To Smash Serbia

Pukekohe & Waiuku Times, Volume 5, Issue 138, 28 January 1916, Page 2 (Supplement)

To Smash Serbia

(I'Yoni the "Daily Mail.")

There are few lien its in Groat Uritain to-day that do not go out to our Scrhian Allies in profound admiration of the magnificent struggle they are waging against overwhelming odds, and in intense sympathy lor the terrible sufferings they are enduring in defence of their homeland and the common cause id civilisation and progress. In its conception this fourth invasion of Serbia, prepared during long month, by an em my who leaves little to chance, was possessed of a twofold object. First and foremost, it was an operation planned to cleave a way through to CoiiHtantmople and at one stroke rob our adventure in Gallipoli of its possibilities and partially nullify the effect of our blockade of Germany

In this it has succeeded. A through connect on from Antwerp to Baghdad is now hut a question oi engineers and navvie-*. The amount of copper, cotton, and grain which Germany may receive is limited only by the facilities available for its transport, while the existing Turkish legions will he la-officered and rvarmed, and a new and formidable army of young, virile Turks swept nto the net of Prussian militarism. This result alone was well worth the heavy price which the Kaiser has'been called upon to pay, and. if we may apply the lesson, it would have been equally well worth blocking.

It docs not moan that Germany is going to win; it affects little our chances of ultimate victory. Hut it sets hack the day of triumph. It entails a vastly increased expenditure of Mood and treasure, and : i enormously complicates a definite settlement of outstanding Balkan problems in our favour. And if 1 may hazard a suggestion, I will say that neighbouring neutrals have been even more impressed by the marked absence of preparation which has distinguished our eleventh-hour attempt to help Serbia than by the tardy arrival of reinforcements. They, at any rate, appreciating the immense issues involved fail to understand how the gain of a few miles of trenches in Franco and Flanders could be deemed of more importance than the checkmating of the German plan to link up with Constantinople.

GERMAN LEGIONS NAILED DOWN The second object of the Kaiser and his all es was to achieve the annihilation of the Serbian people. They aimed at more than the mere destruction of King Peter's Army. They charged themselves with the systematic extermination of the entire Serbian race. For this phase of their diabolical effort to drench Europe with the blood combatants and non-combatants alike they have well chosen their associates. Terror-ridden Belgium can speak with eloquent tongue of the German capacity for brutality: the first Austrian invasion of Serbia (August 1914) presents abundant testimony of Austrian adaptability: while the Bulgarian campaigns of 1912 and 1913 demonstrate that King Ferdinand's troops have no superior in the Satanic arts of massacre and outiage. \et, thanks to the miraculous defence offered by the Serbians, and despite the delay of promised help from Great Britain and France, the Serbian Army is still intact, still contesting every inch of homeland, ready when the tide turns to press and harry the Teuton flank. An enemy wedge may be driven in 'twixt north' and south, Marshal Putnik in Old .Serbia may be separated from General Sarrail in New Serbia, two distinct campaigns may bo rendered necessary, but William'll., who thought to rid himself for ever of Serbian opposition and free his legions for work in other fields, finds them nailed down to the mountain fastnesses of the Balkans. Granted average fortune, that will be the end of if. Not the longed-for victory, but another interminable line of trenches and

GERMANY'S AIM IN TDK PKKSENTCAMPAIGN

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dug-outs iii n-n inhospitable land, wher the courage and vitality of h's "onnno; fodder'' will lip sapped and drained li tempest and fatigue and the ever growing pressure of the Allied offensir l nun ilk> south. A sorry scheme o things at its best. Everv British or [''rem li soldier lnnd ed at Salonika will nave a Serbian They arc worth saving, no' only fo| their >wn sublime bravery and saeril lice, but because they are hardy peasant warriors with the legend of vietorj behind then' who, refreshed and rearmed—as they will be if fate spreads its favours justly—will show themselves ready to break through the hostile barriers of men and machinery or ilie mountain heights and lead' the All es to vidory and pence.

EVIDENCE FROM THE ENEMY. Vet behind that curtain of Anstro-German-Bulgarian bayonets there lies one of the greatest tragedies in history. We do not know the extent of ilie horrors, which have been perpetrated in the name of German "Kultur" and Bulgarian avarice. Probably we shall never learn. But we get glimpses which open up an appalling vista—glimpses of old men, women, and infants who. unable to retire with the Army, have been put to the sword by the invading barbarians. We need no proofs from neutrals or war correspondents. The excuses of the enemy Press have already provided us with the necessary evidence. "The Serbs," said the Vienna "None Freie Prcssc" of October L'l, "destroy nothing in their retreat : On the contrary, their system is to leave the population behind in order the better to spy upon our Army. Our soldiers often bring in with the prisoners women inarching with guns on their shoulders—that is to say, with the arms with which they have attacked our army. These women are veiy audac'ous and do not iVar death, which, by the way, most certainly awaits them."

The •• Frankfurter Zeitung" of October 23 wrote: "The war in Serbia has become a savage conflict of the people, in wheh old men, women, and children participate"; and the "Neue Freie l'resse" of the same date added: "It is a campaign of ancient tines where not one stone is left upon another: where everything is destroyed. - ' A day or two previously the ''Berliner Tagchlatt" declared: "In their flight the population attack and lire upon tbo soldiers, thus drawing greater hurt upon themselves, it being understood that each of these acts is punished on the spot." Other and similar citations could he made from the German Press. As to the llulgars, the Deputy-Speaker of the Bulgarian Sohranje, Dr. Merntchiloff, thus expressed himself in the Hungarian journal "Az Est": "In the Serbian trenches fight many old men, women, and children who verv often throw bombs. Everywhere the' Serbian populations host white flags and wave handkerchiefs, and, when the troops enter, throw bombs upon them. Tbo Bulgars wcrv obliged to destroy an entire Serbian battalion who had put down their rnTos in .sign of surrender and, when the Bulgarian troops approached, commenced to throw bombs." lo those who know the Serbs no denial of these accusations will bo necessary. The old men, women, and children of the country are little different from those of other lands. Poor and feeble, reduced by suffering and want, fearful of the vengeance of their enemies, they arc incapable of the acts of resistance attributed to them Teutons Hungarians, and Bulgars, led on by their innate blood-lust and their determination to exterminate a race which bars their pathway to worlddomination, are ruthlessly slaughtering the inocents who have been unable to Hoe before their onslaught. "Qui s excuse s'accuse."