MILITARY POSITION.

During the greater part of Tuesday the military situation was a very anxious one. The Germans had taken Bailleul. They had entered Meteren and also Wytschaete. If the enemy could have maintained his pressure there would probably have been grave danger to the vital ridge of heights which begins in the east with Kemmel and ends in the west with Cassel. Happily, the news on Tuesday night and yesterday was better. We had counterattacked at Meteren, and driven the Germans back on quite a wide front half-way to Bailleul. Moreover, we had advanced our line in the direction of Neuve Egiise, and improved it with very little opposition. It is necessary also to refer to the announcement in Sir Douglas Haig’s morning communiqué yesterday of the withdrawal on the Ypres front. Preparations for a shortening of the front were made in detail some time ago as an emergency measure ... before the loss of Bailleul or the attack on Wytschaete. Therefore it was in no sense a hasty arrangement. It is, of course, very regrettable that military necessity should have required the abandonment of ground for which we paid a heavy price in the lives of brave men, but the retirement was conducted so skilfully that the enemy was kept in ignorance of the manoeuvre. So completely was he deceived that at midday on Tuesday he was still raining shells into Passchendaele, wasting valuable ammunition to no purpose.

PERIOD OF SEVERE STRAIN.

With regard to the general situation, our Army, undoubtedly is passing through a time of severe strain, and in part, at any rate, the strain is felt also on this side of the Channel. There have been a number of critical moments since the great offensive opened, and it would be foolish to try to hide from ourselves that the situation is still decidedly anxious. It must be borne in mind, however, that we have plumped for a united front, and the forces on the Western front have been placed under the supreme control of one general. That was a most wise and proper decision; but, having taken it, the consequences must be accepted. So it is necessary to regard the titanic battle, or series of battles, not from the point of view of our losses, sufferings, and sacrifices, but from the point of view of the Entente as a whole.