PROGRESS OF THE WAR

Dominion, Volume 9, Issue 2597, 20 October 1915, Page 4

PROGRESS OF THE WAR

Affairs have not yet developed to such a stage in the Balkans as to give current events decisive importance, but on the whole the outlook is a little more hopeful than it has been. Reports in hand, some of them official, indicate generally that the_Allies i have perceptibly improved their position in Serbia, and thero is unofficial news of a development which, if it has actually occurred, is probably more important than any event in the campaign since the Aus-tro-Ge,rmans forced thfi passage of the Danube. This is the Allied landing at Enos, reported by a 'Daily Telegraphy correspondent at Rome and also in a Renter message, from London, via New York, which .is possibly only another version of the original message from Rome, Enos untU recently was a Turkish town, but it was apparently included in the cession of territory lately made to Bulgaria. In reporting the rc-, suit of the negotiations with Turkey the Bulgarian Prime Minister stated a few weeks aco that it included a strip of territory two kilometres wide along the left (south) bank of the River Maritza. Apparently this strip extends to the sea, and includes Enos, which stands on the south bank of the Maritza, where it enters the Aegean and therefore a- few miles i south_ of the Turco-Bulgarian frontier as it was adjusted after the sccond Balkan War. To-day's message states that the Bulgarians did not resist tho Allied landing at Enos, implying that the placs is or was in Bulgarian possession and occupation. ' / * * * » '

The unofficial news of the landing at Enos- needs confirmation. Enos is a convenient gateway for attack upon the Bulgarian and Turkish communications, and if sufficient forces are available for an ultimate attack on Constantinople which would evade the difficult problem of forcing the Dardanelles. Though not in actual touch with any railday, Enos is only about 20 miles away from the Bulgarian port of Dcdcagatcli, from wliich' lines radiate east to Constantinople, west to Salonika, _ and, north into the heart of Bulgaria, Dedeagatch is thus the actual gateway, but Enos, located at the mouth of the considerable lliver Maritza, may easily afford a convenient base from which to advance upon the railways which meet at the more important seaport. The prospects opened up by this reported enterprise of the Allies are fascinating. Advancing .fifty miles east of Enos they would be astride the land communications of the Gallipoli Peninsula. Little more than a hundred miles further on, as the crow flies, is Constantinople. The actual distance by road is somewhat greater, and the railway from Dedeagatch to Constantinople follows a devious course.

Distance, however, is not the determining factor in the Balkan campaign ; it is rather a matter of men and guns, and unless the Allied forces available for tho campaign are much, greater than has. lately been represented it is somewhat unlikely that they are already carrying the war into the enemy's country through the Enos gate. The gate is there to bo used, and in their sea-power tho Allies have a key capable of unlocking it at their pleasure, but in order that an invasion may be driven home from the Aegean seaboard it is first of all essential that the Austro-Germans should be held definitely in check in Northern Serbia, and that portion at least of the Bulgarian forces should be kept fully employed in Macedonia and by the Russian landing on the Black Sea coast. Given the necessary land force the Allies can make use. of the Aegean coast ports with decisive effect, but it has still to be definitely shown that such a force is'available.

A late London message states that the landing at Enos is unconfirmed, but adds that if a footing has been established it will be one of the most dramatic and decisive strokes of seapower in the course of the war. Apparently, therefore, it is still regarded as possible that the landing has been made.

No material change is reported in Northern Serbia whore the Sorbs, interposed between the Austro-Gcr-mans and Bulgarians, are being attacked on north and south, but.at the other end of the fighting arca, near the Greek frontier, the Allies have won a definite success by capturing the Bulgarian town of Strnmnitza. In this southern region the Bulyirian frontier, approaches to within a mile or two ol' the railway by which Serbia is in communication with Salonika, and the capturc of Strumnity.a means that the Bulgarians, attacking the railway where it is most vulnerable, have not only been repulsed but have been driven back for a distance oast of _ their own frontier. Indecisive fighting is I'ohurM ill titb«r BalUta cast till) railway further north, but an

Athens message mentions a rumour that the Bulgarians have cut the railway at Vranjn, 50 miles south of Nish. This is serious news if it is true, hitt so far it ip mentioned only as a rumour, and a message of the same date, professing to quote official advices from Salonika, states that the safety of the railway is now assured.

* « k » Tub slow progress of the AustroGermans in Northern Serbia gives point to a report that tha Bulgarians are disappointed at the smallness of the German force, and that Gknekal von Mackknsen (the German Commander) has demanded reinforcements. If it is true that the AustroGermans are only capable of advancing very slowly to a junction with the Bulgarians it follows that there is still a possibility of the Entente recovering all the ground that has been lost in the Balkans, and converting a diplomatic defeat- into a military triumph. The supremo question at the moment is whether the Austro-Germans or the Entente will first bring a preponderating force to hear, and until this question has been resolved by events no opinion can be formed as to the- probable development of the campaign.

Reports from Bucharest tell of a serious German reverse in the Timok Valley. This news, apparently good, is really exceedingly bad if it is true, for in that case it means nothing less than that the Germans have reached Bulgaria or are very near to that goal. The River Timok, after running north for a distanco inside the Serbian eastern frontier, turns east between Bulgaria and Serbia to enter the t Danube about forty miles south of Orsova. The Timok forms the southern boundary of the north-eastern v projection of their territory in which the Serbs have hitherto successfully resisted attacks by the Austro-Germans in the north and the Bulgarians on the south. It seems probable, however, that in the message the word "Germans" has been substituted for "Bulgarians." If the Germans had reached the Timok Valley the Serbs coulcl scarcely have inflicted a defeat upon the enemy. The same message speaks of the failure cf a heavy German attack on the Serbian line in the hills south of the- Danube, at a considerable distance north and west of the Timok Valley. Quite possibly, therefore, the defence of north-east-cm Serbia is still secure.