IMPORTANT DEVELOPMENTS EXPECTED

Dominion, Volume 9, Issue 2694, 14 February 1916, Page 5

IMPORTANT DEVELOPMENTS EXPECTED

- ■ TROOPS (MS THE MRMR SKIRMISH IN THE NORTH ■ .sea: ■/ GERMAN TORPEDO BOATS OFF v DOGGER BANK IKWEEPER 08 CRUISER SUM?, I THE NEW PIRATE WAR - - There-is a varied'and: highly in-teresting budget of. news from the ■ various war theatres to-day, the most interesting, and the most important, being the unexpected announcement that tho French have advanced from their lines at Said Jiika, crossed to the right bank of the Vardar, and occupied certain naturally strong positions. Further developments are pending in the Balkans generally; Rumania appears y to be on the threshold of war—tho announcement has a familiar ring —and the Russians' activity 'on the southern flank of their long line seems to have puzzled the. Teutons, whose armies in that region have been slightly parted by a Russia-a wedge. Bewilderment as £b the Russians' real objective has dislocated tho German plan, and as the' result they have missed their opportunity in the Balkans. The ' Austrian attack on Durazzo has been thrown back by tho Serbians, after violent rearguard fighting. The enemy's offensive on Egypt seems to have been dropped, says one message; another-r-a Turkish message—says that tho Allies' monitors have appeared off the Narrows and been shelled off again. There is no material change in the situation in Mesopotamia; a leconnoitring detachment this attacked by supposedly friendly Arabs, and lost 300 odd in casualties, the enemy's being about the same—a punitive column later exacted reprisals and destroyed four villages. In tho West, the French continue to recover lost ground on certain sectors, and gain new ground in others.. Unusual activity by' the enemy in Alsace is reported. Serman torpedo-boats suddenly appeared off the Dagger 'Bank, and " i sank—the Germans say, a cruiser, and the British retort that it was a mine-sweeper.. There is more about the new piracy.