PROGRESS OF THE WAR

Dominion, Volume 9, Issue 2876, 14 September 1916, Page 4

PROGRESS OF THE WAR

A dashing attack by the French has notably extended the penetration of the German defences on the Somme. The front on which the attack was launched ran from Combles to the Somme, a distance of just under four miles, and the line gained extends south to the river from a point nearly two miles east of Combles, following for a distance of a mile and a half the important highway which follows tho most direct .route between Bapaume and Peronne. Immediately north of the Somme the French are now only two miles away from Peronne. Ridge 76, which they have captured in this area, is less than half a mile distant from the Tortille brook, and tho low heights along this waterway constitute the last defences of Peronne. On a portion of the front, between Roncourt (two miles east of Peronne) and Bouchavesnes, a mile and a half south of Rancourt, tho attack seems to have completely penetrated the Gqrman third-line system of defences, as it was established when the battle opened. That progress on this scale should be made in a Binglo vigorous thrust is a striking indication of the extent to which the Alßcs arc masters of the situation.

Gurat events avo now visibly astir In the Macedonian theatre, and to appearance the Allies aro on the immediate; eve of bringing their weight fully to bear upon Bulgaria. Reports from Athens, which aver that the Bulgarians are in retroat from Greece, and suffering heavily under'an Allied pursuit, possibly run a, little ahead of events, hut even the bare- official reports make it quite clear that the Allies aro on the move, and their offensive may bo expected to develop rapidly. Pronounced activity is disoloscd along a, great part of the front of about two hundred, miles, from Albania to the coast of Greece, at the mouth of the Struma, 50 miles east of Salonika, on which the different sections of the composite Allied Army aro in touch with the Bulgars. Tho most important detail action thus far mentioned is a French attack upon enemy positions on or near tho Serbo-Greok frontier, immediately west of tho Vardar. Hero the Bulgars seem to havo been strongly established, but they wcro dislodged from their "trenches on a front of about two miles to a depth of _ half a mile. Further west the Sorbians are pressing the enomyin the region southoast of Monastir, and they also havo made sqmo forward progress. With tho British movement across tho Struma, which was reported yesterday, theso events mako it jjretty certain that tho Allies aro "developing a gcnoral attack, and this should mean nothing less than that tho days of tho Teutonic domination of the Balkans aro . numbered.

It may be said without undue optimism that tho Allies have never at any stage of tho war had better prospects of speedily winning groat and far-reaching advantages than they have at the present moment in tho Balkans and tho "neighbouring war areas'on tho north. Available information warrants a beliof that the position of the enemy in tho south-eastern theatre is hopeless, and that his loss of the Balkan corridor, in which he thought ho had found a gateway to far-extended conquests, is mado certain by his inability to concentrate anything like the force required to mako head against the Allied armies on north and south. _ It is not yet certain that Bulgaria is to be left unaided, or almost unaided, to contend against an overwhelming superiority of forco, but appearances point in this direction. There is no news of Austro-Gorman reinforcements hastening to tho Balkans, but there is a roport of quito another kind, to the effect that a Gorman Military Commission at Constantinople is hastening tho dispatch of Turks to tho European fronts. For what it is worth this is another indication added, to others recently afforded that the Teutonic Powers intend to abandon Turkey and Bulgaria to their fate, first of all bleeding them of as many men as possible to reinforce tho thinning lines in the main theatres. ,

The issues at stake on the southern front concern' not only Serbia and Bulgaria, but Albania as well. "While the Allied army in Greece is in immediate touch with the several routes' running north into Serbia and Bulgaria, tho Italians havo recently been working eastward from their strong base at Valona, qn the coast of Albania. It is mentioned to-day that another, and presumably larger, Italian force, in Macedonia, has taken up its allotted front. Probably' this force will junction with the Serbians on "the east (on the southern frontier of Serbia), and on the west with Its compatriots who have advanced "from Valona. Tho Allied line would then extond unbrokenly from 'the Adriatic coast, through Albania and Greece, to the Aegean at tho mouth of tho Struma. It is apparently in connection with the developing operations in Southern Albania that the Italians have peremptorily ordered a Greek regiment 'to fall back into its own territory. There is, of course, no question of the Allies advancing north through the Balkans on a continuous lino extending across country. The territory as a whole is mountainous, and can only be penetrated by an army along certain defined avenues, of which the valley of the Vardar stands first in importance. But tho Allied foothold in Albania for tho time being secures their western flank, and no doubt it will be one of their chief aims as the campaign develops to extend their "hold on the Adriatic coast, and ultimately threaten the Austrian naval ports. This is a matter in which the Italians have a particular interest, and, as has been suggested before, it is not unlikely that for some time to come they may find a more promising field of enterprise in and beyond the Balkans than in the area of their main campaign. Tho announcement that tho Italians in Macedonia havo taken up their allotted front very probably means that a material addition has bcon made to tho strength of the Allied army.

At the moment of writing there is not much.news from tho Danube front, but the Bulgarian movement into the Dobruja seems to have already expended its force, and it remains probable that a Russo-Ru-manian 'invasion of north-western Bulgaria will synchronise with tho full development of the Allied offensive in the south. The Rumanians are steadily advancing in Southern Transylvania. According to a Russian communique they are occupying villages on tho approaches to Hermannstadt, 18 utiles north of their frontier, and the enemy is falling back on the River Maros, more than twenty miles further north. Apparently it is. not expected that the Austrians will attempt to hold Hermannstadt, which they were reported somo time ago to bo heavily fortifying, and if this is tho position it would seem lesj than ever likely that any material assistance will be rendered to Bulgaria. The continued progress of the Rumanians in Southern Transylvania increasingly threatens tho enemy's main line of communication through Serbia, and, other considerations apart, to send additional 'troops into the Balkans while the Rumanian advance continues would be to run a very serious risk of having, them out off and enveloped. , , . .

A late message, though it consists of extracts from newspaper comments, brings most important news of the progress of the Allied offensive from Greece. It is rather strango that comments upon what has been accomplished should precede ordinary news, but there is no reason to doubt that General Sarrail's forces are in fact advancing, up the Vardar into Serbia, and up the Struma into Bulgaria, in the wako of a defeated enemy. Tho opinion expressed that tho Allies are likely to make rapid progress towards tho complete conquest of the Balkans, in spite of the obstacles to be overcome, is consistent with the known facts of the situation. It is an essential point that the enemy lacks the force which would ■ enablo him to make the _ most of these obstacles in resisting tho Allied offensive,