NATION'S THREE YEARS' WAR.

Oamaru Mail, Volume XXXIX, Issue 12392, 7 December 1914, Page 8

NATION'S THREE YEARS' WAR.

I STRUGGLE THAT SERVIA HAS l WAGED.

(By Lieut.-Colonel Roustam Bek.)

If we admire the bravery and keenness of the armies of the great. Allies and congratulate the splendid commissariat service which has distinguished itself by the way it has been supplying millions of soldiers, in the battlefields, what can wo say in regard to the Servian army? During the whole war, m which it has been obliged to make the greatest sacrifices, this army has not had other provisions than onions, bread and cheese, and. in spite of all the privations, the Servians obtained a great victory. . Fir three years the Servian army has been engaged in a ceaseless struggle, for three years these gallant soldiers have been dreaming only of the sweet rest at home, and most of them found it for ever far from their homes, accomplishing their sacred duty for their motherland. But those of these gallant warriors whom-circumstances allowed to return to their homes found them burned, destroyed, and'abandoned, and, with broken hearts, with increased hate of the enemy, have returned to then regiments. The-Servian home at the present mompnt is the front of their army. The modern Sparta—Servia—is noc similar to any country engaged in the war. There is no peaceful population. All the inhabitants, women and children included, are working for the war: ■it is like an enormous commissariat an J hospital working in the rear of the army. The army and the population are mingled in one body, bound with the one idea —to crush the enemy an;! to conquer him decisively—and they have conquered. The Austrians not only abandoned

the idea of continuing their "punitive" expedition into Servia, and drew back

from the Servian frontier, but they have not been able to preserve Bosnia and Herzegovina and other provinces populated with Slavs from the terror of a great revolution. And only two months ago the bellicose Austrian army rushed on the Servians with the intention of wiping out from the map for ever a small people, healthy physically and morally, who have, a right to possess a place in the sun far more than those who tried, to commit the greatest crime against civilisation. My readers will remember that in my

articles concerning the Servian part of the campaign I pointed out the inevitable revolution of the Slavs in the

provinces of the Dual Empire situated on the other side of the Danube, Save, and Drina, provocation of -which would [ be more terrible for Austria-Hungary than the failure of her army in the field. My forecast is coming true. The revolution in the Slavonic provinces of the Dual Empire is of a very interesting and strange character, and has surprised ail who are studying :t by its -calmness and obstinacy. The Servian revolution in Austria "u its first- phase showed itself by the general strike of the whole Slav population in regard to the orders of the AustroHuigarian authorities. As many Austrian prisoners of war have informed the Servian and Russian Intelligence Departments, and as thft Russian Military Attache in the Servian army . and many war liavp; intimated, the Austrian army met with terrible difficulties in her owivSlav province.*; from the passivity of the population, which paralysed its operations. . "

Though the Austrians tried evcrthing from military terrorism to flattery, the•population steadfastly declined to help the. authorities in supplying the army with most important materials and foods, and iiei'co struggles took place between the foragers and peasants. The .same thing is-happening in Croatia and Slavonia. , Everybody can realise that. the. help of the. whole nation and punctuality on the part of the inhabitants in,'trans- ' porting necessary materials to the indicated places play a most important part in war. Supposing a contractor.who is ordered to supply an'army corps with flour and 'meat is such a patriot thai -he 1 prefers to be hanged rather than. to help the'enemy of his people, this army corps would be practically condemned to starvation; and, a more important example still, if ammunition is urgently < wanted' at the front, and, for the. same reason., is net delivered, what then is I the plight of the army'corps.?. I

And in ■ the whole, of -Slavonic Aus-tria-Hungary that is the position at present.. When the Servian, troops, on the other hand, approach the Slay provinces the population meets them with cheers "and-.helps them in- every way.

The. .rovplt/Vd' peopled, of .the Dual Hnpire,- are '.keeping- cooL and behind this tranquillity the gradual armament of tlie whole Slav race progresses; 'Austrian repressive measures .are .powerless to prevent 'it. The final hlow of the rising Slavs is not long to be awaited; the Servians. 'have seen already- the' rays of the ■ rising sun on the cloudy horizon, the rising sun of a new.life of equality and freedom. The have not only obtained tlie strategical"...victory oyer our common enemy; thfcy are twice victorious, lor t'hdv have defeated the Dual Empire politically- too-. ' '