How Goes the Fight?

Star (Christchurch), Issue 11955, 14 March 1917, Page 3

How Goes the Fight?

fIOTES ON THE WAR. TK POSITION ANALYSED, CmUSTCfIITROH, March 14. It tooks rather as, if British and Frenx'h had reverted to the strategy ,&f the effeorives of the autumn Of 3.915, for while tho British are carrying out a series of local actions north «nd wuth of th© Anore the French '»to operating on • a similar plan in Ohampagne. In 1915 the British ati tacked in Artois and the French in Champagne, but on the British side, it not on. the French side also, the artillery, particularly heavy artillery, was inadequate for smashing attacks a, wide front and the stores of munitions were far from sufficient. Tho British offensive was little more than ft. big local attack, and although it was strikingly and immediately successful it could not be followed up. Tho French were in better shape 1o xi. stain their offensive, bu'b even in their ease the shortage of munitions ultimately made itself felt. This year no sustained offensives on a large scale have been undertaken, but the Germans are being kept busy at two seci ions ot' t-he front widely .separated. The latest French success has been rbe rapture of a small ridge, of which the- summit is Hill 185. immediately v--o.s-i. of the Maison de Champagne, jusb iliout two kilometres south of Ripont. This rid go was strongly fortified, and the attackers are apparently not yetin oossessioa ot the whole of t!v.r litiiny's works. though they bold the crest of the ridge. A .vlnre of the success of General rV'sirK* advance to Bagda d must be n warded to tho airmen, who have been doing very Hue work in tho region undo!' anything but iavourable conditions. «-..»,»•• months ago Mr Candler devoted oise of his interesting articles to the aviators. and it is worth while now recalling some of his stones. I he. lii-itidi ascendancy in Iho air i> as < ou:pk<ie an in France, In- says. I lie riosost. touch has be-cn established bei v.-een artillery commanders and pilots :.::d observers, with damaging eifeet u< ihe enemy's guns. Ah- ]photography. a moans of charting a hostile and isi'-iurveved country, has been broughtlo a scientific pitch. Aerodromes have reduced the wastage of our machine.which n tho earlier days warped and shrank in the alternate rain and sun. !jy ee-istuiit bombing raids, especially «: night, 'the British have established an aggressive offensive. 'The re.-u!:, ot lights in lit-- air has been that a neck o,i.Bii passe-: i, about a sight of a hostile aeroplane. bow flying, no easy thing in the dark, .has become the rule of late, Mr ( uadler I'DiUimies. in a, raid at Sluimt'i one of our machines was bib by pi intfrom its own bomb. Effective machine-gun hre near the ground m to-oponuion with the cavalry lias t' eji ; he most" remarkable development in d:<- air. The aeroplanes have became the terror of thieves, raiders and

n regular horse. Ic is impossible for ti;em to get off with their loot in the n ornjng. No nullahs are deep enough to hide them. Tlie machines, flying a f< w iV-ot above ground, scour 'the whole '.-. -.en., rake their hiding places with :..u.ohine.-gun fire, scatter and pursue their cavalry, spreading panic among i h'-ii- horses, aud round up the retiring •.-envoys, while [he cavalry follow up and bring baek the spoil. Such wasthe result of an attempt to raid the camel transport at fcheikh Sand- Of course, an action of the kind would be impossible over tho enemy's position, but on the line of eomnuinica--1 ;ons id is most effective. Tho flying men have discovered a short- way with r aiders

country where the elements are so perverse as they aro in Mesopotamia have its air disabilities. At different altitudes one meets currents blowing in contrary, directions, and

i lie change as one passes from one into the oilier makes very l:\nnpy flying. This is an accentuation of the atmospheric conditions which at one time were referred to ,!s ■' air-pockets," the popular idea being that the machine suddenly found itself in a void through which it fell, having no supporting envelope, until it reached normal atmosphere again. Though the wind, currents over the desert; are eccentric, tho Shamal, or north wind, blows at. some level or other all through tho year. if it is not blowing on the ground one will strike it hi the machine if one goes high enough. Sometimes the air is calm at the ground level, while there is :i gale blowing at 5000 ft. Or one may ascend in a gale, which increases in violence until one has passed an altitude of UOOOft, when ono reaches an atmosphere where it is perfectly smooth going.

In the hot weather the conditions for flying are very trying. At night and in the early morning tho air at 500 ft is far hotter than on tho ground, and it becomes hotter and hotter until 3500 ft is reached. The aviator must go up 6000 ft before he begins to feel cool. i; The intense heat thins the oil," Mr Candler says; " you can never run your motor full out. or it will get red hot. You lose 20 horse-power at a temperature of llodeg. Long flights are impossible. After fl a.m. the heat makes conditions most adverse for flying, and there is nothing to be done in the evening. The ■wood warps and shrinks in the sun. .New machines have to be re-rigged when they come out, and the dust chokes the engines. The sand rises in clouds and blows as high as 4000 ft." Then in the rainy season the mud is as bad as the dust. One day's rain is sufficient to turn the ordinary laud surface into a hog from which it is hopeless to attempt to start a machine. During the flood season " an aeroplane has the e&me difficulty in finding a dry spot 'is Noah's dove.'-'

''At the beginning of the campaign, ' - the correspondent relates, " -when we were operating in country where the tribesmen were in the pay of the Turks, the landing difficulty increased 4 .he odds agaipst our airmen. An- airman who went np to Nasiriyeh in July, 1915, had to land in an inundated area, Ho was able to bring his machine down in the flooded water on the friendly side of the river. He escaped with his revolver «od rat-ions, as the Arabs on the other

bank made for the machine, filing at it. As they were looting the machine friendly Arabs opened fire and scattered them, and the aeroplane was recovered intact. IXiring the return siriyeh two machines had to come to i groxmd; one alighted near Khaonisiyeh. |lt was just after the defeat of the Turks, and a responsible Sheikh received the pilot and entertained him hospitj rvjiy. The otiiw machine carne down J ilia same day within fifteen sniies. but ! it fell amongst defeated and retreating auxiliaries, who were in no mood to give quarter. Both pilot and observer were . kiiied." Mr Candler mentions that the 1 Turks had two Fokkera with German pilots, but after encounters with British airmen the enemy machines went out of action. One fell behind the Turkish lines and the other in til© open plain, whore it was smashed bj gun file.