ECHOES OF THE WAR

Evening Post, Volume XC, Issue 86, 9 October 1915, Page 13

ECHOES OF THE WAR

NOTES AND CAMPAIGN INCIDENTS

STRONG MAN OF GREECE CAREER OF M. VENIZELOS REMARKABLE DIPLOMACY. The " strong man of Greece/-' M. Venizelos, was born 51 years ago in Cythera, one of the lonian Islands. At the time of his birth Crete was engaged in one of her most deEjjerate attempts to throw off the Turkish rule, which ended in failure, accompanied by terrible massacres. M. Venizelos'6 father was a Cretan, and christened his son " Eleutherios," signifying liberty, freedom, as expressing the hopes of all the Cretans at that time. Of his early life little is known. He studied law in Athens and Switzerland, and had settled down as a practising lawyer in Crete when, at the age of 25, the iniquity of the Turkish rule roused him, and from then onwards he employed his time in agitating both actively and passively against that rule. He" was out as an insurrectionist on many occasions, but he came untouched in spite of, or more pnobably on account of, his absolute recklessness x>f his own life. Crete was given control of her own affairs, though not without the intervention of the Powers. ' I Venizelos took the position of Minis- | ter for Finance in the local Government, , but ii> that capacity he soon came into ] collision with Prince George of Greece, the High Commissioner with whose ideals and methods of governance he had no sympathy. He was an advocate of Cretan autonomy as opposed to annexation to Greece, realising that the latter course would be opposed by all the Powers of Europe, and would only bring about a conflict with Turkey, while autonomy was within the bounds of pos-* sibility. When the antagonism between Prince George and himself became acute he again took to the hills, and organ- j ised the party of revolt to such good purpose that Prince George, in spite of •the support of the Concert of Europe, was compelled to leave the island. Venizelos then returned to guide the destinies ! of Crete, which he controlled with a firm and steady hand. CALLED TO GREECE. In 1909 was in a parlous state and on the brink of revolution. She had not y&%. recovered from the fiasco of 1897. Her administration, her army, her navy, were all sunk deep in corruption. Her Royal family was exceedingly unpopular, but there were signs that the time of regeneration was at hand. The Military League had come into existence, and was all-powerful in the country. They demanded reforms, but were also distinctly anti-Royalist. Having no distinguished leader, they invited Venizelos to come over from Crete to assist them. Partly because of what he had achieved there, and also since he had ejected Prince George, they considered that he would be able to get rid of King George from Greece. ' Venizelos accepted the invitation, and entered the Greek Parliament. The task before him was enormous, but he set to work boldly, and soon obtained the support of the people. Once that was secured he never again lost it, though he often carried out measures which were against the wishes of his supporters. He refused to overthrow the Royal house, realising that it was. a real asset to the future greatness of Greece, and that she had a much greater chance of success as a kingdoms than as a republic, in spite of the fact that in a republic he would undoubtedly have been the first President. He restored the Royal house to j favour, and 1 placed it on a firm foundation. THE BALKAN LEAGUE. Venizelos then proceeded to a thorough I reform of the internal condition of Greece, and succeeded beyond all the bounds of hope. In order to further strengthen the Balkans against European intrigues he participated in the plan of forming a Balkan League. He was quite willing that Turkey should enter this league, but soon found he could make no pro- j gress in that direction. He then approached Bulgaria, and finally succeeded ! with her, but only on account of lv's extreme " broad-mindedness in entering into the agreement without any guarantees as to the division of any territory that might be taken from Turkey, without which nothing could have been achieved with Bulgaria. It became plain at once that though the idea of the Balkan League was primarily to ensure the solidity of the Balkans, yet without Turkey the first thing the league would do would be to combine against that country. Once Bulgaria was persuaded, the rest! was easy, and the first Balkan war was the result. The excellent performances of the Greek army in that and the second war were due chiefly to the reforms that Venizelos had introduced, substituting French for German instructors.^ The second Balkan war followed tfie first, and the treaty of Bucharest fully justified Venizelos's methods, and confirmed him in the esteem of his people. His conduct of the negotiations, both in London and Bucharest, finally established him in the J eyes of Europe as one of her leading statesmen. A truly astounding career, his success in European politics is all the more remarkable that he had never been out of the Balkans until after the first Balkan war. His attendance at the Conference of London afforded his first opportunity of visiting France and England. French he learned in the course of his law studies; of other languages besides Greek he had no acquaintance ; but he employed his spare time, while an insurrectionary, in teaching himself "English and German, in spite of the fact that he had no one with whom he could speak those languages. ALWAYS TOLD THE TRUTH. What is the secret which has enabled this quite obscure man to obtain this preeminent position. M. Take Jonescu, the leading Rumanian statesman, once asked him this question. " I have always told my citizens the truth, and the whole truth, and I have always been ready at any moment to relinquish my power without the slightest regret," was his reply. He is inspired by one idea, to bring all the Greeks under Greek rule, thus giving Greece her true place in the world He possesses an extreme broadness of outlook, which enables him to look far ahead and see each crisis as it appears in its proper perspective He is filled with the true burning spirit of the patriot, and his wonderful personal magnetism has enabled him to inspire his people with' his own feelings, and to sway them to do what he wishes. He has given many notable examples of this power. At the very outset of his career in Greece in 1909 the popular demand was that the General Assembly should become permanent, but, feeling that that would be too strong an attack on the dynasty whoae existence was really vftal i

that the Assembly should be only re- i visionary. This resolute attitude came | as a great surpinse to the Athenian | crowd, who were accustpmed to politicians who followed the popular demand rather than opposed it. But Vemzelos succeeded in carrying them with him. Again, though himself a Cretan, he refused to allow the Cretan deputies to ! enter the Greek Parliament, in the face i of public opinion, since he knew such j a course would inevitably lead to war with Turkey, for which the time had ' not yet come. Another great achievement was the change he wrought in Greek opinion, i which enabled him to bring about the i alliance with Bulgaria, and thus make ' the Balkan League a possibility. After I the Balkan wars he again successfully opposed public opinion when he refused to countenance the revolt in Epirus j against inclusion in Albania, knowing that such a proceeding would bring down the displeasure of Europe upon Greece, and might involve the loss of all she had gained in the two wars. There have been few men who could j thus 'withstand almost unanimous popular opinion, and persuade the people to act against their will, bnt in each case j he has been fully justified in his action. ! THE DENTIST IN WAR In view of the fact that a Dental Corps is being formed in Australia for service at the front, an article on "Our Soldiers' Debt to the Dentist," by "A. Physician," which appeared in the Daily Mail, of 23rd July, is of interest. The writer says : — One of the hardest-working men at the front, and one who has received nothing like the recognition his services deserve, is the dentist. ' The need for dentists at the front may not be very obvious to those of us at home who do not understand the hazards of modern war. However, characterised as it is by trench fighting, in which the head is the part most exposed to the fire of the enemy, a large percentage of the most severe injuries are suffered in the face and jaws. These wounds are extremely liable to become "septic" (that is, poisoned by the products of microbes), and even without that they leave the wounded men in a deplorable condition. When the jaw is fractured by a bullet or a -fragment of shell casing the soldier can very often neither eat nor speak, and if a competent dentist-sur geon, were not at. hand to give him immediate relief his fate may be conjectured. The dentist is therefore as necessary a part of the army as the surgeon or the nrurse. Marvellously skilful woi'k has been done by the dentists attached to the Army in cases of this kind. Generally speaking, the first step is to take an X-rays photograph. This, by the way, can now be taken as a "snapshot" m place of the former slow process. The fractured jaw is then modelled in plaster and a cast of the sound jaw is made. The model is studied by the ientist, its defects are corrected so as to lecure the "bite," and the splint which is to restore the fractured jaw to usefulness is made to fit the model. i Th« old method, was to manipulate the jaw into the nearest possible approach to its normal state and then to apply a splint. This new method of making the splint from tie perfectly adapted model, and then fitting \he soldier's jaw to the splint, is so much superior that in many cases very l±tle or no deformity remains. Sometimes half the jaw is shot away, but even tn& terrible accident is not beyond the resources of the dental surgeon, who inseits a temporary metal plate, around which dense fibrous tissue comes to be formed in the course of time. So marvellous is the reparative power of nature tiiat when the metal plate is removed She hard fibrous tissue adequately supplies the place of the lost bone, and veiy little disability remains. Instead of the metal plate a piece of bone may be inserted, or, as in the case of one wounded soldier, the lost fragment of the ja.w may be replaced by a piece of bone from his own leg. HeTe the Germans eeem to be ahead of us- As early as last May they had no fewer than 810 dentists with their field forces, in addition to a much larger number working at home. Canada and the United States, two countries not given to lagging behind, have both established permanent army dental corps. In ordinary life, during times of peace, the disability consequent on defective teeth may not be acutely troublesome. Under active service conditions, however, when a man may have to eat anything which is available, and when, if he cannot properly chew and digest it, his strength will fail, the" state of the teeth becomes a matter of supreme importance. THE OLD & THE NEW TRENCH WARFARE ON GALLIPOLI THE TURK AT BAY. (Prom Malcolm Eoss, Official War Correspondent with the N.Z. Forces.) 30th July. There can be no doubt now that wo have the Turk at bay on his own Peninsula. For some time past he has' been ■very quiet, and a threatened attack from a reinforced Turkish Army ha* not, so far, materialised. We were told that Enver Pasha was getting together another army of 100,000 men to drive us into the sea. We may have doubts as to whether his new army has arrived in anything like the numbers mentioned, but we know we have not been driven into the sea and that we are not likely to be. In the meantime, our forces also are, more or less, marking time, but before this reaches New Zealand you will most certainly have heard news of importance. Meantime, there is little for the war correspondents to write about. In modern warfare there are periods during which whole armies sit down in ditches and look at each other — generally through periscopes — over earthy or sand-bagged parapets, neither side daring to show a head, or even a bit of a head. We have reached that stage on the Peninsula — both at Helles and at Anzae. During such times an army, to use a colloquialism, becomes "bored stiff." The monotony is varied only by bomb-throw-ing in places where the rival forces are but a few yards apart, and by bombarding on sections where hundreds of yards intervene. Occasionally, however, the shrapnel and the high explosives burst with a diabolical accuracy on an enemy trench only a few yards beyond our own lines. At this latter game we have a decided advantage over the Turk, for not only have we more guns and shells on land, but we have also the ship.* that patrol the Gulf of Saros. The Turk, apparently, has to be sparing of hie field-gun ammunition, and there are 'now also Indications that he is en--immfim.^ txs&'m Agnates sm» l»

husbanding his cartridges fqr rifle firs. A refuger. who reached an adjoining island from Constantinople the other day, brought news that matters were coming to a bad pass there, and from other sources I _ learn that there is a spirit of gloom in the capital, and the peopl* cannot understand why no British prisoners are arriving there ! The New Zealanders, in common with the other troops, are anxious to have another go at the enemy, and on all hands disappointment ie expressed that he has not come on. For the time being, the safest place on the battlefield is the trenches! That is one of the anomalies of modern warfare. But a change will come over the scene ere long. THE NEW AND THE OLD. The other day I was able to inspect the remains of an inflammatory shell that was fired into our area of- aefence. The charred case was three inches in diameter and 15 inches long. The shell, which evidently came from a mortar, made a small hole in the ground and covered an area of Bft diameter in flames. The same evening, at Achi Baba, the enemy threw liquid into one of the French trenches and endeavoured unsuccessfully to set it alight with bombs. This Peninsula, as everyone knows, has been the scene of battles dating away back to the time of the 'Venetian Doges, and probably even to prehistoric times, when the real troglodytes lived in habitations somewhat similar to those dug by -the New Zealanders on. the outer flanks of Sari-Bair. It is somewhat strange that in the warfare of the present day, when aE the destructive inventions of modern science are let loose upon the battlefield, one of our men digging near the New Zealand Field Ambulance Station should come upon a relic of the old fighting in the shape of a round stone cannon-ball. Stone cannonballs were, however, in existence on the Peninsula in comparatively recent years, for Lord Dufferin. on his way to Constantinople, in 1881, states that on reaching the Dardanelles he paid a visit to the fort where he saw two enormous guns, that threw stone balls "like those you see at the doorsteps ,of country houses." "Indeed," he adds in a letter to Lady Dartrey, "I have four of them at Clandeboye." Apropos, a friend here, who was in the last Balkan War, teUs me that similar stone cannon balls used in the time of Napoleon, were dug up there in the Albanian trenches, and at the old forts put out of action by our battleships at Cape Helles there are still many such cannon, balls to bo seen. ' .TURKISH PRISONERS. While the people of Constantinople ar» puzzled at the non-arrival of British prisoners there, they would — could they visit the Peninsula — be enlightened regarding the other phase of the question." The Allied forces have taken quite a. number of prisoners, and there have been several deserters from the Turkish lines. Such prisoners as one has seen appear strong and hardy and well fed, though rather down-at-heel in the matter of clothing. Their clothes are much too heavy for a summer campaign, and frequently one sees a man with his bare toes sticking through his .boots. Most of ihe prisoners seem only too pleased to have got away from their own firing-line. One who surrendered to the Otago Battalion the other day complained of illtreatment from his own non-commission-td officers. He said his corporal had quarrelled with him and had bit him ! FOR OUR GRAVES A TREE-PLANTING SCHEME. (FSOIt OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT.) LONDON, 26th August. As the outcome of a suggestion by a Canadian member of the Overseas Club, t th« club has decided upon "a very comprehensive scheme of planting suitable trees over the graves of overseas soldiers who have fallen on the battlefields of the great war all over the world. Mr. Fane Sewell first suggested that maple seeds should be sown over the graves of the Canadian dead in Flanders, and the Central Committee of the Club has taken up the suggestion and developed it, and now proposes to sow native trees on the graves of all oversea soldiers. At Langemarcke, on the old Ypres salient, where the Canadians first covered themselves with glory during the terrible 'gas attacks in April, the Oveaseas Club will plant an avenue of maples when the ground has been recovered by the victorious Allies. " When the trees attain full growth," writes a correspondent of Land and Water, "they will stand as sacred groves. Each spring as they burst into* young leaf, each autumn as they ledden to the fall, they will bear testimony to the undying glory and courageous self-sacrifice of those brave Canadian regiments that took their place willingly and spontaneously in the fighting line of the Empire." The wattle (mimosa) has been selected k>r Australia, and the "te tree" for New Zealand. Exactly what is meant by the latter the committee has yet to decid«. What is popularly called "tea tree" is the manuka, which is not particularly characteristic of New Zealand. In fact, many of the wounded have told me that the historic hillsides of Gallipoli are covered with a scrub which is very like manuka. On the other hand, if the "ti" tree, popularly known as the cabbage tree, is referred to, then the committee has selected a tree which is not only very picturesque and characteristic of New Zealand, but is also a very sturdy grower in just such conditions as it would be asked to thrive in in Gallipoli. It, '"moreover, grows very freely from seed. AN INTERNED BARON GERMAN INTRIGUES IN EGYPT. (FROM 9IR OWN CORRBSPONDBNT.J LONDON, Ist September. Th© career of Baron Otto yon Gumppenberg throws an interesting light on German intrigues to stir up hostility to England in th« Near and Middle East. The Cairo correspondent of the Indian Pioneer relates :— " The Baron is, or was, an officer in the Prussian artillery He made the acquaintance of Enver Pasha when that worthy was Military Attache to the Ottoman Embassy in Berlin. The two young men— the Baron is still under 30 — struck up a warm friendship. Baron Otto had a turn^for Oriental scholarship and learnt Arabic. During the war between Italy and Turkey in 1911 he obtained leave- to visit Tripoli, and, accompanied by two other German officers, he set out for his destination. . "As the direct sea route was barred by the Italian fleet, they proposed to reach Tripoli via Cairo; but the authorities in Egypt refused permission to cross the frontier, even when the Baron declared that he was going in charge of a medical mission. He contrived, however, to evade their vigilance, and, before very long, joined his Iriend, Enver Pasha, at Derna. Enver" gladly accepted his services, not as a surgeon, but as a military officer, and he was presently engaged in drilling Turkish troops. His chance of leading them in the field" was spoiled, however, by the signature of the Trpaty of Lausanne "In 1913 he was again in Cairo, and from that time till the outbreak of thepresent war hs seem* to hay« been on

the Egyptian Nationalist Party. H© is also said to have paid a visit to th© Senus6i Sheikh, and to have been engaged actively in encouraging tile antipathy of Arab tribes to the Italians in Tripoli and the British in Egypt. But, as he was now able to pass himself off as an Arab with little risk of detection, it was very difficult to follow his movements. Shortly after war between Great Britain and Germany was declared he suddenly disappeared from Cairo, and till the other day nothing more was beard of him, though the Egyptian Government made anxious enquiries in all directions. But the Baron's adventurous career was destined to be interrupted. A Turkish sailing ship, bound for Syria, was held up in the Mediterranean by one of our cruisers. There was a solitary passenger on board, who protested that lie was" an American citizen, and produced a United States passport. Sc-rue-thing or other aroused suspicion, and it was thought best to take .both passenger and crew to Alexandria. There the Baron was at once identified,, and his mission for the time being is at an. end."THE SONG OF HATE AUTHOR RELENTS. (PROM OUR OWN COERBSPOKDENI.) LONDON, 25th August. Ernest Lissauer, who was decorated by the Kaiser for that typically German masterpiece " The Song of Hate," is now apparently chastened and almost penitent. Some courageous professors and officials in Bavaria have had the song banned for children's use, as tending to breed unworthy feelings in the young German mind. Lissauer does not protest. In fact, in the Berliner Tageblatt he agrees that "The Song of Hate" is not intended for the young, and that he has often advised against its publication in school books. "'The Song of Hate,' " he declares, " was written as the result of a passionate impulse in the first weeks of the war, when the impression created by England's declaration of war wa-s fresh." He says that he neither foresaw the success which the song has attained nor the attacks now made upon it. He denies that, except in isolated cases, he has received a pfepnig as the result ' of the numerous reprints :—: — " That thus far I have been found unfit for service in the field is a source of sorrow to myself, but unfitness for physical military service cannot impose on me the duty to perform no intellectual military service. My indifference to applause and to the chance of following up my success is clear from the fact that during the eleven months since the appearance of ' The Song of Hate ' I have not written 'a single line of this sort. The ' Song of Hate ' is a political poem directed, not against individual Englishmen, ;but against England as a political force,, and' collectively against tne English Will to destruction which threatens Germany. In the excitement of those days my feelings were deeply stirred by this. Whether these feelings can continue with the cool consideration of practical politics is another question." LIEUT. LAN FINDLAY A HEADMASTER'S TRIBUTE. (FROM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT.) LONDON, 26th August. Lieut. Lan Calcutt Eindlay, son of Sir John and Lady Findlay, met his death in the recent severe fighting in front of Hooge. He was in the front trenches, when he was shot severely through the leg and had to be carried back a very long distance through tortuous communication trenches to the aid post. It is understood that he was dead j before he had been carried beyond the zone of fire. Lieut. Findlay, who was educated at Wellington College and at the United Service College at Windsor, had entered at the Inner Temple, and got his commission in December last. He was only eighteen years of age, and is stated to be the youngest man of Jesus College, Cambridge, to fall in the war. The headmaster of the United Service College writes of him that he was the beau ideal of a public school man, and that his splendid influence for good, for justice, and for pure manliness, will long endure at the college. His captain writes : "He was wounded while doing his duty, superintending the digging of a communication trench up to a captured line, quite regardless of a heavy .shell and machine-gun fire. Before this 'he had brought his platoon up under heavy fire, and his initiative and leadership on this occasion were equal to anything I have seen out here." WAR CONTINGENT ASSOCIATION HOSPITALITY FOR OUR MEN. (FROX OUR OWN CORRESPONDKKT.) LONDON, 27th August. Numerous excursions in and around London for New Zealanders on furlough and for the wounded in hospitals, have been arranged by the sub-committee of the New Zealand War Contingent Association. These have included motordrives to Walton and Hampton Court. The New Zealand Shipping Company has generously offered to supply a char-a-banc from time to time, so that the wounded may be taken out for drives. Something like a hundred theatre tickets have been distributed, as well as tickets for concerts, the Zoological Gardens, and the theatrical garden party at the Botanic Gardens. Many offers of hospitality have been received, and the committee is in a position to send ■> large numbers of convalescent men to beautiful country homes. Subscriptions to the amount of £120 have been received. The hospital at Walton-on-Thames has been supplied, through the committee, with games of all kinds, including lawn tennis, golf, croquet, clock golf 3 bull boards, etc., while Mrs. Riddiford has arranged for the use of a piano. The committee is making arrangements for concerts to be given at Mount Felix about once a week, in addition to excursions up the Thames and by motorcars. Members of the sub-committee have visited hospitals all over the country where New Zealanders are under treatment, and 120 parcels have been sent to men in hospital, containing shaving kit, writing paper, stamps, • and little personal comforts. Fruit, cigarettes, etc., have also been, supplied.