NOTES AND COMMENTS.

Press, Volume LIV, Issue 16158, 12 March 1918, Page 8

NOTES AND COMMENTS.

THE POSITION AT SALONICA. ' Those people who hold the belief that Germany's 'reputed intention to h-egm great offensive in tlio V,est is a huge bluff, and that her massing of troops on that fronb is merely intended to .hold the Allies while she pursues her plans in other directions, will, no doubt, have found sonic support for their views in Mr Bonar Law's statement m the House of Commons last week. Ho f* admitted that the situation at Salonica was and quoted the General Commanding as believing that it might become "dangerous," because the Central Powers, with the communications they now possessed, might send forces which, it would l ->- difficult and perhaps impossible tor us X °Such comfort as is to be drawn from Mr Bonar Law's reflection that «crmanv's man-po"wer is not inexhaustible, and "that she cannot do everything at once, is discounted by the Jact that the strain on her man-power has ocen greatly* lessened by recent developments m ltussia, while there is nothing on oarlii to prevent her trowing a large iorca against T.he mixed army holding trie Salonica line. MV Bonar Law's defence of the Salonica expedition comes rather Jato in the day. It indicates the continued existence at JJome of a body or opinion adverse to the expedition. "There is always the feeling" (among the members of the British force) wrote our special correspondent at Salonica recently, "that the people at Home regard the Salonica campaign as a useless backwash, where nothing happens, and out of which no good can come, and the Salonica army as a Cinderella without the fairy godmother of victory to encourage, or the fairy prince of political sanction to develop. s '. — Assuming, as one must, and as, indeed, appears obvious, that there were good military grounds for the landing of British and French troops at Salonica' in October, 1915 —the original idea -was that they should co-operatc with Serbia and, presumably, withGreece, whose dallying with the Central Powers had not then reached the stage of breaking faith with Serbia —the expedition always seems to have suffered from the lukewarmness of those who hold that the war will be settled on the West front. If it was wortlf while sending a combined force there at all, it was worth while tp send one that could render C effective service. As a matter of fact, . though the expedition was reinforced by. tho re-equipped Serbian Army and * by Russian and Italian forces, its greatest achievement by arms was the recapture of Monastir in southern Serbia. The .Allied forces have, of course, f pushed forward some little distance 1 from the line they occupied after being f driven back over the Serbian frontier ■ in the oarlv part of their operations, but the bulk of Serbia still remains in tho hands of the invaders, -and though i the Allied troops have doubtless held \a considerable vnumber of Bulgarian, : German, and" Austrian troops, they have been unable to render effectual L- aid to Roumania. ' - ■

- POSSIBLE VALUE OF THE - CAMPAIGN. ( The chief value of the policy of sending a /combined force to Salonika was stated by Mr Bonar Law when he pointed out that it bad prevented the Germans obtaining ihe use of the Greek ports and .thus making difficult our v communirtition with Egypt. If tho force had been more powerful it might "have rendered most valuable servico in another way. During the whole time that it has occupied Salontca it has been like a lance point threatening ono of Germany's, life-lines, her communication with Turkey and Asia Minor. . , 'tit is notorious," wroto one . of tho English, correspondents with the Serbian Army last year, "that Germany is drawing food supplies from Asia Minor. All day and every day innumerable trains loaded with foodstuffs are rol!- ' ing northwards through Sofia, Nish, and Belgrade. Twice every week the train do luxe, the famous 'Balkan Zug,' makes its run from Berlin .to Constantinople, carrying staff dfEcers, army contractors, and functionaries, whose business is'to organise and superintend tho full fighiiugi. development of the Ottoman Empire. At tho same time

scores of trains are rolling southwards bearing munitions and war stoics trom Germany to enable the Turkish trcops : in the "field to oppose tho British aim Russian armies. If tho Army of the Orient under General SarrailshoulU push forward to Nish and cut the Bei-lin-Constantinople line, results of incalculable importance would follow. Germanv would receive no more supplies from Asia Minor, Turkey and Bulgaria no more munitions from Germany, wnn the result that they would collapse, the Dardanelles would b c opened. General Sarrail's armv could be pushed forward to the Danube, ami would aid the Russians and Roumanians m threatening Bucharest. "All these results would b° obtained bv the army ol General Sarrail traversing the eighty odd miles which separate its present front lrom Nish." , . . This was a dreain, but one which apparently might have been made a i-caii'tv. But. iis wo ail know, it has now faded. The lance was never thrust home no doubt for fully sufficient reasons,' and the circumstances have so changed that the realisation of tho dreain has been indefinitely postponed. STRENGTH OF THE FORCE. The Salonica force has never been much in the. limelight, and consequently very little is known about it. Its strength has been variously estimated at between <300,G00 and a million men. It was stated some time ago lliat it was expected that the Allies would have » million men for a forward drive that was impending, but it was not sj- a tol whether or not this included 400,000 Greek troops who were to be mobilised there. Nothing has been heard of the Greek army that M. Venizelos was to put into the field with the Allies, and recent events may have made Ins task more difficult. The strength of the British force is as little known as that of any of the other Allies. The General Commanding, Lieut.-General G. F. Milne, in a long and interesting veport on ihe operations of the year ending October Ist, 1917, which was published in the London papers in November, mentioned a number of English county regiments as taking' a prominent part in the operations, among them being the Devonshires, Berkshires, Oxford and Bucks Light Infantry. Manchestors, and Shropshire Light Infantry, while a battalion of the Argyle and Sutherland Highlanders was also mentioned as having distinguished itself. The offensive operations do not seem to have been very extensive, and on May 24th they were stopped by orders ) of the Commander-in-Chief, General Sarrail. Tho latter was recalled in December Jast after having held his position fo£ over two years, and was replaced bv General Guillaumat, who commanded the French army at Verdun in the brilliantly successful operations of last summer.

THE FUTURE. Timo alone will show whether Germany lias any intention of attacking at Salonica. It is noteworthy, however, that in January last the Bulgarian newspaper "Mir" announced the approaching capture of Salonica, and was strongly reprimanded by Ger'nian newspapers for its "imprudent assertion." But they did not contradict it. Further, a French Deputy, who has studied Germany's policy in the Near East closely, writing in M. Clemenceau'ft paper, warned, the Allies of an intended Germano-Bulgar offensive against Salonica. As he pointed out, such an enterprise, if successful. would not only provide the enemy with a fresh source of food supplies, but would leave him free to throw all his strength on to the West front.