SOME INTERESTING FIGURES.

Oamaru Mail, Volume XL, Issue 12541, 12 May 1915, Page 2

SOME INTERESTING FIGURES.

Th© estimate "prepared by the Paris "Matin" of the length of line held by the various Allies will come as something of a shuck lo those unthinking but enthusiastic Britons who are inclined to the idea that the British troops are saving Fiance from destruction. It is perhaps naluial that we should have heard more of the work of our own troops than those of the French, but the fact that the exploits of the i!ritisli have bulked so largely into the cablegrams has tended to distort somewhat the. sense of perspective of some of our people. The figures given by the ".Matin" as showing the front occupied by the different armies ate as follows : I French 543 miles. British 31 .. . Belgian 17 '., Russian ... 856 ■■ Servian and Montenegrin 218 ~ But one or two points need to be emphasised iu Regard to this matter. The first is that A miles represents only a fractional part of the British role in the land operations in this war. We have other fronts outside Europe altogether which we are maintaining. The operations of British troops are spread over an area far beyond that contemplated by the "Matin." Again, in regard to France alone, the portion of the line held by the British is a vitally important- one—one- that from a strategic point of view invites particular attention from the Germans, who fully realise that- to pierce the Allies' line here would upset the whole of General Jqffre's western campaign. There are several highly important sections of the line held by the French—just as there are many which.play quite a minor part—but none of them are, at any rate, more vital to the whole position than that ,under the, command of General French. Further, it must be remembered' that although up ' till the present the British totops have been very weak numerically compared with the French their -numbers from now onward will swell enormously, and the part that will ba allotted to them will be altogether beyond that suggested by 'the bare! thirty-one miles set out- in the above list. Of course the greatest factor of ail in the war .is purely British—the factor of naval supremacy. The influence of that factor is being felt to-day. and will be felt more and more as -time goes on through every mile of all the battle fronts, French, Russian, and all. Our Allies, the French, particularly, would b© the first to admit this. In the meantime we need to give the French themselves the fullest, credit for the enormous task they are so succesfultv shouldering on land.