THE CAMPAIGNS.

Lyttelton Times, Volume CXVII, Issue 17281, 23 September 1916, Page 8

THE CAMPAIGNS.

An indicatoin of tho difficulty that the enemy is experiencing in finding forces to oppose tho Franco-British advance in the Somme region is given in a French communique this morning. It is stated that one of the corps employed by the Germans in the great counter-attack delivered tho other day was brought from tho Aisne, and that another of the divisions had been on its way to the eastern front when it was recalled. There is no reason to doubt these reports, becauso the movements of tho enemy divisions are learned directly from prisoners, and of course the transfer of a corps from one sector to another could not go unremarked. We know that the Germans must have been hard pressed for men, and that the safer sectors havo been made to provide reserves for the Sommo area, where the transferred divisions havo been broken up at an astounding rate. In these circumstances it will not he surprising to find British and French testing the strength of the enemy's lines at other points, for although the Allies aro bound to bo massing their own forces north and south of the Somme, they may still think it worth whilo to deliver minor thrusts elsewhere. It' is true that we havo so far had no hint of such a development, and that tho threat of a gas. attack north of Arras and the organisation of a small undefined enterprise at Arras have been the only signs of British activity on other sectors, but if an offensive were in* preparation at another point wo should not expect to hear of it until tho movement actually opened. Tho conditions, it must be said, aro tempting, and if the main offensive is not absorbing all the Allies' energies—its demands in the matter of guns and munitions as well as of men aro enormous—a secondary thrust might havo a greafr influence on the whole situation. Thoro is little to report from Franco, where the heavy weather has been interfering with operations. The Russian reports, too, aro meagre, though there is evidence of fierce and sustained fighting, especially on the Stokhod and west of Lutsk. Tho. position, on tho two banks of tho Dniester is apparently unchanged, but to the south, in tho Carpathians, the Russians are organising an advance west of the Jablonitsa Pass and havo achieved soino success. Tho Rumanian reports arc encouraging. It is truo that tho occupation of SzeketyUdvarholy, nearly fifty miles.from the | frontier, would bo virtually unopposed, but tho RutnSWiah advance shows how drastic wa» the contraction of the Austrian front in Transylvania.. It> is in the position in the Dobrudja, however, that we aro chiefly interested. Von Mttoksnsen's advance was so rapid that the the Cbe.rseemed to be ia Khc concentration 81l Hid

now that after checking the advance ot the Bulgai-Turco-German army the Rumanians and Russians assumed the offensh'o and compelled the enemy to retreat. The communiquo implies that tho battle was decisivo, hut we shall have to wait for fuller reports before attempting to assess the results. The reports from Macedonia indicate no change in tho position, beyond tho failure of Bulgarian counter-attacks on the left wing.