PROGRESS OF THE WAR

Dominion, Volume 9, Issue 2643, 14 December 1915, Page 4

PROGRESS OF THE WAR

Such news of the Balkan operation's, -and particularly of the retreat from Macedonia, as is available at the moment is on the whole encouraging, and goes to show that hope of a satisfactory escape by the Allies from their present perils and difficulties has by no. means departed. Large claims are made by the enemy, but they would be more convincing if they embodied more detail with the general assertions of which they chiefly consist. The Germans allege that the Allies are ir\- a wretched situation, and are retreating towards and across the Greek border, suffering meantime extremely heavy losses in men and every kind of war. material. ' Somewhat similar accounts are given by the Bulgarians, but there is a' notable absence in both German and Bulgarian reports of details of prisoners and material captured, and there is no reason to suppose that the reports have been mutilated. The Allies on the other hand are furnishing apparently straightforward reports of an operation which they describe in efiect as a successful withdrawal carried out without undue loss. _ There is no news at time of writing of _ the fortunes of' tlje French section-of the Army, but a British War Office communique today deals with the British retirement to the Greek frontier,, east of the Vardar railway. - At this point the retreat is well on its way, and the official statement that it has been carried so far at' a cost of 1500 British casualties is a definite and convincing! rebuttal of enemy stories about enormous Allied bosses. . The Bulgarians, it is worth noting, state that tho Allies in their retreat took with them the entire population— that is to say, the entire population of the corner of Serbian- Macedonia which they have recently been holding. This statement in -itself, taken at its face value, means that the Allies are making an orderly retreat.

Probably the latest, event touched by the news at present in hand is a violent Bulgarian attack on the Allied line, east and west of the Vardar railway, and on or very near the Greek frontier. ' The outcome of this phase of the struggle has yet'to appear, but meantime the weight of evidence is that the Allies have retreated so far in goed order and with moderate losses considering the nature of the fighting. The British official dispatch shows that the post of honour in the retreat to the Greek frontier was entrusted to the Tenth Division, an Irish corps, .which very gallantly justified the trust.

Some intensely interesting questions arise now that the Allies are very possibly on the point of being compelled to continue their retreat into Greece.' Tho most interesting question of all, of course, concerns the action of Greece. A Keuter message mentions "a * sensational statement published at Salonika," that representatives of the 'Greek General Staff have informed Genrral Sarrail that in the event of the Bulgarian Army crossing the Greek frontier in pursuit of the Allies the Greek Army would retire in order to avoid dangerous contact with the Bulgars. Why such a report should be called sensational does not appear, for the course indicated seems to be the only one open to Greece unless she decides to co-operate with tbe Allies in stemming the Bulgarian offensive, and no serious, hopes have lately been entertained of active Greek co-operatio;i. It is suggested i'n.a message j.ust received, and on. authority not- to be despised, that hopas of such co-operation by Greece may not after all be? unwarranted. Mr. Martin Donohoe, who is at Athens, 'learns (it is stated) on the highest authority that Greece is prepared to go to any lengths to prevent the Bulgarians, who are V the hereditary enemies of Greece, setting foot on the _ sacred soil of Greece. One reading of this somewhat remarkable message would be that Mr. Donohoe, who is a correspondent of high standing, has been informed by King Constantine or M. Skoulotjdis_ that Greece will threaten war or if' need be go to war rather than permit-the Bulgarians to enter her lerrit6ry.\ People who read the message ii this sense will recall King Constantine's 'recent statement in which he " named a threat to the existence, of Greece as one of the alternatives which would justify her in going to war. It'is possible that he may . regard a Bui-' garian invasion, backed by AustroGerman patronage, as such a threat.

Experience has shown that hopes based upon possible action by Greece are liable- to be built on sand, and spectators of the Balkan drama will probably decline to believe in the prospect, of Greek intervention until it has actually taken shape. It is enough to note meantime .that if Greece did decide to abandon her past policy of neutrality she should have fair prospects, with Allied aid, of keeping her frontiers intact.' The most definite news of the day indicates that the Bulgarians are still bearing the main burden of the Bali, kan campaign. There, are various stories of Austr'o-Germa-n concentrations, but from the news of actual fighting it appears that it is'chiefly with Bulgarian troops that the Allies are engaged. The possibility therefore exists that Greece has it in her power to reverse the balance of strength in the Balkans. Such a tentative estimate of tho position leaves Turkey out of account, but it has vet to be shown that Turkey is capable of sending any considerable force north into the Balkans.

If Greeco elects to fight in defence of her territory, her decision will soon bo made manifest in action. It is to be borne in mind A .howovei'.

that hopes revived within the last day or two of a satisfactory consolidation of the Allied position in the Balkans do not rest upon an expectation of _ active aid from Greece, but are still valid if she can be relied upon not to obstruct or interfere with the Allied operations aiming at the retention and defence of Salonika. From this limited standpoint the news to-day is of a uniformly hopeful cast. One message states that an' official communiquepublished in Athens announces that the pourparlers of the Franco-Greek Military Commission havo now definitely approaohed a satisfactory solution. _ According to a • Heutcr messa'go it is definitely announced that the Allies will not quit Salonika and a detail report states that additional British troops j were landed at Salonika on Friday/' Unless theso reports in their aggregate effect are misleading, tho outlook in the Balkans is decidedly more promising.

It would be easy to base exaggerated hopes upon the announcement that the censorship by the Press Bureau of news of foreign affairs ■has been suspended, the responsibility of complying with the provisions of the Defence of the Realm Act being cast upon newspapers. Tho sting of the announcement is in its_ tail, which states that the censorship-'of naval and military matters otherwise continues. It is chiefly on the score of needless suppression of war news, coming obviously under the hpad of "naval and military matters," that criticism has been, directed against the censorship, and in this department no -change in methods and procedure is promised. Wisely used, the concession in regard to news of foreign affairs may assist'to promote an even better understanding between Britain"~and its Allies, but iri the wide extension of the war military events and developments are so closely intertwined with political' and diplomatic affairs that in many cases it will be impossible to treat them separately.

Capital news is conveyed in the brief report that a Turkish transport of 8000 tons has been sunk by a submarine in'the Sea of Marmora. It is not stated that the ship was laden with war material, but very probably she would'be. The' submarine would doubtless make it her business to attack such a ship when she was outward- bound to Gallipoli rather than on her -homeward trip. Apart from the heavy loss involved to the enemy, the ■ news is Highly satisfactory as showing that though now provided with augmented supplies of material > and equipment from Germany the- Turks are still unable to cope effectively with submarine attacks upon their supply routes.

A Dutch report speaks of such a cannonade on the Flandei'B front, in the neighbourhood of Ypres, as might very well be the preliminary to a general battle, but there is no mention of any such event in the latest communication from Sir John French. He fells of' suci&ssful air raids upon fenemy depots and of a tremendous battering of the German positions, on the southern side of' the La Bassee salient and elsewhere, but winter weather is apparently still precluding infantry! assaults except upon a minor scale. German reports speak of Russian' attacks jn the Baltic Provinces and in the Pinsk region, but otherwise there is no news, at time of writing, of tho - main Eastern campaign. The continued absence of news'from Italy implies that the vigorous'ltalian offensive, on the'lsonzo front- has given place to a period of relative inactivity. ,