PROGRESS OF THE WAR

Dominion, Volume 9, Issue 2866, 2 September 1916, Page 8

PROGRESS OF THE WAR

It is now. fully established that" the, Rumanians have overcome the first and most formidable obstacles opposing their invasion of'Trarisyl-' vania and made considerable headway into enemy territory. As reports go there has been soverc fighting practically all the way along the Rumanian frontier, from Bukowina to the-. Danube,- at the Iron; Gates but the principal operations 1 have taken shape thus far along the stretch two hundred miles of frontier..which .follow the, Transylvanian Alps and look north into Transylvania. On this line the Rumanians have' forced the. principal' passes. Towards' the, ca^t,..they. have occiipied the important town of Brasso (nine, miles north ; of.the frontier), and are advancing further north. They arc also approaching Hermannstadt, a. town 18 miles Dorth of the frontier and about 70 miles west of Brasso; The forcing of the passes and. the decisive' defeat of a. tuuning movement attempted by Hungarian troops against, the .Rumanian left flank, in the v.i-. clriity of the Iron Gate-,' are the principal events of the campaign -asyet made known. Obviously they imply that it has opened auspiciously ancf is developing good promise.

One report states that General von.Mackensen has arrived in Hungary with several .divisions/ and is hurriedly organising the defence of Hermannstadt. This, is not necessarily inconsistent with 'the

prediction ..lately. cabled that .tho enemy twill; shorten . and. straighten his Hungarian front by evacuating 11 considerable, portion of Transylvania. He. might- retain-Hcrnvwin-etadt and yet fall back r in the territory extending. to the • east and north, to'a. much shorter line than he occupied whoa, tho campaign opened.'- At the moment reports rti'o a'-little in * conflict", as. to the' reKistance-' the Rumanians, are' likely to meet. By their own acco'unt (issued from their London.. Legation) they, arc .penetrating .deeply. iAto Hungary in. the wake .of .a'.brokenenemy, and it .is .Asserted that psj ports regarding- -the concentration uf large -enemy- armies in Transylvania are mere-*blufi:. -There, are other less authoritative reports to the-'same. general •effect.* •

The total effect of the news is to leave matters somewhat open bo fcu as the "Rumanian ' is concerned.' 'There is no'-doubt, however,; that the Rumanians have made a .remarkably.'good:.beginning,' and it is''tolerably certain" that if tlie enemy contrives to stiffen hi> ; resistance in Transylvania he will not 'do' it' without- affording the Allies an opening elsewhere. The advantage -the Rumanians have gained is v&ry far from being measured by ;t!i> distance• over- which; they' are thus..'far' known to-'have'-advanced'.' Transylvania : ;as a" whole "is mountainous, but'the alp'itie range which the Rumanians have, penetrated was a very strong barrier lending it-Self-"/admirably to /.'defence./ Itwould not have occasioned surprise ■.if-ythe,'.Rumanians had attempted nothing more, ambitious at the outset- than' to' gain siiclr command over the' passes of " the,. Transyl : variian Alp.s as would have secured them against invasion. In the event they have done vevy much better.

• It was stated yesterday as a fact that. Bulgaria had declared war on 'Romania-.--'This, it now was. at least premature. Later reports aver' that Austria has invited Bulgaria to declare War on- Sumaj nia, but . .it is'added -.that .Bulgaria; Has not iyet' .replied, and '.that ljer. attitude .is,-/clausing,' anxiety .in . Vienna.' .This, of .-.course, is- all .• to the good arid keeps alive the possibility that Bulgaria may choose .rather to submit than to fight. A message just received states that the Bulgarians, are apparently retreating, from Western Greece in the direction of Monastir. It is in this region that they recently incurred heavy .--losses.' in." powerful. cfEorts to overcome the' resistance of the Serbians and strike south into Grcece, a movement which, incidentally, would have outflanked the Allied line as'a whole and necessitated a general- retreat. The. withdrawal of the, Buigars from the region in which they have developed their main effort would, of course, be a pretty , plain indication .that they had abandoned all hope of achieving their object. The news that they are in retreat awaits confirmation, but'it fits iri with the statement in a Paris message that a general advance by the Allies, who are numerically superior to the Bulgarians, is regarded as.imminent.

• .According to .one'report-Bulgaria is asking for the ' assistance "of 200,000, Turks before dcclaryig war oil Rumania.' This must be taken for what it is worth, but very possibly the condition stated is one that cannot be met. Definite information in regard to the extent' and .'distribution. of' ; Turkey 5 s available strength is' lacking, but'-'tliere is much'reason to doubt whether Turkish troops' in any great strength are available for -service outside their own territory. About sevcd months ago, for instance, a Russian authority estimated that Turkey had approximately 200,000 troops in Europe and about 350,000 divided between the different Asiatic theatres. .. Turkey , has sincclost heavily, in Armenia and 'in the Sinai- Peninsula, and heavy calls must'have been made upon . tho • troops remaining in Europe to reinforce the Asiatic armies. Even if the estimate quoted was much too low Turkey would not now be able to place anything like 200,Q00 men at the disposal'of her allies.

Though few definite developments are at present visible-in the main theatres, general suggestions are advanced that Vox fIINDENBUEG is likely to signalise his promotion by attempting sonic great coup." The possibility is, of course, to be faced, .but the essential fact of the situation is that the enemy has never been -ivorse placed to attempt such an''enterprise than he is at the present moment. Even the Allies, with their great and growing superiority of. force, do not hope to gain ■ their end by a sudden rush to victory in "any one theatre. They aim instead at what French semi-official statements'.have, called "a\low, continuous, methodical : push." If the enemy ventures upon one more violent effort to burst the bonds in which lie is being slowly strangled, he -will. be more likely to hasten his 'defeat- than to achieve any. advantageous '-result. •• -