PROGRESS OF THE WAR

Dominion, Volume 10, Issue 2934, 21 November 1916, Page 4

PROGRESS OF THE WAR

Capturing MonasLir the Allies have broken through an important section of the Bulgar-German defensive line in Macedonia, and at a mora favourable season of the year the event would have opened prospects of an early and extended development *'of General Sarrail's offensivo. In existing circumstances tho outlook from this standpoint is rather uncertain. Winter weather and bad roads will necessarily hamper and impede the Allies in any forward movement they may undertake, and it „is probably unlikely that any big forward movement will bo attempted until tho return of better weather. Nevertheless, tho breakdown in his defence which has cost him Monastir materially weakens tho position of the enomy in the Southern Balkans, and increases the likelihood that General SarRAIL may be able to create a diversion which wjll sensibly relieve the pressure bearing upon Rumania in her hard struggle to make head against _Falkenhatn's columns in Wallachia.

Monastir is the terminus of a railway from Salonika, and will be of great value to the Allies as a depot. It is also a point from which roads _ radiate in all directions, south into Greece, west to the Adriatic coast, and north and northcast to ,tho Vardar. It is stated that tho essential objective of the Allies, at tho-present time, in the region beyond Monastir, is Prilep. This place stands about 35 miles north-east of Monastir, and is' approximately a midway point on the road which connects Monastir with the railway town of Veles in the Vardar valley. Prilep is also in touch by road, though by a somewhat roundabout route, with Uskub. a railway junction on the Vardar. considerably to the north of Vales, of which a great deal was heard during last year's campaign.

• » • « Whether tho Allies will be able to materially extend their advance towards tho Vardar during the winter months _is at tho moment an open_ question, but it is tolerably certain that they will not stop short at the point now reached. As matters stand, a good deal has been done to undermine the security of tho enemy front in Macedonia. The Bulgar-Germans staked very heavily upon the defence of tho Serbo-Greek frontier below Monastir, and the extent to which they aro placed at a disadvantage in the existing situation might bo inferred, other considerations apart, from the energy and with which they strove to avert it. They have now the option of massing all available forces against a further extension of _ General Sarraii's advance, which_ would mean tho introduction of reinforcements, not imprtjbably from the Rumanian fronts, or falling back to a new line further north. Adoption of tho second alternative would mean a material reduction of the margin by which they hold their vital communications along the Vardar secure. Whatever course he may adopt it is quite certain that tho enemy will continue the campaign under much less,advantageous conditions than he has hitherto enjoyed.

. A slight improvement is disclosed in tho Rumanian situation. In the Alt and Jiul Valleys tho enemy has made a little further headway, but the vitality of the defence has been demonstrated in two areas in which the enemy was reported yesterday to have made considerable ' progress. Tho Rumanians report that they are advancing beyond Dragoslavele, north-east of Campulung, and they have also resumed the offensive *n" the Tirgu Jiuliu Valley, immediately east of the Jiul Valley. There is not yet, however, any pronounced change in the general aspect of the campaign, and the position must still be regarded as rather critical.

One authority is quoted to-day as expressing the opinion that below the mountains, where the Rumanians are in constant danger of being outflanked, they will be able to make a more effective resistance. A much more general view is that the best hope of the Rumanians is to hold the enemy in the mountainous z"no and give him no opportunity o£ deploying in the easier country beyond. This obviously ,is what they have set themselves to achieve. They have obstinately contested practically every foot of the defiles through which, in places, thev are being sk.w- j ly driven southward.

A message just received, gives a rather alarming account of tho position in \Vallachia. but in some of its details it is dccidedly obscure. Thus ifc speaks of the enemy's on. _ or approach to, the OsovaCraiova railway, compelling the retreat of a large part of the Rumanian line. This railway runs west through Rumania to Orsova, on the Danube, near tho Iron Gate. No news has come through of the cnemv penetrating the frontier in tho Orsova region, nor would anv reported advanco from tho north liring him anywhorc near the OrsovaCraiova. railway. The same message states that the position created by lite enemy's advance in the Tirni •Tiuliii region (where the Rumanians have now opened a oounter-o/fensivc)

Is modified by the fact that tho communications of the invading army are increasingly open to attack by way of the lateral valleys of the mountains. According to M. Marcel Hutin. Russian reinforcements arc available in suflicient strength to restore the whole Rumanian situation, but railway facilities aro restricted. This no doubt touches the root of tho trouble. The immediate difficulty is not to find but to convey reinforcements to Rumania. The only ally with whom she is in direct touch is Russia, and though Russia and Rumania are linked up by two main lines of railway, they have by no means as good transport facilities as the enemy has behind him in Transylvania. This helps to make the outlook grave for the time being, but it should mean also that the strength of the Rumanian armies is being steadily built up by reinforcements from Russia, though not as rapidly as could be desired. * * < *

Few events are reported in tho Western theatre at time of writing, but brief extracts are cabled from an article in which Mit. J. L. Garvin states that the Germans have thinned the rest of their front, concentrating their real strength at the rear of the threatened area on tho Somme, and_ urges that England should exhibit greater mobility and take over more of the French front, presumably in order that the enemy may be vigorously attacked on weakened sections of his front; Confident statements and suggestions of this kind are open to tho objection that' they present as fact a good deal that can only be assumed, and constitute a, rather ridiculous attempt to instruct the leaders of the Ententearmies. Pursuing his theme, Mr. Garvin has rovived tho cry that Britain must extend more liberal assistance to France. The answer to all such talk seems to bo that the British Army is under the control of tho Generalissimo of the Allied Western armies, and that it is for General Joffre to say on . what front it shall shapo its activities. **»■*

There is ccrtainly nothing in the events of tho Sommo offensive as they have been reported to justify Mr. Garvin's strictures. That the offensive is developing successfully to its' appointed end admits of no possible doubt. Late events have brought tho Germans perceptibly nearer to tho awkward plight predicted for them as recently as the beginning of last month by Mr. Garvin nimself. On that occasion he asked: "Can the Germans retreat? The probabilities are that '■hey can and are already making all their arrangements to that purpose. Any very suddon and extensive process of withdrawal would be to the last degree difficult and ■hazardous. _ But the enemy will try to effect his retirement *by very gradual stages.. Bothmer's example in Galicia showed what may be done. Whether such a., feat would be more or less easy in the West has yet to bo proved. It would have to be performed before vigilant Franco-British armies with a complete mastery of aerial observation and more formidable technical resources in many things ' than tho Russians yet enjoy in tho East. On the other hand, the Germans as yet retain better railway facilities than wcro at Bothmer's disposal. On the whole, Mr. Gakvln assumed, it was safer to expect the enemy's gradual retreat rather than his forthcoming debacle in the West.

Captain de Beauchamps, tho French aviator who was reported yesterday to have dropped bombs on Munich railway station, afterwards flying across tho Alps, and completing a flight of about 450 niilcs at Venice is the hero of other notable aerial exploits. In September last, in company with Lieutenant Datjcouht., he made a five hundred-mile flight to Essen, the heart of the German war industry._ The bombs dropped on that occasion wrought material havoc upon the enemy war factories, but tho achievement was . hailed mainly as a ■ bold pioneer flight symptomatic of what is to come. Captain de Beauchamps is 29 years of age, and commands an air squadron on the French eastern frontier.