PASSIVE ENTRENCHED DEFENSIVE IN THE DOBRUDJA.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LIII, Issue 16349, 2 October 1916, Page 7

PASSIVE ENTRENCHED DEFENSIVE IN THE DOBRUDJA.

VIOLENT ATTEMPTS TO BREAK THE ROUMANIAN LINE. SATISFACTORY POSITION AFTER FIRST MONTH OF WAR. Times. • , . LONDON, ' September 23. Mr. Braun, the Times correspondent at the Russo-Roumanian headquarters, states that from September 16 to 20 the . army in th'e, Dobrudja underwent a severe ordeal. Violent attacks, supported by : heavy artillery, were made on September 16 and 17, upon the right flank at Rasova, where: the enemy was obviously attempting to break , through towards Cemavoda, in order to cut the communications. .- The situation was most critical on September .18 and 19, when renewed and desperate attempts were made against the right flank and the centre, but reinforcements enabled the Ruuso-Roumanians to make a successful

counter-attack. .• The situation now is not critical. . The line is solid, but the enemy has compelled the adoption of a passive entrenched defensive- ' ' *;•» "/'it ->* k

• Mr." J. D. Bourchier, the Times correspondent at Bucharest, states that the results of the first month's war are satisfactory. , iThe loss of the Bulgarian-inhabited districts in the Dobrudja cannot outweigh the occupation of one-third of the Roumanian-inhabited Transylvania.

. It has already been reported that the Russians and Roumanians had established themselves on a line running from Rasova, on the Danube, through Cobailin, to Tuzla, on the Black' Sea coast, roughly , 12. milei south of : the Constanza . rail- ;• way'. Cernavoda is at the intersection of the railway and the Danube. J .