The Southland Times. PUBLISHED EVERY MORNING. Luceo Non Uro. THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 24, 1914. THE WAR.

Southland Times, Issue 17764, 24 September 1914, Page 4

The Southland Times. PUBLISHED EVERY MORNING. Luceo Non Uro. THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 24, 1914. THE WAR.

This morning begins the tenth day of the Battle of the Aisne —the longest and most desperate struggle in the history of war. The censor has not permitted ns to learn in any detail the results of the fighting along the front from the Oise to the .Meuse. We only know the broad facts. Ten days ago the Gormans reached a naturally strong position before the Aisne in which they were able to check the pursuit of the Allies, who were pressing them back from the Marne. They were able to reform, entrench and give battle. Everywhere along a front of 100 miles the combatants have been closely engaged for nine days. Reinforced by troops from Belgium, the Germans have striven not only to hold their ground, hut to recover the offensive they lost at the Marne. They found at Soissons great siege guns intended for use against Paris and brought them into play against the Allies. In the centre the battle has been mainly a battle of artillery, but from Rheims westward there has been the closest hand-to-hand-fighting. The tremendous cannonade soon brought down torrential rain, and the soldiers have been fighting in trenches half filled with water and on ground converted by the rain into a boggy swamp. The British force on the Allies’ left wing has borne the brunt of the struggle. Von Kluck’s army, badly shattered at the Marne and roughly handled in the retreat, has been strengthened by troops railed over from ixirraine, and while French and British have dealt blow after blow von Kluck has responded with one counter-attack after another. The Allies are endeavouring to crumple up the German right again as they did at the Marne; von Kluck is endeavouring to force back the Allies’ left and to recover the prestige he lost at the

Marne. Along the greater part of the front tho position has not greatly changed since the opening day of the battle hut on their left the Allies have steadily, but very slowly, gained ground. On our left not only have counter-attacks been repulsed, but attacks have been driven home, trenches have been carried, guns have been taken, and the German right which at first rested upon Soissons now rests upon Noyons, while the Allies are west and north of Noyons. Though the Germans are still re-inforcing their right there is reason to hope that the Allies’ long attack, magnificently sustained under conditions that it is difficult even to imagine, is about to succeed, and that the battle of the Aiane, like that of the Marne, will be won by turning the enemy's right flank. In any case the Germans have failed signally to regain the offensive and have been kept fully occupied in withstanding the Allies’ attack. Whether it takes the Allies a short time or a long to drive the invaders out of France the Germans must count themselves defeated unless they can maintain a victorious offensive. It is imperatively necessary to them to win and win quickly; the Allies can afford to wait, and their grip of the offensive at every point along the front augurs well for ultimate success. The battle of the Aisne is still undecided and we must look for news from the left. The Germans added to their long list of crimes the destruction of the great Cathedral of Rheims —an act of unmitigated vandalism which has provoked the whole world to anger. The censure of the American and Italian press is stronger than that of the British and French. Germany has steadily alienated public sympathy by her barbarism and brutality, and the German General Staff evidently do not share Napoleon’s conviction that public opinion is an important factor in war—which is merely another proof that the German General Staff is not infallible. Germany has a terrible indictment to answer, and the case against her civilisation and humanity grows blacker every day.

In the Eastern theatre the Russians arc continuously successful against the Austrians, and the Germans arc evidently making a supreme effort at Przemysl to put some heart into their allies by demonstrating that the Russians are not invincible. ' It is clear, however, that the Russians are formidable not only because of their numbers, but also because of their military efficiency, and their gathering hosts portend disaster for the German armies which can barely hold their own on the Aisnc. Austria battered by Russia in the north is being smitten hard by Servia and Montenegro in the south, and the small but hard fighting Balkan States have won another victory.

We had anticipated that Italy's declaration of war against Germany and Austria, or at least against Austria, would have been made b.v this time. If it is true, that Austria has mobilised a large army on (he Italian frontier, (ben Austria knows that Italy's mind is made up and that war is certain. The public demonstrations in favour of war show that the Italian people arc eager to take the field against their old enemy, Austria, and to recover the provinces aud ports that were once theirs. The war affords Italy a great opportunity to make Austria an inland Power and to re-establish her own position in the Mediterranean and on the eastern side of the Adriatic.