ALLIES PREPARING FOR THE OFFENSIVE

Dominion, Volume 9, Issue 2657, 31 December 1915, Page 5

ALLIES PREPARING FOR THE OFFENSIVE

CONCENTRATING GREAT FORCES WINTER CAMPAIGN, IN MACEDONIA QUITE IMPRACTICABLE By Telegraph—Press" Association—Copyright ("Times" and Sydney "Sun" Services.) London, December 29. It is believed at Bucharest (writes the correspondent of "The Times," Mr. J. D. Bourchier) that the Entente Powers are preparing an extensive offensive in tho Balkans, and are awaiting the concentration of great forces, and are not risking-the detaching of Rumania, which has been impressed by German "frightfulness" by embarking on the enterprise with, insufficient forces, unsettled plans, and in severe weather, which would reinforce the opinion that a successful campaign in winter in Macedonia is impracticable. SALONIKA SPECIALLY ADAPTED TO SCIENTIFIC DEFENCE. , London, December 29. Router's correspondent at British Headquarters in Macedonia says that few 6ites are better adapted to scientific defence. The position recalls Chataldja, but the valley is broader and 1 the hills higher. The linei extend fifty miles in a semi-circle (rom the Vardar to the Gulf of Rendina, of which half is naturally defended by Lakes Hangaza and Beshik. Many morasses girdle the lulls .to the southward, which guard the approaches to Salonika, and furnish admirable emplacements for guns and machine guns. Wo are utilising some of tho barbed wire entanglements the Turks constructed in the first Ball'an war. The region is full of historic interest, and the trench diggers continually unearth coins, statuettes, and pottery. ENEMY ENTRENCHING, FEARING AN ENTENTE ATTACK. Athens, December 29. .'Aviators report that' the Germans and Bulgarians are entrenching, apparently fearing an Entente attack. They cannot themselves invade Greek Macedonia until their numbers are favourable. PART OP THE SERBIAN ARMY TRANSFERRED TO SALONIKA. Athens, December 29. , Seventy-five thousand Serbian troops have beon reorganised and concentrated at &utari and El Bassan. It is proposed to transfer them to the Salonika front. VON HINDENBURG TO ADVISE REGARDING THE BALKANS. Rome, December 29. According to. a telegram from Milan, the newspaper "II Secolo" states that General von Hindenburg is expected in the Balkans, to confer with Generals von Maokensen and von Falkenhayn. ; ALLIED TROOPS NOT TO LAND AT KAVALLA. Amsterdam, December 29. M. Radoslaioff (Premier), in the Sobranje, replying to the Agrarian Party's interpellation, said he had been officially informed that Greece would not permit the Allied troops to land at Kavalla. BULGARIAN PREMIER ON TERRITORIAL GAINS. (Rec.' December 30, 11.16 p.m.) t Sofia, December 30. M. Radoslavoff, addressing the Ministerial party, said: "All territory on which our brave soldirs are fighting shall be Bulgarian forever." "KING FERDINAND'S BOMBASTIC SPEECH. • Amsterdam, December 29. King Ferdinand, in a bombastic speech at opening of the Sobranje, said that after exhausting all efforts to induce Serbia to peacefully surrender the territory treacherously taken from Bulgaria, the latter was compelled to invade Serbia in order to shorten the sufferings of her enslaved brethren in Macedonia. The Bulgarians fought with matchless dash, and, in co-operation with the brave troops of her Allies, who covered themselves with glory, they completely defeated the perfidious enem]y and drove him out of his own countj-y. Moreover, the troops which the two great Powers —France and England—to the disgrace of civilisation and their own countries, sent against the tortured Bulgarian nation in order to maintain Serbian tyranny, wore chased out of.. Macedonia.' BULGAR SOLDIERS SHOT FOR REFUSING TO FIGHT. ("Times" and Sydney "Sun" Services.) (Rec. December 30, 5.5 p.m.) London, December 29. A' delayed report from Odessa states that fourteen Bulgar officers and forty-seven privates were shot for refusing to fight with anti-Slavs. Many high political personages in Bulgaria had been arrested for agitating against the German Alliance. ' Turkish troops in Bulgaria are about to be withdrawn to Turkey owing to tho unfriendly attitude of the Bulgar populace. TWO DIVISIONS OF BULGARIANS ON THE MOVE. (Rcc. December 30, 8,15 p.m.) Paris, December 29. The "Temps" learns that the Bulgarians are advancing in two divisions, tho first from Ochrida, passed through El Bassnn northwards, towards Durazzo, and'the second, from Dib'-a, is following the Mat Valley, in the direction of Alessio, on the Adriatic Sea. [Ochrida is north-weat of Monastir, and Dibra is north of Ochrida. Durazzo and Alessio arc coastal towns in Albania.] BULGARIAN AND GERMAN WARSHIPS IMMOBILISED. Romo, December 20. flits Itysslaii llnat mined the to Uulaarlßft ports i» order to ilU*