PROGRESS OF THE WAR

Dominion, Volume 10, Issue 2940, 28 November 1916, Page 4

PROGRESS OF THE WAR

A iupid and material extension of the enemy invasion of Wallachia is indicated in reports in hand at the time of writing, and the best hope in sight is that the Rumanian armies may gain a defensive line west of Bucharest in a condition permitting them to turn with effect upon the. enemy and bring him to a halt. The detail developments of the campaign, as >;they are at present revealed, are understandable on no other ground than that the Rumanians are rapidly retiring. A German communique, not yet checked by any Allied report, states that, the Rumanians are still stubbornly resisting in the valley of the Alt (about 90 miles west of Bucharest), but that the roads east of the Alt arc crowded with their fleeing baggage wagons. The statement about continued Rumanian resistance in the Alt Valley applies to only a portion of its length, for, according to the same report, the enemy has captured Rimnik, in Northern Wallachia, and in a northern advance from the Danube has reached (but not yet captured) Alexandria. Rimnik is y a railway town in the Alt Valley, about 30 miles south of the frontier at the Rotherthurm Pass. Alexandria is about twenty miles north of the Danube on tho railway from Zimnitza, the town near which Mackensen was reported yesterday to have forced the passage of the Danube. Considering that Alexandria stands about 35 miles east of tho valley of tho Alt, it is evident that the turning movement from the south for which the crossing of the Danube paved 'the way is developing apace.

The broad position disclosed, assuming that tho enemy report quoted does not lay claim to more than has been accomplished, is that the Rumanian front now takes the shape of a broad-pointed salient, westward to the Alt, and that the forces holding this salient are in some danger of being cut off more particularly if the enemy succeeds in further extending his northward advance from the Danube. Such a, state of affairs is to bo reconciled with Lhe hopeful view of the outlook taken by several commentators who are quoted to-day only on the assumption that the Rumanians are engaged in a methodical retreat to a prepared line. This, of course, is not improbable. Colonel Feyler, who is credited with a statement that the Rumanians arc in nowise crushed, and may hold Falkenhayn indefinitely in front of Bucharest, enjoys the reputation oE being an able and well-informed critic, and is probably in possession of more information than is available here. It should not be long in any case before the ability of the Rumanians to bring the invaders to a, halt is put to the test. Events are moving

rapidly and as information stands there can be. littlo doubt that the Rumanian forces still lighting on the line of the Alt must speedily retreat if they are to avoid envelopment.

It is clear enough that it- the Rumanians succeed in raakiug an indefinite stand west of Bucharest, Germany, as Colonel Feyler i-e----raarks, will be deprived of the swift triumph hope of which tempted her into the Rumanian adventure. FalKENHAYN is himself credited with the statement that his task is to destroy the Rumanian Army, and it is manifest that if he presently finds himself confronted by an unbreakable Russo-Rumanian line west of Bucharest, tho invasion of a great part of Wallachia will/not redeem his enterprise from failure. _ As matters now stand on the main fronts it is probable that even,pronounced success in Rumania would not repay Germany for her expenditure of lorce in that theatre. But the fact which holds attention at the moment is that in spite of the extent to | which the German invasion has progressed its pronounced success is by no means assured. The Rumanian Army, as far as we know, is unbroken. It is not even known that it has suffered abnormal losses ia the course of its retreat. In essentials the fate of the campaign is still an open question. A point upon which authorities are agreed is that Falkenhayn mußt accomplish his local purpose in Rumania swiftly if at all. His armies have been assembled at the expense of the main fronts—where the_ ' demand that exists is for practical, purposes indefinite, though it is not at the moment in full force—and cannot be retained for any great length of time in Rumania. A firm stand by the Rumanians west of Bucharest would, therefore, very completely transform tho present unfavourable aspect of the campaign. No fact is better established than that it is only tho comparative lull in greater campaigns which makes the present heavy concentration against Rumania possible. Should a resumption of active operations in the main theatres find Falkeneayn still short of success in tho Rumanian venture his invasion might be expected to recede as rapidly; as it has hitherto progressed.

A report from Mr. Ward Price that the Germans are shelling Monaster and possibly meditate an attempt to recapture that place may seem to involve a rather striking change in the situation in Macedonia. But it has, in fact, already been made clear that no rapid advance by the Allies through the mountain country north of Monaster is.-to be expected in the immediate future, chiefly for the reason that the enemy has thrown powerful reinforcements in their path, though weather conditions, present and prospectivo, also have an important bearing on the matter. His heavy concentration in defence in itself points to the concern with which the enemy views- the penetration of his defences in Western Macedonia, and in the circumstances it would not be particularly surprising if be staked heavily upon an attempt to recover the lost positions around Monastir. Mb. Waed Price, while he mentions the possibility of such an attempt, thinks it unlikely, in view of the reinforcement of the Allies and their steady progress, that, it will be made. It would seem, at all events,, that if the, Allies have no great-prospects of an accelerated advanoe in the near future, they have compelled the enemy to concentrate against their offensive on such a scale as gives it distinct value for the time being as a diversion tending to relieve pressure on Rumania.

_THEKE_is no war news from Russia at time of writing, unless suggestions that a powerful effort by the Russian armies is in prospect can be classed in that category. But it is a fact of good omen as it boars upon the war that the recent Ministerial crisis and tlio changes it has involved are now generally regarded as having entailed heavy defeat for the pro-German faction in Russia. The correspondent of the Morning Post at Petrograd declares in _ effect that the crisis was precipitated by the determination of the patriotic bloo in the Duma to secure the appointment of Ministers with whom they could work in harmony in the vigorous prosecution of the war. The. extent to which the demand was effective is seon not only in the removal of the reactionary Premier, but in the fact that tho patriotic party was openly supported by the War and Naval Ministers, who can*only address the Duma with the Tsar's express _ permission. The circumstances imply that the Tsar is more than over determined to break free from pro-German influences, and that in this he is backed by a weight of popular opinion against which _ the pro-Germans are struggling in vain.