MUD AND SARRAIL

New Zealand Times, Volume XLII, Issue 9608, 14 March 1917, Page 11

MUD AND SARRAIL

PUZZLE OF MIDDLE EAST ROADS. RIVERS, OR WHAT? I suppose, writes a correspondent in a recent exchange, many persons abroad wonder at the apparently slow progress made in the Balkans by the Allied army commanded by General Sarrail. They measure ofi the distance on the map between Salonika and Sofia, and cannot understand why it is not already in the Bulgarian capital. They reckon the number of hundreds of thousands of men under General Sarrail’s command, but fail to see why it should not maitu short work of King Ferdinand s army. X do not know the exact strength of tile army. Vv'hat is, and remains, a p found mystery to every one on the Salonika front is that the Allies do not pump an unlimited number ot troops to the East. That seems to be, the most important of all the fronts, in view of the immense results that may be attamL The most damaging factor in the present war is the comparative isolation, ot Russia, the difficulty she has m sending her surplus troops to the 'Western front, and the long detours that must be made to Supply her with munitions. RUSSIA CUT OFF. As long as direct railroad communication between Constantinople and Berlin exists Turkey will hold , the faeW and the Dardanelles will remain closed. Anus the main route between Russia and le Allies is cut. Russia cannot, obtain the supplies ot munitions ehe desires, an the Allied powers, are deprived of IK immense resources m food which foi ti years have been piling un in southern Russia, unable to find an °JP le p’ tanti . The cutting of the Berlin-Constant! nople railroad will be the beK *?v im a £f eT the end of the war. Two months otter it takes place Turkey will be down an I ouf' and Bulgaria will Ire from the list of belligerents, Germany will be deprived of the immense sources in sho at preset draws from Serbia, Bulgaria, and Abia Minor. Once Turkey and Bulgarin are put out of action and Serbia is red ®®“;®f’ whole of the forces now on the Salonika front, in Asia Minor, in J ft s ° and Egypt wo hid be available for the invasion of Hungary. FEW DEFENCES IN HUNGARY. The pusta, the immense plain lying between Belgrade and Budapest, the granary of the Central Powers is hm"StMAAS* Si A S lfthifrthe logical and inevitable consequence of the cutting of the Berlin Constantinople railroad. Its importance h so self-evident that the grudging fashion in which the Balkan army Ims been reinforced remains a mystery to every on p e rs n ona he at P home probably, work out the number of thousand men under General Sarndl. consult their authorities as to the armed strength if Bui garia, and are puzzled that J-he . AUicrt Army does not make more progress. XM» IS because they fail to grasp the eno - mens difficulties confronting the French Commander-in-Chief NOT ALL ON FIGHTING LINE. On a front like that at Salonika 1000 men does not mean 1000 combatants l do not hesitate to eay that for f man in the fighting line there is a man leading a mule, driving a motor, serving in an ambulance, or making roads and railroads. Every mile the army advances strings out its already immensely long fine7of communications .and increases the total of non-combatants. The Allied Army is operating in a foreign country and, as the action or King Constantine has taught ns, one which at any moment may become a hastilo ono. Every precaution must be taken to guard against surprise, and every mile of linos of communication must be carefully guarded. This means a huge addition to the ranks of noncombatants. I, therefore, doubt, if General Sarrail, on the fighting line, baa any numerical superiority over the tn ßut "it is not only the length of. the lines of communication that constitutes the problem. Thoir condition is an Equally eerions obstadle. At present the onlv thing that Las a 100 per cent, chance of getting from one point of Macedonia to the other is an aeroplane or a donkey. The chances of the other means of transport run from 95 per cent, to zero. The surest are, of course, the few exiting lines of railroad. But these again are all single track and, consequently, more slow and difficult to work than the double track lines in other countries. These have been supplemented by Decauvillo or narrow gauge lines which run from rail heads and from certoin intermediate stations to the various munition and food depots. Thousands of motor lorries and camionettes are also at work linking up the front with the base. These, where the roads ars impassable for motor-driven traffic, are replaced by norse-drawn wagons. When, in turn, the routes are im-passable-for wheeled transport of any kind, the army has to fall back on the patient donkey. SHORT TRIP NOT EASY. In order to give some idea of the enormous difficulties with which the army transport' has to contend ! will describe tho journey I have just made from Salonika' to the village where I am at present. The distance as the crow flies is about 70 miles; by road and rail about 85 miles. X left Salonika on a train which should have left at 2 o’clock in the morning, but which did not start until after 3. The wind was blowing a miniature hurricane, and the rain was coming down in torrents. Tho train was a long one of nearly 50 heavily-laden wagons and trucks.

Next to the engine was a third-class carriage for the transport of the few passengers who travel in war time. There was no glass in any of the windows —no one worries about such trifling repairs in. war time—and the rain, driven by the howling wind, splashed in one side and out the other. The two lamps which might otherwiso have made the darkness visible were smashed, so wo travelled in darkness. TRAIN SPED TEN MILES AN HOME. Ten miles an hour was the train's average speed. Occasionally we would descend grades at the reckless speed of 20 miles an hour or so, hut others we crawled along at about five miles an hour.

When daylight came we could see the melancholy spectacle of the Macedonian plain. Nothing could be seen but brown stubbloflclds, now.endless swamps. Hundreds of acres were transformed into lakes, from which hero and there de-pressed-looking willow trees emerge. Marshes had become quagmires and roads were mud bogs. Hour after hour in the lashing rain we trundled along, being sidetracked at every station to allow empty goods trains or crowded ambulance trains to pass us. One village seemed an island and in the midst of a huge lake. Here and there deserted tents were standing •n the midst of the flood.

My object was to reach the headquarters of the army, a matter of 12 xpilea away. But transport there was none. For four days it had rained unceasingly, r9tiderina the load impassable for motor traffic and causing a momentary stoppage

vf the narrow gauge railroad which connects Vertekop with headquarters. Tho only thing was to telephone to headquarters to know what were the prospects for the next day. Some foiage wagons. I was told, were coming in next morning, which would take the small amount wf -baggage carried /a bivouac tent and a folding bed), MhUe the chief of stall promised a riding hoi so tor myself. ... , .. There was, therefore, nothing for it hut accept the cordial hospitality ot the .Serbian surgeon in charge of the ambiii•ance for the night. I placed my bed m a bell tent in six inches of water. Undressing under such circumstances forms a problem. The difficulty of getting off a muddy pair of riding boots fpurs while seated on the bed island without covering everything with mnd must be experienced to be properly appreciated. RAIN POURS ALL NIGHT. All night long the pouring rain made a noise like kettledrums, on the sides of the tent. And such rain! It rained ramrods; it rained buckets. •'windows of heaven being opened side of the house was out. I thought of the thousands of Serbian soldiers m the trenches among the mountains, exposed to the pitiless downpour, and the hundreds of transport wagons churning their war through sens of mud, carrying tho indispensable food_ and tne equally indispensable munitions to the front. , With morning, however, cam© a pleasant surprise. A brilliant sun rose m an almost cloudless sky. The water, which covered the landscape in patches as far as the eye could reach, was slit, tering in the sunshine. The air was as balmy as a day in spring. In every bush soaking military overcoats were spread out to dry. while the saturated tents were steaming in the midday warmth.

WADE THROUGH SEA OE MUD. After luncheon the carts arrived from the army- headquarters, together with, a riding horse under the charge of a mounted orderly. When we started, about 1.30 p.m., the first mile or two of road just outside' the village had been dried somewhat by the hot sun, but wnen we got on 'to the lower ground it was a mere ‘slough of despond. Motor traffic, except for one or two light ambulance cars, was at a complete standstill. c our miles out I met half a dozen disconsolate army service corps men wita their boots on their bare feet and the .nousers robed up to tne knee, wading steadily- through the muddy water. They had left their lorries completely bogged a few miles away. "Is this 'ere a river or a road, sir?" one of them asked me plaintively, looking with profound disfavour at the muddy liquid swirling around his bare legs.

HORSE SHUNS MOTOR-CARS,

However, “it’s an ill wind that blows nobody good,’’ as the enforced scarcity o! motor traffic contributed to my personal comfort. The horse I was riding had a deep-rooted objection to motors in every shape and form. Every time we met an ambulance churning through the mud we had a circus which lasted five minutes. Then when he fell into a fourfoot deep shell hole under the mistaken idea that it was an ordinary three-inch rain puddle his distrust of every succeeding pool of water made rapid progress difficult. The condition of the second half of the road was Indescribable, and an array of soldiers and peasants was cutting trenches to run ofl the water and dumping tons ot road metal into tne sea ot mud to re-establish, something like a negotiable roadbed. As a French chauffeur remarked to me, “You don’t, know where motor driving ends and navigation begins.”