PROGRESS OF THE WAR

Evening Post, Volume XC, Issue 38, 13 August 1915, Page 8

PROGRESS OF THE WAR

WHAT BULGARIA WANTS THE OFFENSIVE THROUGH SERVIA. THE HALTING NEUTRALS. The remarkably outspoken statement of the Bulgarian Prime Minister as to the price of Bulgarian intervention On behalf of the Allies is certain to arouse great interest. It is to be noticed, however, that Austria is trying to purchase Bulgaria with a promise of territory, ■which, it is implied, will be available on account of an impending German offensive against Servia. On the other hand, a Bulgarian voice states that an attempt on the part of the Germans to assist Turkey through Servia is the only thing whioh will compel Rumania ■and Bulgaria to fight with the Allies. Any vital attack on Servia imperils ,ihe < whole of the Balkans. It ia this fact which has safeguarded Servia from national destruction in revenge for the victory with which she affronted the Austrians in December. The Germans cannot smash Servia, whether to help Turkejr or not, without frightening the remainder of the Balkans out of their present 'watchful passivity. On the other lland, if Servia really were threatened by her huge enemies, she might readily hand over to Bulgaria that coveted southeastern strip (Macedonian ground) annexed as the result of the Balkan War. That is the price which, according to M. fiadoslavoff, will purchase Bulgarian bulJets and blood. THE RUSSIAN THEATRE. 'Events in Russia are mostly of a iwtnre not calling for special remark. !An outstanding statement is that preparations are being made to evacuate Dvinsk, a town on the Warsaw-Petro-grad railway about a hundred miles northward from Vilna. Petrograd is about 700 miles from Warsaw ; and some idea of the scope of the enemy's great flanking movement on the north is to be lad from the fact that Dvinsk is just about midway between the two cities. It stands on the River Dwina, along which the German west flank, attacking Eiga, proposed to march, upon the Petrograd railway. The Dardanelles campaign is still mys•terioua. Recent messages have suggested an increasing tendency on the part of the Turks to give up the struggle, but no faith can be put in them. To«lay Cairo reports' that the enemy is losing morale. His trenches are easier to take, and so on. But that means nothing. The taking of trenches is not so frequent an affair that because one or two were easily captured it is safe 10 deduce an impending collapse. Turkey is not going to give in till she has to. She is in the same struggle as the i-edt.of Europe. This thing has to be fought out, and Turkey will say she has had enough only when the deforce has been heavily crushed. NAVAL EVENTS. German reports tell of another naval skirmish in ( the' Baltic Sea, on Tuesday, when Russian ships were attacked off the island of Uto, in the southern part 'of the Aland group.^ It was apparently a trifling affair. With regard to the encounter off Riga, they state that submarines played a part in it, but that -their torpedoes all missed the German ships. In the North Sea, the British patrol steamer Ramsay was sunk by the German auxiliary pruiser Meteor, lately a " Hamburg- America liner. Both were only moderate sized vessels. Next day the Meteor found herself surrounded by British cruisers, and, after putting off the crew and a number of prisoners, including forty saved from the Ramsay, :her commander blew her up, in accord- \ ance with the German orders that no 1 (warship is to be aDowed to be captured. ?!A much larger British auxiliary cruiser, l r the P. and 0. liner India, was torpe{doed and sunk in the North Sea. Turkey has lost a useful little gun- 1 j boat, the Berk-i-Satvet, blown up by a > British, submarine. It is reported that j the Goeben has been torpedoed, and is ', aground, being patched up. ( This famous - t ship has been put out of action (on paper) . more often, perhaps, than any other I vessel that ever existed. The Blohm and ' iVoss Company, who built her, will, in « after years, be able to point with pride t to their work, for it has withstood pum- * mellings (again on paper) which, would have put any other ship out of sight for *~ ever. ;.' , In the Adriatic Sea there haa again , occurred the remarkable event of one " submarine sinking the other. ' Some time '' ago the Italian submarine Medusa was thua destroyed by an Austrian vessel; ihk time it is an Austrian, Ul2, and I one of Austria's latest, which has been J sunk. 1 The Italians have suffered another I coastal bombardment. " To-day's report that travellers arriving ' at Ftemantle by the Maloja were search- ■ ed for; photographs of new British warX ships is related to the common talk of * novel' departures in naval construction. •- There have been public announcement* !. f that new vessels embodying fresh idea* \ have been built during the war ; but * what the unconventional principles are "has not been stated. Nor as long as I Germany is unaware of them can they ;be divulged. It is not very likely that I such photographs as the public can get I til new vessels of known type would be -of special value to the enemy. Their . value would be in the fact that they be- ; tray something not known to be in use. j