THE WAR SITUATION

Southland Times, Issue 17934, 11 November 1918, Page 6

THE WAR SITUATION

, DEVELOPMENT OF WESTERN Offensive. GERMANY’S HOPELESS STRUGGLE."' THE AUSTRIAN DEBACLE. AIRMEN’S INCREASING SUCCESS. (Per United Press Association.) WELLINGTON, November 10. Mr Massey has received the . following summary for the week ended 7th. November from the Ministry of Information: — Despite the-■ incessant fighting in which our troops have been engaged since August they undertook A GENERAL ATTACK on the 4th and sth. After capturing Valenciennes they carried the line some ten miles forward, capturing 11,000 prisoners. No stronger proof could be given of the British army’s fighting quality, and this advance is most important as threatening the' left flank of the German line on the Scheldt which Js now menaced and salient. A brilliant and important Franco-Ainejcican advance was made between the Aisne and the Meuse. The French and Americans turned the left enemy line west of the Meuse, and he must hasten his withdrawal. The Americans are also now within .five miles of the line of railways from Montmedy to Sedan, and the result must , almost certainly be a further general enemy retirement. lie had hung on to his position as long as possible to save material and stores, also hoping if able to beat o6 our attacks that he might bargain for more favourable terms than he would otherwise get. The desperate haste of the_ present evacuation of material by the enemy is shown by the congested state of the railwaj’s, and by the reduction of troop transport to a minimum. The enemy situation is certainly more perilous than last week, and if the Allied pressure is maintained the greatest results might ensue, though it is unsafe, in consideration of the uncertain weather and the difficulties before us, especially about the organisation of communications, to rely overmuch on an enemy collapse. But the Aiistrian and Turkish armistices have so changed matters that now only the western front ’ v and the south German front remain for us to consider. The whole SOUTH GERMAN FRONT is now open to attack from the Allied armies lately fighting in Italy and the Balkans. Excellent communications are at our disposal, and Bohemia, jutting out into the very heart of Germany, constitutes an ideal base of operations for on advance on Berlin. From the Italian frontier 120 miles by railroad brings us to the Bavarian frontier, while from (he Trentino three railways are available, for such a concentration. Saxony and Bavaria thus are now in imminent peril, and the enemy lacks adequate forces to defend them. Thirty enemy divisions remain in Russia and Austria, but all are inferior and ill-equipped. The only possible means by which the enemy might mee ( t the rtew danger would be an immediate retirement to (he line of the Meuse, thus economising ,a sufficient number of troops to delay .the Allied advance into Bavaria and Saxony. But will the German* army and nation, wish to continue a hopeless struggle with. no better certainly than .total ultimate disaster. Th? resources in food, oil, etc., hitherto obtainable from the Ukraine, Roumania and Austria will no longer reach Germany, . and her internal situation becomes worse hourly. So exhausted is her man-power that boys of seventeen of the 1921 class have, in certain cases, been transferred to active military duty. Meanwhile the Allies are rapidly pushing on into the Trentino and towards the Lsonzo. The complete COLLAPSE OF THE AUSTRIAN ARMY was greatly hastened oy the advance into the Trentino which definitely cut the communications of the, Austrian forces round Lake Garda. The British 48th Division, by itself, captured more than 20,000 prisoners and several hundred guns, and before the armistice the Allied captures amounted to 300,000 prisoners -and 5000 guns. Austrian officers say that they were completely misled by the attacks on the mountain front on 24th October, so. that they thought the main attack would, there, whither accordingly they transferred their reserves. The Serbians have established themselves on the line of the Danube and took Belgrade on November Ist, only 45 days alter their offensive was begun on the Macedonian front. Preparations have been made for the transfer of British and French troops to occupy the Dardanelles and the Bosphorus, and in the Palestine area we now have a large number of troops available for services in Europe. Much satisfaction is felt at the manner in which THE VERSAILLES CONFERENCE and President Wilson bandied the difficult question of the fourteen points,, and the qualifications agreed upon make it clear that nothing in the ultimate settlement intends the permanent humiliation of the German people, but, on the other hand Germany must make the fullest reparations. Germany now faces the inevitable, and it will be in her interest to make the transition period the briefest possible. The Italian army put the finishing touch to the dissolution of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, and in Austria-Hungary war problems have beeti succeeded by almost more urgent questions of reconstruction. The Czechs at present play a leading part and seem to be handling the situation firmly. The greatest discretion will be needed in dealing equitably with the conflicting claims of the various nationalities according to principles which have been accepted by all belligerents for the final settlement of the situation. Eastern Galicia gives special cause for anxiety. Over Turkey and Austre-Hungary the ALLIED AIR FIGHTING ceases, and can tie correspondingly intensified over the western front and Germany itself, but before this the contingents of the Royal Air Force on the Tigris played a great part in the final battle with the Turkish army near Nineveh. Meanwhile in Italy the final week of the war against Austro-Hungary showed much remarkable air fighting by the Royal Air Force, despite the fact that the weather was unfavourable. On the 29th, however, after the rupture of the enemy line on the Montello front, British pilots and observers attacked the Austrian troops with great effect, also those retreating hastily in dense column's along the roads from Conegliano, Sacile and Vittorio. The British planes swept low along the roads, firing many thousand rounds of ammunition into the dense masses of infantry, and dropping more than a ten of bombs on transport and guns. Throughout the next day vigorous aerial attacks were continued and a large concentration of enemy troops near Sacile was scattered in all directions by British low height attacks from the air and by nightfall the road between Sacile and Pordennone ■was lined with the debris of The shattered guns and transport, and with the enemy’s killed and wounded. On the western front intense fighting raged throughout the week, particularly before the British attack south of Valenciennes and during the present offensive between the Sambre Canal and the river Scheldt. The fighting reached its maximum on Wednesday, October 30th, when not fewer than 07 German machines were destroyed apart from 15 other enemy machines driven down. This extraordinary result, which is a RECORD FOR A SINGLE DAY, was bought with the loss of only eighteen British machines reported missing. All the enemy powers together have never at any period accomplished anything approaching the single British air record for this day. - Meanwhile the, R.A.F .independent force maintained a particularly intensive offensive ■against German munition and railway centres in Alsace-Lorraine and the Rhine provinces. Thirty-three separate raids were made into Germany during the week, and nearly 30 tons of bombs were dropped upon all the usual military objec tives with marked effect.