THE WAR

Evening Post, Volume XC, Issue XC, 7 October 1915, Page 6

THE WAR

The disembarkation of Entente troops at Salonika has not prevented Bulgaria from rejecting Russia's demand for the dismissal of the German officers, but it has unmasked the whole plot, and has led to the Bulgarian Premier prematurely announcing a Bulgarian military convention with Germany and Austria for the invasion of Servia. Incidentally, the Entente's bold action has encouraged the anti-war party in Bulgaria, and has impressed Greece and Rumania. In Greece it has already produced a political crisis, and the Kaiser's brother-in-law, who is King of Greece, has for the second time accepted the resignation of M. Venizelos. There is thus clearly an acute struggle between Greek nationalism and the Teutonic forces of the Court. In Rumania, the contending parties and the course of events are more obscure. The fact is that it had become necessary for the Entente to test the real attitude of th© three neutral States in the Balkans, in order to remove them from the danger of a triple plot by Germany. By the disembarkation at Salonika that test has been applied drastically to Bulgaria and Greece, in a lesser degree to Rumania. First fruits are the forcing of the hands of the Bulgarian and Greek Kings, the dragging into the light of the above-mentioned military convention, and a demonstration that the Opposition leaders in Greece are prepared to desert Servia. The. Premier of Rumania appears to be temporising, recognising that Bulgaria is "otherwise engaged." and being willing 1 to wait to see how Servia fares, militarily, between the German hammer and the Bulgar anvil, and how the Greek King with the German wife prospers (or fails) in his struggle with M. Venizelos. Meanwhile, the Entente has a grip on the Greek situation. It has a "leg-in" at Salonika, and Greece is, geographically, subject to naval pressure to a much greater degree than, is Bulgaria or Kumania. A big disadvantage is the fact that Balkan dynasties are so deeply rooted in Austrian or German Royal families. Great things are happening, and quickly. There would appear to be no longer any doubt that the disembarkation of an Entente army at Salonika, without the permission of the Greek Government, is a legal breach of the neutrality of Greece. In a way it recalls the case of Belgium, but Germany's forcible entry into that resisting country was made in circumstances, and with effects, obviously dissimilar. Of minor breaches of neutrality, a considerable number have been alleged against both sides. One of the most brutal was committed by the German navy when a British submarine was niranded on the coast of neutral Denmark; the Germans, onga&d tire -pa her,

and her defenceless crew, in the presence of a Danish destroyer. On the other hand, it has been contended that the British submarines operating in the Baltic must have passed through Swedish and Danish waters (the Baltic passages) in order to get there. It is at least equally true that, long before this, German submarines had committed similar breaches on their way from the Baltic to the North Sea. Further, it is contended that the Russians attacked a German ship in Swedish waters; and that Britain sank the Kaiser Wilhelm der Grosse in Spanish waters. Certain it is that' Britain sank the Dresden in Chilian waters, and — though there were provocative features in the Dresden's conduct — Britain promptly apologised to Chili. Passing from ship actions to land occurrences, there is the fact that Japan made use of Chinese territory to attack Tsingtau (Kiaochau) ; there is also the German occupation of Luxembourg, but that must really be bracketed with Belgium. . In singling out the cases of Belgium in 1914 and of Greece in 1915, it must again be emphasised that there is obviously no parallel. Any hesitation in Greece_ to _ welcome the Entente disembarkation is not popular but purely diplomatic. And even if the circumstances were similar, this argument is open fb the Entente: that it cannot,- as a belligerent, give away such advantages as its enemy seizes to the full. Self-preser-vation demands that Germany must not be allowed to have a monopoly of the benefits that arise from making international law subordinate to military necessity. What moral reproach attaches to this principle belongs to the belligerent that first propounded it. In the academic argument that will follow the_ war, all acts in breach of neutrality, major or minor, will tell morally against the doer; but there are distinctions of time, place, and circumstance that will not be overlooked. And, in any case, while it is a matter for regret that the academic argument should be weakened, our first practical necessity is to win the war. Recent German reports have several times mentioned the use of monitors in the Allies' bombardment of the Belgian coast, and one of the later references to five of these vessels may be regarded as proof tha.t the Allies — probably the British — have increased their equipment in this class of vessel. Prior to this war, the monitor was probably never seriously contemplated for use in naval operations in the open sea. The monitor is a craft primarily designed for river fighting — slow and of small draft But when hostilities broke out, the Vickers yards at Barrow contained three quaint vessels— Javary, Medeira, and Solimoes— constructed to the order of Brazil. They were requisitioned and renamed Humber, Mersey, and Severn. They displace 1250 tons; are 265 ft long, 49ft wide, and B£ft deep ; and they draw only 4£ft of water. Their speed is 11£ knots; they carry two 6-inch guns and two 4.7-inch howitzers for high angle fire, and four 3-pounder guns ; and they carry only 100 men each. They are heavily armoured with side-plating from the upper 'deck to well below the waterline. These three vessels were first in action off the Belgian coast, where their shallow draft enabled them 'to get far closer in shore than vessels of the recognised sea-going types, and also, it is said, made them immune to the attacks of torpedoes, which travelled -too deep to strike them. But they were by no means confined to "Home" waters, for two if not all three were used in the final attack on the German cruiser Konigsberg as she lay "bottled up" on the Rufiji River, in German East Africa ; and they also assisted in the bombardments of the Dardanelles forts. The monitors thus demonstrated their special efficacy for operations against land. By far the greatest part of the actual naval fighting of the Allies has so far been directed against shore positions, and this is a class of fighting for which highly developed warships are in some respects not wholly suitable ; for instance, they may be sunk without ever deriving in action any of the special benefits of their great mechanical equipment for speed. It is obviously unnecessary lo run away from a fixed coastline at high speed. It should not occasion surprise, therefore, if it is learned that the three ex-Brazilian monitors are but the nucleus of a big squadron, perhaps of bigger and more powerfully armed vessels. Indeed, one message has shown that improvised "flat-boats" have been used against the Dardanelles in the shape of barges mounting heavy guns.