WINTER IN THE WAR ZONE

Dominion, Volume 9, Issue 2660, 4 January 1916, Page 5

WINTER IN THE WAR ZONE

AVAKM CLOTHING MOltE THAN NKUiiitiAiU'. In the Balkau Peninsula itself t-lio winter, except; m lavoured localities, j is very severe. 'J.'lio cold in liio wild j Unfile of elevated mountains which j l'orws the entire interior is intense, and [ snow chokes the valleys and passes, j .liven in the coast plains the cold is j frequently great, 'ino mountain gales liowl over tne open plain of. the Vartiar down to- the Aegean, and render Salonika in autumn and winter an unpleasant place of abode. During the two great wars (1877-78 and iiJxii-laj which preceded the spread of tho JMiropean War to iialkaiiia, the armies wliicu conducted them sintered fearful hardships Irom the climate. Verestchagm's tnree famous pictures, "All yuiec at Slupka," tell to the eye how the Itiissian soldiers guarding the great pass died in thousands amid snow and ice. Even worso was tna gligut of tlieir Turkish opponents. The last advance an Constantinople along the European railway was made unuer severe conditions. The battles were fougnt in 1 deep snow; and the wounded perished 111 largo numbers. After their 'ast stand near i'hilippopolis the Turks fled over tne rugged snowclad ridge of Kiiodope (or Despoto JUagli), the icebound passes being strewn with frozen corpses. And in the Baikanics war matters were better only in so far as the allied armies were better provided for. Even so, the winter siege of Joannina cost the Greeks thousands of men, who died from the effects of told in the wild Epirora Mountains. No effort should be spared at the present time. Winter clothing will bo more accessary in Balkania than in France. Let us take iiret winter temperature. January is normally the coldest month, so that tho mean January temperature of any place gives a general idea of the cold of winter. Now all tile northern parts, alike of Serbia and of Bulgaria-, have a mean January temperature below freezmg point, the actual temperature falling as one advances towards the north-east, i.e., to Bulgaria north of tho Balkans. The reason is, of course, tho absence of any mountain barrier against the icy winds wlucil blow from tho snow-covered plains of The temperature naturally also falls' with elevation, so that Sofia, placed at a height of 1800 ft., but in latitude considerably south of Cannes, has a mean temperature .in January 3 degrees bolow freezing point, and has often periods of extremely low temperature. Ragusa, in almost the same latitude, but enjoying the advantage of the .proximity of the Adriatic and of tho winter pressure conditions which prevail there, has a mean January temperature of nearly 48 degrees, while at Corfu the figure is nearly 50 degrees. Even these figures, however, perhaps fail to give the full measure of the contrast between the actual winter temperatures in the east and those which one.would bo disposed to expect on account of the latitude, Perhaps the siatter may be made clearer by pointing out that only on the Adriatic coast ■louth of Spalato and in eastern Greece south of the' plain of Thessaly is the winter as mild as it is in the south-west of Ireland and England, while the January of Salonika, in about the latitude of Naples, is as cold as that of Edinburgh.—[Extract from "Geographical Aspects of Balkan Problems in their relation to the Great European War." By Marion I. Newbigin.] One of the newest corps is the Women's Reserve Ambulance, one of whose self-imposed duties is to give help after Zeppelin raids. Every night 40 members of this ambulance are on duty in a draughty London garage waiting for the Zeppelins. ' Zeppelin duty begins at dusk and ends at 2 in the morning. The 40 women are divided up into shifts of 20 each, or 10 women to each of the two ambulances. At the time of tho September raid the first ambulance on the spot was one of these. These women ministered to the dying and bonnd up the wounds of those who were still alive. During tho last raid both ambulances worked hard in the East Eud, and when the volunteers had done what they could, one of their lieui tenants coolly stood up and held a re- ; cruiting meeting.