THE CAMPAIGNS

Lyttelton Times, Volume CXVII, Issue 17903, 24 September 1918, Page 4

THE CAMPAIGNS

The Allied offensive in Macedonia has now reached; the, stage at which an in- ' dication of the extent of its results is to be looked for. The Serbs, with French and Greeks ,in support, have pushed their way rapidly north on an extending front, reaching the line of the southern of the two roads from

Prilep to the Yardar Valley. They are advancing by the valleys of the Cerna and the Bashava, but their advanced parties are operating on a front of a little more than ten miles, the movement in the Bashava valley being less rapid. Vozartsi, on the Cerna, and Kavadar, on the Vatasha, have been captured, bringing the Serbs within a few miles of the Yardar railway. From this front they are swinging north-east and east, to maintain touch with the movement, in the Bashava valley, and the attack is being directed obviously against the section of the Vardar valley railway between Negotin and Demirkapu., The Allies will debouch from the valleys by which they aro advancing on a front of about ten miles, beyond the Dratchevishko range, with the northern flank fairly well protected. If they reach the railway and can maintain themselves on it the Bulgars will have to fab right hack from the Vardar front to the north-east, a wedge will definitely have been driven between the Vardar and Doiran forces and those north of Monastir, and the enemy will escape from the huge trap thus prepared for him only by sacrificing enormous quantities of material and by abandoning his fortified positions. It is a question whether the Allies ' have a force large enough to carry out so large a plan of envelopment, hut on the other hand the Bulgars, with their German end Austrian support, may be too weak fcj> hold off the Allied attacks once their fortified lines are lost. In any case the rupture of their main lino of communication enormously compromises them in tho Vardar valley, and already, aocording to the French communique, they are burning stores and railway stations. The Allies aro attempting a bold plan, promising big results, and the initial operations have been brilliantly successful. Xn Palestine the rounding up of the gjrks between the Nablus road and the Jordan is being continued, and the British have advanced from the south along the main crest, driving the enemy before them. Tho cavalry hold

the roads to tho north and north-east, leaving the Turks to retreat on tho Jordan. The situation, which is entirely satisfactory, calls for no further elucidation. In France there has been heavy, close fighting on the British front south of Gouzeaucourt, where the Germans are tenaciously defending their trench lines. A British effort to advance beyond Epehy was partly successful and Villers-Guislain was entered, but all the ground gained could not be held. The French have been active immediately north of the Oise—or west of tho Oise—closing on Veudeuil, on the road from La Fere to St Quentin. Stubborn fighting continues, too, north of tho Aisne, where tho French are steadily forcing their way towards and the western end of tho Chemin des Dames.