DISILLUSIONED

Evening Star, Issue 16225, 21 September 1916, Page 6

DISILLUSIONED

SAD GERMAN ADMISSIONS

COCKSURE NO LONGER.

EXHAUSTION COMING

THE BALKAN OFFENSIVE.

[By Critjcds.]

There is always a. tendency to minimise’ one's own louses ami exaggerate those of the enemy; hut when the enemy themselves begin to squeal wo may be confident that they are catching m pretty badly. 'The correspondent of tho ' Frankfurter Zeitung ’ frankly admits that tho.Allies, “with their crusning artillery and infantry superiority, are indulging id perfectly horrible orgies of modern and scientific destruction.” Hire is a frank abandonment of all pretence that the German losses a.lO small, and an equally frank admisc.on cf the superiority nl the Allies. Germany most ho feeling* sick to allow such admissions to be publicly made, and the. Censor to pass them. Yet what have Lie Germans not a dmitted now I They hayo yielded the palm to -the Allies at all points-. They leave confessed that our superiority in tho air is ovorwhelmin", and have bitterly complained of tho feeling of impotence at seeing the allied air squadrons confidently circling in tho upper regions while their own aviators are compelled to hug the ground. They have confessed to our overwhelming superiority in artillery amt in numbers of infantry. They havo_ confessed that we possess an overwhelming superiority in reserves. Now they admit that they are the almost impotent victims of " perfectly horrible orgies of scientific destruction,” and ask ‘How long can this slaughter last?” What a change from the ariogant cocksureness of a few months ago, when the Gc; mans were proclaimed to ho superior to tne rest of tho world in everything! If it lo true that confession is good for the soul, then onr German friends are now reaping the benefits of valuable moral exercises, for their confessions amount to an. admission that they are being beaten at all their own special games, and all along the line. Nothing bub the coldchill of despair could have brought them to this. SOME figures. Why they are complaining is illustrated hy some figures which have come most- appropriately to hand. One of veeterdav’s cabice alleges that the total number of prisoners captured hy thc Allies since July 1 amounts to 490,660. The Russian offensive, however, commenced at the beginning of June, and if tlie killed and wounded bear any reasonable pi-o[K>rtiuu the enemy’s losses during the past three. months must have been terrific. Some light is -Un-own upon the numbers by Sir Douglas Haig's statemerit that 29 divisions have been withdrawn. beaten and broken, from before tho British on the. Somme alone since the beginning of the present offensive. Assuming a. division to have consisted n f three brigades, as is most probable, they wouid number 21,000 lo each division, or a total of 609,000. The military critic of the ‘Westminster Ggz.ette ’ •suggests -that two-thirds of each unit would be lost before it was withdrawn, but suppose we make the. moro conservative assumption of one half. That gives losses amounting lo 3C4.500 before the British 011 the’ Somme alone. As tho b reach have captured even larger number.rof prisoners and guns thanVe have, it is a. fair assumption that they have inflicted even heavier losses, and it is probable that tho Somme offensive has cost the enemy over 700.000 men in two mouths and a-half. But the Somme is only a small fraction of the. enemy’s defensive lines, and they are losing* on an enormous scale along* all theft fronts. Probably a million men per month is not a.n over-estimate of their present scale of casualties, and it will steadily increase as onr plans and resources develop. Thcv cannot Jong endure that. - CLOSING ON MONASTIR.

Although there is nothing official at (he moment of writing, all reports from the Balkans agree that the Allies are. approaching Monastir. Athens declares that onr forces are within nine miles, while Mr Ward Price, cabling from Salonika, puts the distance at 14 miles. Another tedonika cable states that tho Serbian cavalry is advancing towards Rosna, which stands, a few miles to the north of Lake Pre»ba. If that is correct it would appear as if the allied left had marched right round by the west of the lake, which is not altogether improbable. We ought soon to hear of the Italians from Ya.lona. A road suitable for wheeled traffic runs from Bnnti Qua rant a (a port on the Albanian coast aoqut 50 miles south of Vafona) to Monaslir At one point it passes throueh Greek territory, but that is not likely 1o stop the Italians. Three days Vo wo hoard that they liad occupied Pnli f ]- tastro, near Argyro-Castro, tho latter place hpMig only a few miles to the. north of tiia banti QnarantorMonastif road. Tliis seems to indicate that thev propose to advance upon Monastir by'ft. southern route through Rontza, and their advance should bo unopposed after ft ail rid v'c tore at Fiorina. STILL OBSCURE, liiei-o is still no definite light-on Dm Dobtudja situation. ono of yesterday’s ■ ater cables contained a German claim that JiacKensen had penetrated the RussoRumanian position. Bucharest, however cairns that “skilful Russo-Rnmanian strategic, movements in the Dobrndja resiufceo m such a shortening of the front tlwt the enemy s position critical.” But a short front is not tho thing to tonder \ on Macker-men 9 position critical, only a crossing ot Danube in his rear is ]ik- e I T to do that, and later reports are said to indicate that he is increasingly pressing tho Russo-Rumamans 12 miles from tho Constanza railway. If ft Allies hold their gronnd toe situation will become fairly clear; but if they are driven back again it will make one wonder what they are about. It as true that tho farther‘Mackenseu advances into the Dobrudia* ft greater the chances of a successful" crossmg of ft Danube behind him; but any further retirement will cost the. RussoRumamans the loss of Constanza and the bridge across the Danube, and theso are not likely to be voluntarily sacrificed.

around ITALIOZ. Reports from both sides am*c-e tlinf a furious Struggle is raging on “both banks of the Dniester, near Hallcz, bub at present matters appear well balanced, and singularly little Information is comiim through. The fiercest fighting is takin” place on the bank© ot the Narajowk.a. a tributary of the Dniester to tho north’ of Halicz, between ft Zlota Ldpa and ft Gnila Lipa. Here tho enomv are indulg mg in desperate counter-attacW The present Russian- onslaught will threaten Lemberg if successful, and in anv case putting pressure on the enemy will prevent them from reinforcing other points. Tlie vigor of the Russian attack here, together with Rumania,’3 continued advance in Transylvania, has a reassuring effect when one contemplates the advance of the enemy in the Dobrndja, Russia has evidently abundant forces available. It would pay her to send hall a million men Bulgaria, and she will probably do so if necessary. Rumania and Russia together should be able to throw half a million men into the Dobrndja alone if they are needed there to stop Mackeriben, so wo can await future developments with equanimity, confident in the Russian strategists, GREECE. Greece, ns usual, is fertile in dubious reports, Tho newspaper ‘Embros’ declares that Greece has demanded from Germany the prompt return of tho KavaJa army corps, _ with its _ aims and munitions', but it is difficult to imagine Constantine taking any course which self-respect demands of his. own volition. Mr Jeffries, cabling from Athens, states that the Allies will no longer seek the co-operation of Greece. This is doubtful, though we can'dispense with her aid. Bat if it is true, so much tho worse for Greece and Constantino,

Greece will emerge from the war with no accession- of territory, without a friend in tho world, and with a burden of heavy losses and expenditure, with nothing to show in return. Add to these an ignominy ■without, parallel. As for Constantine, it will bo pure weakness on the part of the Entente Powers if they lea.vo him on the throne of Greece in such circumstaaices.