PROGRESS OF THE WAR
In Macedonia tho Allies arc still pressing forward in an advance which threatens increasing disaster to tho enemy as it proceeds. Prilep, tho road-centre 25 miles north-north-east of Monastir, which has been'captured, was the heart of the enemy's communications with his positions in South-western Serbia. The capture of- Prilep does not entail the envelopment of the enemy forces further west, but it means that they are denied on opportunity of falling back upon the Babuna Pass (north of Prilop), and are condemned to a difficult and arduous retreat, chiefly by way of mountain tracks.. The fow good roads from the west in Southern Serbia all converge on Prilep. Immediately north of this centre the Bulgars are strongly posted on tho mountains ■■ flanking the Babuna. PaES. The pass begins a mile or two north-east of Prilep, and runs for several miles between high peaks. If they had only to consider the enemy in front, the Bulga-rs holding tho Babuna Pass would be fairly secure, but their positions are being rapidly turned by the Allied advance- further east; On the Vardar the Serbs have now advanced beyond Enish.Ob'a,. about fifty miles up the railway from the Serbo-Greek frontier and a dozen , miles.qouth-east of Veles. Franco-Serbian troops are pushing forward along a great part of the front of about 30 miles between Prilep and the eastern side of tho Vardar, a'nd they are now across the Vardar river and railway on a front of more than twenty miles. . They are three miles beyond the V-ardar on the direct approach ,to Ishtip (17 miles cast of Voles), and in tine advance v&ro .driving the enemy back oh inferior communications. The main feature meantime, however, is tho continued advance along the Vardar valley towards Vcles. Reaching that point tho Serbs would cut right across the communications of the Bulgar forces which arc now defending the. Babuna Pass and its neighbourhood. Such a development would undoubtedly add heavily to the losses, and would notably improve' the prospect of converting his retreat into a hopeless rout.
On tho Allied right wing the British have now advanced seven or eight miles to positions north of' Lake Doiran, but an extended advance in this urea is hardly to be looked for; Sonic miles north of Lake Doiran the mountains, on the Bulgarian frontier constitute a formidable barrier, and no doubt the immediate British effort will be directed north-west, with a view to clearing the Vardar vallny towards tho area in which it has been mastered by the Serbs. There are possibilities that tho offensive may extend west into Albania and cast into Greek .Macedonia and towards the Bulgarian frontier,.. Meantime it is prospering well. Reports today give due prominence to the groat part played by the Serbs, who have compassed a feat Only possible to hardy and valiant mountaineers. In the foremost areas they arc shown to have reached at timeof' writing they are about thirty-fivo miles north of the line on which their attack opened. Considerably greater distances have been mentioned in the cablegrams, and these distances, due to the rugged nature of the country and its tortuous communications, give, of course, a better idea of what the Serbs have accomplished than a flat measurflment on the map. What they havo accomplished, however, is measured not. so much by the distance covered in miles, as by the shattering effect of their onset upon tho enemy's defensive organisation. Some arresting facts under this head appear in the news to-day. If.it is true that the Germans turned machine-guns on the retreating Bulpars tremble in the enemy camp is likely to cnsiie. Tho Bulgars are not the kind of people who arc likely t.: -cndiirc such treatment tamely.
General Alienby's troops are rapidly gathering in the fruits of their signal victory in Palestine. In the north Haifa and Acre have been captured after slight opposition, arid a mounted force which includes Australians vand New Zcalandcrs has occupied Es Salt, and is pursuing the enemy towards Amman, on the Hejaz railway. It scorns highly probable that a considerable proportion, at least, of the Turkish forces based on tho,Hejaz railway will share the fate of the armies which have been annihilated in tho country west of the Jordan. The Turks hold posts along the railway ovor a distance of hundreds of miles, and have long had an army established in Yemen, the south-western province of Arabia. Mr. W. T. Massby observes in a message which appears to-day that it is .clear that the enemy is willing to sacrifice his troops in Hcjaz,' and leave tho Turkish army in Yemen to its own devices.. To ap'poarauco thn Turks havo no option in tho matter. At all events now that the northward route along tho Hcjaz railway is closed enemy trorps in the southern areas can only escape by a detour throagh the Such a journey is not lilcely to be made except by well mounted men without impedimenta, and even parties meeting these demands would run the yisk of being cut off by the Arabs.
Some of the operations reported to-day constitute an attempt to trap Turkish forces on the Hcjaz railway in an area a long way to tho north of those mentioned by Mr. Massey. and the attempt seems to have good prospects of succeeding.. Amman, on which the Australians and New Zealanderß and other troops are advancing, stands nearly thirty miles north-ea-st of the northern extremity of the Dead Sea. About 130 miles along the railway further south the
Arabs have captured Maan, and arc driving tho Turks northward. As soon as the British column reaches Amman, therefore, the section of railway between that place and Maan will bo cut out, and any Turks now on it who escape will have to do so by taking to tho desert, and there outpacing tho pursuing cavalry. As a whole.the lohs of the forces cut off in Arabia and of those which are being gathered up along the' Hejaz railway is likely to prove a serious addition to the losses the Turks have suffered in the country west of tho Jordan.
At Acre the British troops are eighty miles north-north-west from Jerusalem. Acre, a place famous in history, is of some importance, as commanding the inland route across tho Plain of Esdraclon, but the chief prize gained by the British in this region is the port of Haifa, on the southern shore of the Bay of Acre. Haifa has the be.it natural harbour on the coast of Palestine but this means only that it is a fairly safe roadstead. Possession of Haifa will greatly simplify tho problem of supplying the British advanced front, as it'is at present I cated, and in any operations ■ that are undertaken up the railway beyond the Sea of Galileo towards Damascus. It i's by no means certain, however, that Haifa will become tho principal .British base in the further extension of the campaign. ■ A ne,w landing further uorth with a view to a.n advance on tho Bagdad railway and Aleppo by. the shortest possible routes is an obvious alternative. There'are much botter. harbours than that of Haifa on the.coast of the Gulf of Alcxandretta,' and the crippling defeat inflicted on I the enemy tende as definitely to simplify tht problems of a new landing as to dear the way for an extended advance- overland.
In tho speech in which he applauds tho humanity of the Kaiser and appeals'/or fortitude in faco of "temporary , military, failures," t!ie Turkish Grand Vizier is obviously marking time. •He sjpeaks of peace only in terms which would command unqualified approval in Berlin, but it seems not unlikely that he or someone, else on behalf of Turkey may presently find it necessary to speak of peace in a very different ; strain. , Turkey without doubt is seriously weakened, but it 'is possible that her case has already become desperate. It would be necessary to know what she holds in reserve as well as what she has lost to . measure _ her actual prospects, but it is evident in any case that she needs early and liberal help from Germany, and has somewhat dubious prospects, of getting it. Whatever prospects- sho formerly had' of obtaining necessary help are certainly not improved by the course of events in the Balkans'.
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Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 1, 26 September 1918, Page 4
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1,386PROGRESS OF THE WAR Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 1, 26 September 1918, Page 4
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