PROGRESS OF THE WAR

Dominion, Volume 9, Issue 2630, 27 November 1915, Page 4

PROGRESS OF THE WAR

Muoh the most important news received to-day is the news that Gorizia, the great Austrian fortress on me Isonzo, covering the approaches to Trieste and to Hungary, has iallen. The report is not official; it comes from a Daily Telegraph correspondent at Milan, at which place it was reported on Thursday afternoon that the fortress had been captured. If Gorizia is actually in the hands of the Italians, and the fact will not long remain in doubt, such a victory has crowned their arms as will tell with decisive and far-reach-ing effect upon tho war. It is not too much to say that the fall of Gorizia would go far to annul tho measure of advantage the enemy has gMped by breaking through the .Balkans and opening 'communications with Turkey. No better proof could indeed be desiicd that tho war has extended to a scale which overtaxes the Austro-German strength. _ From _ every point of view Gorizia is vital to the enemy. A prodigious natural fortress," as it has been well described, it is the strongest link in, the enormously powerful defensive barrier- which the Italians have bcon striving for months to pierce. The full consequents that will-follow upon the breaching of this barrier cannot yet bo measured with confidence, but with Gorizia in Italian hands the Austrians will loso at once the advantages that attend a concentrated defensive upon a restricted front in country supremely lending itself to defence. They will be left also with a single railway affording communication with Trieste and the Istrian Peninsula, and upon tho continued defence of the Istrian Peninsula'depends the fate of the Austrian fleet. The Peninsula invade! it loses its harbours of refuge, a-nd must choose between capture or a forloru-hope sortie against tho waiting Italian fleet. It is true that the Austrians have naval establishments on the Dalmatian coast, but the fleet headquarters_ is at Pola, near the tip of the Istrian Peninsula, and the subsidiary establishments would hardlyavail to keep the fleet in being oven if they were likely to be left long unmolested with ktr'a successfully invaded. , ,

The bearing of a forward sweep by the Italians from the Isonzo front upon the Austro-Geiman operations in tho Near East hardly needs to be emphasised. Such a thrust by the Italians would strike directly across the enemy main' communications. It cannot be assumed, of course, that the Italian capture of .Gorizia will be followed by a parade march into Istria and ■ across the railways_ running"south into the Bal,kan Peninsula, but gaining Gorizia, the Italians will be in a fair way to obtain release from a tremendous handicap. Piercing one of the strongest fortified lines in the world, they will gain elbow-room, and be at once in a position to make their full weight tell upon tho enemy. Succeeding as they have done against the enormously powerful Austrian fortifications ana mountain strongholds—and they have succeeded wonderfully, whether or not the final blow has been struck against Gorizia —they may be expected to make rapid and decisive headway when the handicap'of thcEe conditions is I removed. ' v

At time of writing definite official confirmation of the fall of Gorizia is 'still lacking, but a French official message makes_ the significant statement that -Gorizia is no longer tenable by the Austrians. It seems probable that oven if the report that the fortress has fallen is premature, it has only slightly anticipated events.

* ». *. » '.There has been a certain amount of ebb and flow in the Serbian campaign • during the last week, and ome messages received 'ate yester!ay and to-day imply that the situition is only less serious now than in ho dark days a week or ten days .go when the fall of Monastir and a jerbian retreat across the Greek rontier wero regarded as inevitable. Phe success lately won by the Serbs lear the main railway south of Nisli eenis to have done little to stem or linder the onward march of the Lustro-Germans and the northern Bulgarian armies, and other resorts imply that the check offered • o the Bulgars _ in South-western Serbia was also indecisive. Acpordng to some reports the position in ;ho Monastir region is again ex:eedingly critical. With this, ho\v•ver, thero is'news of brighter pronise. The Allies based on Salonika ■ ire ground, and extending iheir operations to the west. French icavy batteries are said to be bom- I larding Prilep, which is almost duo ' lorth of Monastir, and great stocks ' )f munitions aro being sent to the , ■atter place, by way of the railway j ivhich ■ connects it with Salonika, i Battles will have to be fought and \ aon beforo tho lot of tho Serbs is i j materially improved, but meantime j < tho outlook is a good deal brighter j j than it was a week or two ago. J j Information supplied to-day'j about the character of tho great i military depot tho AUim arc cstab- 'j lislunß at Salonika as well as frag>

ments of campaign news indicate that there is a fair prcspect of such a barrier being raised in Southern Serbia as the enemy will find it difficult to break. There is no.similar promise of early relief for the main Serbian force which is opposing a desperate resistance to the invasion further north, and as the news goes •°" !7 lfc is suffenug heavily and being thuist further back towards the W?,ln ICr V • o and Alwi \> 1S rcracihbcred "alays, however, that there is no warlant for measuring the position and prospects of the Allies in tho Balkans by the trend of the Serbian campaign._ It is quite possible that for is in Store foi the 1101 thern Serbian army than a continued retreat to the confines of its country and a stand in the bolder mountains with such aid as the can render from the AdriE r° n tho Allies resti ict their action in Serbia meantime to the southern territory however, it will not follow that they are not in a position to press the Balkan campaign with full vigour and aim at dccisivo results * * * .#'

It is very probable that tho great military depot that i s being established; at Salonika is not intended only as a base for an Allied Army in Southern Serbia. As has been pointed out before, Salonika is a valuable base for a movement eastward with yonstantinople for an ultimate objective. One effect of the Allied operations in Southern Serbia is-to cloak any larger enterprise they may bo preparing to launch from Salonika, : but it would ba unwise to assume on this account that no such enterprise will be launched. Time only will bring light, on this point, but meantime report after report declares that the Russians are preparing to enter tho Balbans in force, and it may be confidently taken for granted that when tho Allies strike for victory in the Balkaiis they will strike in concert. *.* # *

One of the latest reports regarding the concentration of a Russian Balkan expedition comes from tho Bucharest correspondent of a Paris newspaper. • It states that a Russian army, is at the gates of Rumania ready to help if . Rumania comes into the war. This may be read as meaning that Russia has concentrated an army on tho frontier of Rumania without reaching any understanding with that courtry,. but it may bo confidently taken for granted that Russia has not done anything so uncertain and indefinite. It is far more likely that Rumania has agreed cither to grant the Russians right of passage or 'to enter the war upon the side of tho Entente Powers on Russia providing an army of specified strength for service in the Balkans. Rumania is anxious above 'all .things, as is ' perfectly natural, to be on the winning side, and is not likely to commit herself until she is assured' of adequate support, but this condition being satisfied she has powerful motives for making common with Russia. One such motive is jealousy of the aggrandisement Bulgaria is promised under AustroGerman patronage. The balaneo of power in the Balkans has always been a question of supreme concern to Rumania, and it is now evident that only a decisive Entente victory will preserver her from bein§ relegated to a position of inferiority as compared wijSh Bulgaria, even if no worse harm befalls her. ' , .. I

Theee is no need to traverse in detail all the reports which .fortell early Russian action in the Balkans, but coming a 4 they do from many quarters, Russia, Rumania, Greece, and Germany, it is difficult to believe that they rest upon -no better basis than imagination. Some doubt may attach to such stories as that transmitted by a Daily Telegraph correspondent- at Salonika, that the Tsar; has promised Serbia that the Russians will enter Bulgaria within a-week, but details- of time and place apart, there is a distinct probability that _ Russian action in the Balkans will not much longer be delayed. Even if the accumulating reports on the subject could be ignored,; it is almost conclusive that Russia's Allies stand definitely committed to onerous' responsibilities in the Balkans, while Russia herself ha-s -as vet taken no active part in the Balkan campaign outside of naval operations. Having decided to act, "tho- Allies must act unitedly and with full vigour.

A late message states that a great attle has in Southern •erbia, at Bulgarian initiative, but he bare fact is hot amplified in any pay. News of the Serbian northern forces tells of a retreat that is teing carried out uncUr exceedingly Hfficult and trying conditions. The jest visible hope of relief ■ for the aard-pressed Sorbs in this northern region is a report that Italy has agreed to send 40,000 troops into jthc Balkans. Tak >n at its face value, the report profaises a useful reinforcement for the Serbs by way of Albania. It is, furthermore, one to bo added to accumulating indications that the Allies are- maturing a great concerted onslaught in the Balkans Italy will most valuably co-operate in such' an enterprise by breaking through on the Isonzo and laying open the Austro-Gcrrrmn flank, but her geographical position and her foothold on the Albanian coast seem to cast upo i her tho task of rendering immediate aid to the Serbian northern forces. a * # • Allied reports of a succcssful attack about 10 days ago upon a section of the Turkish southern! line on tho Gallipoli Peninsula, which resulted in the capture of trenches, were followed by an- enemy communique which ' declared that the ground lost had been recovered. This assertion is contradicted to-day in s French official report which state: that violent efforts by the Turks tc recover-the lost - trenches completely failed. It is added that the enemj is reported to be feverish and ner vous, a state of mind perhaps accounted for by the reappearance oi large bodies of colonial troops aftei a spell of well-earned -est. So re freshed, the colonials are no doub in-a mood to give the enemy any thing but a restful News from the Eastern front, a time of writing, is brief but good The Kussians record successes in- th< Baltic Provinces, where it is unoffi cially reported they aro. preparing for a big offensivo movement, ant towards the extremity o: their front. There is no news a the moment of events on the West ern front, but General Joffre ha issued a remarkable appeal to hi troops to write home and ask thcii relatives to subscribe to the wai loan. 'After 1870, he reminds them Franco raised a loan of liberation This loan, through their efforts, will be one of jriotor&