THE WAR

Evening Post, Volume XC, Issue 92, 16 October 1915, Page 4

THE WAR

— , «» Athens reports that "the railway on the Bulgarian border" has been cut at a distance of 56 miles from Nish. If this means the main railway (MoravaVardar line) it has probably been cut near Vrania, between Nish and Uskub. Here the railway runs comparatively near to the Bulgarian frontier, and would be "liable to be cut by raiding parties, large enough to overcome the guards and blow up bridges, but not large enough to permanently establish themselves astride the line. In the lower Morava, east of the river, the Germans claim to hay* captured works round Pozharevatz It is_ hardly to be hoped that the Servian* will hold the enemy in this district. Servia's policy hitherto has been to retreat upon a stronger line in the mountains, and this poficy will no doubt be carried out. Last year the Austrians penetrated south and east of Valjeva before the sudden counter-attack of the Servians rolled them back disastrously to the Danube. That an unaided Servia will repeat its own brilliant history on this occasion is a matte* more of hope than of calculation. This time Servi* has to repel German as well as Austrian in front, and Bulgar on the flank. Can the Entente aid come up in time? Is it sufficiently effective to roll back the Bulgar? This is the great issue for Servia. Not only are Servian interests at stake: If Servia falls, it will be much more difficult to strike, from Macedonia, a preventive blow across the route that the Germans wiil take to Turkey. Infact, such a thing may become impossible. Also, if Servia falls, the political position in the Balkan States will go from bad to worse. How are the Macedonians viewing this struggle? They have only been subjects of Servia since 1913, and Bulgaria claims that they are Bulgar in sympathy. It has been stated in Britain on good authority that Servia met with difficulty in recruiting in this newly-con-quered Macedonian territory. On the other hand, both Servia and Greece affirm that their new Macedonian subjects come eagerly to the colours. Macedonians have seen so much of raids and counter-raids, wars and counterwars, and alternate oppression by each faction in turn, that their taste in the selection of sides may have well become blunted and their sympathies automatic. Still, the Macedonian population has been a big feature in the military scheme of ; and one of the factors that checked the BulgarServian negotiations for a peaceful arrangement was Servia's inability to give immediate delivery of such part of Macedonia as she was prepared to cede to Bulgaria. A post-war delivery of the ceded territory did not appeal to the Bulgarian Government, which wanted the goods at once. • Explaining to the Italian Tribuna the difficulty of complying with this Bulgarian demand, the Servian Minister to Rome, M. Ristich, said : "We must not forget that a large contingent of the Servian armies is furnished from Macedonia, which Bulgaria claims the right to occupy immediately. Now, this would lower the morale of the Servian Army and disorganise it. This cannot be to the interest of our Allies or of' their military position, Servia being in such a strategic position as regards the whole war line of the Allies a« to influence the trend of affairs. If we were unable to ensure the impossibility of a connection between the Austro-German and the Turkish .armies, the whole situation in the Balkans would be irreparably compromised, to the detriment of the Allies." These words, in the lighfc of recent events,, have lost none of their significance. When Mr. L. C. Amery recently discussed the possibilities of a linking up of the German with the Turkish armies, he emphasised the accession in men that the Turkish Empire would represent. It is true that a junctioning with the Turkish ally wan-Id give Germany and Austria the direct assistance of considerable trained armies and considerable reserves of men. But the value of Turkish untrained reserves can easily be exaggerated. It is easy to talk of round millions of Turkish population, but only a proportion is Turk. There was a time when the new and pseudo-democratic regime of the Young Turks, following the dethronement of Abdul Hamid, promised to make the Christian and non-Turk races a part, and a useful part, of the Turkish Army. That promise failed, and the Turkish tiger has renewed hi 6 stripes, as Armenia testifies. So the heterogeneous Turkish Empire, viewed as a recruiting ground, must not be taken at its face value. For instance, in the Mesopotamian campaign, Turkey'? Arab irregulars preyed alternately on either side ; they were auxiliaries to the winner when the pursuit began. The quantity of true Turkish material waiting the German drill-ser-geant is limited ; and mercenaries raised indiscriminately in Asia Minor would be no better than (if as good as) new levies raised elsewhere If, then, the German Balkan campaign is to be judged as an attempt to break through into a new recruiting ground, the attainment of that object would not be in any way decisive. Britain and France have better recruiting ground*, peopled by finer mes than the nomadic tribes and subject races of Asiatic Turkey. In North Africa, France has a bigger, less distant, and equally amenable population to draw upon; and, of course, there is India, who on her own account has occupied the Persian Gulf territory, and sent an expedition to German East Africa. The Indian, the Algerian, or the Senegalese makes as good a soldier as the Turk, and a better soldier than the flotsam of Asia Minor. To give the principle a wider scope and bearing: even if this war of attrition developed into a contest in the military utilisation of non-European races, then Germany would be more than ever at a disadvantage. , News from France and Belgium suggests ''that the battle in the west is again becoming intense. The Lokal Anzeiger regards the position in the Champagne as critical. In the La Bassee-Arras sector the British gained about a thousand yards of front south and west of Hulluch, " but," reports Sir John French, "we were unable to maintain the position owing to the enemy's shellfire." The enemy's guns, having the exact range of their own trenches, made it too hot for their new occupants, and the British had to yield the hardly-won ground. All along the line the mastery seems to go with gunfire, and it is therefore not surprising to hear from Clio High Commissioner that there is "'a general violent bombardment alons; the whole '-veytorn front," Apropos, it is notable that jhe^ miiafcj

lions complaint is now seldom or never neard of. Does this mean that the great workshop of Britain is at last | really in its stride, and that the problem of munitions supply has been solved? If so, this is a great triumph for Mr Lloyd George. There are those who believe that this statesman will find other spheres to conquer before the war is over Of all reputations, his has perhaps suffered least. 'Attention must be paid to the report of a Daily Telegraph correspondent concerning a possible retreat of the Germans from North Belgium. A northern flanking movement against the enemy seems to be the ultimate object of British strategy. Monitors and other warships help by bombarding the Belgian coast, but it is doubtful whether a landing will be attempted so long as the possibility of an advance by land remains. That possibility is mainly a matter of heavy guns and ammunition. A track blasted through the German lines in j North Belgium would redeem the Bel- ! gian coast and terminate the Zeebrugge peril.