THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 26, 1918. TEE BALKAN ADVANCE.

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume LXXIV, Issue LXXIV, 26 September 1918, Page 4

THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 26, 1918. TEE BALKAN ADVANCE.

Though it is difficult to follow the movements <sf the Allies in the Balkans owing io the confusion of place names the progress made is highly satisfactory, and the Bulgarian armies are being forced back at a rate beyond anticipation. The Serbian wedge driven along the Cerna to the Varda-r near Krivolak was a bold undertaking, for it appears to have been of no great width and in danger of being Broken off. No doubt the Bulgars had not expected the blow from that quarter, and, protected by high mountainous country, making the sending of reinforcements to the threatened &r©a. a

slow and difficult business, the Serbs, once they had overcome the (initial resistance, were able to press forward

to the important Va-rdar railway. The widening out of the Serbian salient has been (helped by the combined pressure of their Allies on the whole front from Monastir to Lake Doiran, and the Serbs are now better able to push forward the head of the salient towards Veles (shown on some maps aa Kuprulu). Should they reach the town, J they will have the Bulgars in the Prilep-Kriyolak-Veles area in great difficulties, for Prilep is the southern door to the Babuna Pass and Veles the northern. To the north-west are the high and broken Golesnitza mountains, and it looks as if the Bulgars' way of escape will be effectively closed. East, of the Va-rdar the •enemy is reported I to be trying to take up the line Ishtip- ' Strummitza, north-west of the Bela- j shitza mountains. Again, their communications are very poor, and though they will have in their rear the Sofia-

Seres railway following the Struma river, their northern, flank is by no means secure. It looks as if the Allies have completely broken the enemy's line, and if so there is every hope thai they may turn the northern flanks of the Bulgar forces both east and west of the Va-rdar raver. In any case the Bulgars have been placed in a position from which they cannot easily bs extricated. The Serbian progress along the Vardar will probably be slower as enemy reinforcements arrive, but the lack of roads and the long distances to be covered through rugged mountains and difficult valleys will not enable the enemy to provide speedily the help he so much needs on the long lines retreating before the Allies' well-equipped troops. The unity of tine Allies regarding Balkan questions has, it appears, been satisfactorily achieved, and the value of Greece as an ally is

being shown. The Allies have had much to face in arriving at a decision regarding international matters in the Balkans, and the enemy has tried hard to keep up the old differences, but with the SUCO9SS of M. Venizelos and the departure from Greece of the pro-Ger-man Constantino, the Allied diplomats have beaten the German efforts, and there is every reason to hope that the present good news may be the preliminary to the complete overthrow of-the enemy in Serbia. <