The Times Military Correspondent suggests, we do not know with
what authority, that our warships operating on the Flanders coast had been compelled by the gale on Tuesday to put out to sea, and therefore could not assist our troops in the sudden emergency. This, if true, is one of the risks of combined naval and military operationa, such as we have long looked for in these quarters. It may be noted that we had recently taken over the Nieuport sector from the French, who bad held it for two years and a half, and our men may not have become accustomed to the peculiar local conditions. The last time we lost a piece of our old line, on the Vimy Ridge in May of last year, we had in the same way replaced the French only a few weeks before. His satisfactory to note Sir Douglas Haig's remark that our artillery continues to be active north of Nieuport. The enemy in the captured dunes, with no trenches left for him to shelter in, will have an uncomfortable time.
