ALLIES AT SALONIKA

Evening Star, Issue 16198, 21 August 1916, Page 1

ALLIES AT SALONIKA

BOtrnNU 01? WORE. ' ' ! BPEENDID BRITISH. , ti A w a , dy (ot^cs Q - Ward Pric o to** Sale tujca) there exists much nearer to the enemy! than tuo works round Salonika, a. strong IJjkJ ol detonce, wlioro fresh, trenches and more barbed wire arc daily deepening' and kn doubling each other. White G-ermaii aeroplanes, TO Irish thafl i you can hardly seo them, go droning ftcros* ' tiio aky watching tha long sections of open load below tho-ii covered > blaok echelons focus their telescopes upon tho working partics which they can ECO from; their oWn act- ? !«"<&<*, » wl sometimes <> rder n fwf s-liclls to bo tired at them, though tho ftra t ll A out ot cf f GctlTC «"'8» for "the gimsvaiicu tho enemy has at present. The men wiio moved marched out through tho gaps m their wire in the mood of boys oayitisr t U o school gates for tho. amount lKMoaja. .In the cool dawn hours of » summer monuiijr they defiled to tho rendezvous' . m t.ho plam from out of tho oloso, narrow 1 gullies into which they havo boen tucked', niany ot tnem, for six months on «nd, dljr' I pmg wiring, drilling; attacking, red floi* ' keeping all tho dull routine, of poaco soldier- I m« .without the excitement of war. ' Ii ever an order were welcome it was tho; ono that ended tho tedium of this sort of ■ite, where tho arrival of new gramophone records was an event, cmd tho tatinliotf sports a crisis; and called thorn from th«. Ola ttujr-outs and tho uuchangin"- yiow i<& irarch over tho skyline towards now horizon*! unci perhaps even, at last, a jncoting- witH \ tins enemy whom tho army has been prepay in;,' ior thee* seven months past) -without)/ most ot them over having had) tho ohanoo of catching- eig-lit of him. 1

It has not been the- sort of weather InMy ' that you would choose for n, walking tour< bsmg daily ovor 90 ini tho. shade. And tt>inarch 20 milea between sunrise and sunset ip. -a permanent fog of white dust, each man with a heavy pack on his back and a separate hnlo of flics round his head, might Peem (ho unpleasantest prospect, liberation from the captivity of then* o*» cntnmchrn«vl<* made the labor a delight andi vou would seo a battalion march Into its' blvouao abmght with almost as vigorous & sstride as' when it sot out at dawn the samo morning,; '■ PITCHING OAMP» Thoro is nothing moro pieturesquo than to'' watch a unit take up its quarters like thia' for the night. In half an hour you will sfco an empty dell, a deserted hillside, changed into a busy military town, with its ap- ! pointed districts each set out in regular;. ntrcct-s of iittlo shelter tents, its fixed drink- '■ ins; and washing planer, its cookhouse fires; burning, its own hospital established la a! bly marquee, its headquarters mess table set); up and lai-l, and its own telephone* and tele-'; graph office sending and receiving messages,' incessantly. The Staff captain, who rodVi ahead io choose its site, works his miraoWl even quicker than the genie of tho Arabianl Nights, _who needed a whole night to lolsa his magic city in the desert. J

And if you spend a night with the Britfifttf troops on tho march like this you see how Mil is i-.Jia.fi our army keeps in war that look oi!| frephncM and smartness that it in peace. The British soldier, us regwrdd! his personal habits, is probably tho cleanest in tho world. No matter how footsore thei men may be. no matter how exhausted by l " a long, loaded tramp in the sweltering heat,' t-lio _ Orsfc thing they do after getting theft' equipment off and their bivouac eet up- is"' to take their towel from their haversack olid \ mnko for the nearest stream. Tho seutrlesM posted to fix tho limits of the washing; J placets hnvel all they .'am do to regulate the j rush. Ju a few minutes there are firebj dozens, then hundred's, of men standing,! roost of them stark naked, by tho waterside,! washing themselves from head to foot. 1 There ar.j a good many civilians at homffi who ou;;ht to be taken, to seo the British! .-oiiiiers v,i'.:,'n. It w a "lesson ii> ikorough+l new. Face and neck and scalp disappear' under a thick layer of lather, and aro seourectl ami rubbed with an almost vindictive cnxxey;) «■■' i( they were, so much harness boiHfijl pclishrd. Then, after a tremendous "eloosh->j ing" -with water, tho head vanishes again into the fold:, of a towel so rough that it| might be made up into hair shirts for iU-;: and, fmaily, with much blowing and!; panting, tho man emerges clean, fresh, and;; content, with a face as red as n, poppy and 1 ' bright as the morning dew. A ireALTIIY ARMY, Tho men that come through this war will { indeed make splendid fathers for llic next! I'.ninaiioii. How much these coldiers at ; Salonika havo gained in their want of bigger : mu--clcs and broader chests, as a result of lbeii 1 training at homo and in France, followed by six months' uninterrupted good food, fresh air, and l plck-aud-shovol swinging li'-rc, I do not know, but I am certain you vxmld have been hard put to it to And such hefty fellows in tho towns they como from before tho war. ; Besides the marching columns, tho l'oad is • full of transport-, too. " There are packmules, .' limber waggon "5, and a long trail of motou Ionic;?, each, wit.li. its own particular maelisiroiu of dust. It is no light work to steer ;> iiirce-ton lorry up and down these steep Macedonian hills, over surfaces often covered with i>oft. sand, and invariably full of holctt and bumps, iiiat. send the driver flying up ticm hi-? seat, until ho is brought down again, by a knock on tho head l from the hood aiw.e. A couple of waggons overturned by the roadside are indications of what is llabhj to happen when an axle breaks under tha si rain. But gangs, sometimes of FronobV or British infantry, sometime? of Greek i:r, ilia-a labor, are at -work on the worstsiroioliCK breaking up t-ho stones which tho", lighs railway bring? them from tho quarry ] M-. ar by, and illlitig up the hollow places to J their prone-: level "1 expected a. good deal; v.d'i n I joined the Army," said a sarcastic ] u'halieni, to whom sympathy, a jimejuico vnd Ferrier, titi'l tho moniing'fi trophy of; li'.iikan, news wero offered, while our oalj Mopped to lot a supply column cross tho ! bri'-lirc: "bur, Vm lumped if t over: thought j I. idiouM live to find myself acting at? gaffes'; t« a, gang of .stonebrcakere." '- BUI/?AItTA'S AL-Td-KS.

Tho. <lis(i\!io3 between our Hues and thosa-f which tho ]»iil;;ar.s havo inside, or aro malting-, i v;:i:i's n\cm% this front tana a litt'.o mora \ 1 ijall a kilnmetro at the western -end, whewi : the Fi-';i:ch iircillory has fo? a long time been j daily. o!i!:;i;f-rfl with tho enemy, to 15 miles or j so at other pliu-os. The .\"o Miia's Laml; between i-;. o; coiiv:-.?, reruladv patrolled by! om:' own. c.iw.iry -and i ho' French. The Bui- i :;«.i's iuv? not t-a active, but they have many i i-!ii-!';r;iUouu ailies in iho form of eonufadjis, •' <>■: liiuigarlaii fryiic-iircurs, among the peas-; aiit.ry o: the if-ioa. Tho wholo of tbo'j Su-nma I'laii; t-; largely pconkd vM-ii vil-; lasers, of the Bulgarian race, Theso men are) r.s.cd to anus, and moat of them havo still' (,~.ii riik-o, which they kavj kept from tho! Uincs of the. old religious and nationalist! roniiladji warfare In Macedonia-. Tlioy ara'J clever enough to affect a. most, cordial fcolincf' t-ov.-uul.-3 aiiy strong party of allied troops I ikil, comes their, way, but they are quit-o ! oapablo, when a fiusail, isolated detachment ,' ;:i!!>:ar.i, of pulling their riiles out, of their hidhicr-plaoca and taking; our puopla bv surpn<;c> with a treacherous volley. So far, il» ik chicily tho French who havo had to suffer? in ~.-<:U way, and severo m-oasures will probably havo to bo taken before thoto secret a-j.h' lento of tho enemy aro suppressed. C-iitok vilkgoru, whom I saw while out with ouo of our cavalry patrols tho other day in tho direction of Deaurh'ssar, s.ay that they aro ready for flight at any moroarxb at the, lirst sign of the liulg-acrs "advancing further. They havo no illusions about tho "rustics th.-H, their old enemies ha-ra xeiuly for them. Already storks of imnalium unci free-handed slioothigs havo coma in. On tho contrary, the advance of tlra Allies filla thciu with joy, and they show no objection to the roivj-vai of their ca-ttlo to places behind' our jiur-.i to prevent them boin» carried off by miigar raids. It 1% rich, country, this broad, n;t.'- Struma Valley, and with stable government, like so much of Macedonia, would ba a Garden of Eden, over again. If yob Again it i.s to bo sprinkled with blood, it is to be hoped that this may bo tho last of all itfl irrigations of this land, and that ono effec? ot the campaign in the Balkans will bo t« c-cafo an intelligent, solidly-established ml* tor these regions, whoEe natural possibilities nave been so wcfully sacrificed to the-fruit- >