat has become a rout and the Turkish Army is its munitions to such an extent that it will soon 1)0 impossible for it to light even rearguard actions. Tins great success will he especially welcomed in the Allied countries as a set-off to the Italian debacle, wiiich, however, has now ceased. Neither will the poor of Germany, eating the ir scanty rations of war bread and mourning the loss of their sous, bo much heartened by the Italian defeat and its pretended proof of Divine favour. But after all there is nothing new in the Kaiser’s irreverauce. All despots, all tyrants, all loaders of soldiers over foreign soil, have made similar claims of Divine assistance.

What to us is more interesting, more curious in respect to the Italian debacle, is that it hss been possible to the Germans to induce a portion of the Italian arms to forsrko their posts in the front line and give tire enemy passage on such a silly story that they were coming to free Italy from the British and French, when tl|ero was probably not a single British or French soldier in the country. Why was it the Italian officers were unaware of the Gorman propaganda by means of forged newspapers to prove to the Italians that the British were their real enemies. Shell a propaganda must have carried on for weeks at least, and the [subject of it fully debated amongst the men before they would consent to become traitors to the army generally, in the manner reported. Wo can only conclude, as a reason of the officers’ ignorance of the propaganda, that there is a wider division between the commissioned officers and the soldiers generally than there is between those of the British, a separation line that the non-commissioned officers do not succeed in bridging.

The Germans have applied most effectively the motto “all is J’air in war’’ during the present struggle in order to assist their cause by the use of every imaginable deceitful trick, and, strange to say, their success lias been the greatest with the co-operation of tlio Socialists, the Anarchists and other would-be re-, genitors of the political condition of mankind. Who would have expected one of the most oppressive forms of government in ‘Europe finding allies amongst those, rs it undoubtedly bs : particularly in Russia. There it was proposed to initiate a rule of love, capital punishment was done away with, and oven in military life, in order to prevent severity on the part of the officers, a controlling authority was given to committees of private soldiers. Since that time the army has been useless as an offensive body. Now the Maximalists have notified their intention to allow every Russian people under the Russian flag freedom to choose their own form of government and to have complete independence if they so 'desire. If this freedom could he taken advantage of Russia would suffer dissolution into a number of small States having no common foreign policy and, conseuently, we could expect no further co-operation from Russia in the war. It is unlikely, however, that there is so [little patriotism and sentiment in the country amongst the middle class people as to allow such a condition to take effect.

The outstanding lesson to bo learned in regard to the Russian collapse, the Italian debacle, the evidence of German bribery of persons of influence in France, is to have our suspicions awakened even in tiiis Dominion, when we hear persons suggesting that wo are sending too many men to the front ; that our effort is greater than that of any other Dominion; tliat we must give more attention to growing food, and a variety of-other excuses for slackening in our war which were so signally successful recently in bringing about a .decrease iu the number of our reinforcements. If the agitation was not st-rted by the aid of Gorman bribery it had every appearance of it. and our Government iu future,

instead of giving way to the pressure of such people, should sot detectives at work to find the source of the treason. > l 1

When we receive the details of the British advance to Jerusalem it will ho found to he a record of dash, bravery, and physical endurance equal to any made during the war. On the warm phi ins, over the worst of roads, short of water, men and animals have pressed after the retreating Turks, perforced to give them no rest night or day for fear they might entrench themselves and so he able to resist until reinforcements arrived. -Apparently the British pressure lias been so great during the last fortnight that the Turkish army commenced to disintegrate and, after losing a groat proportion of its big guns and ammunition must have been in a state of rout when the rearguard was caught looting its own baggage. General Allenby'may deem it more necessary at present to further harass the enemy in his retreat northwards than to turn aside to occupj' Jerusalem. It will ho noticed that throughout the principal object has been to cut off the enemy from the coast and from his railway communication, and, consequently, his chance of getting supplies of war material.