In the Balkans

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXVIII, Issue 72, 24 November 1915, Page 5

In the Balkans

’ GREECE AND THE ALLIES. i FOREIGN OFFICE DENIAL. NO CREEK SHIPS HELD UP. I BLOCKADE A MTTrI. The High Commissioner reports: — London, November 23 (3 p.m.) The Foreign Office announces that no i Greek ships are being seized or held i up in ports in the United Kingdom, and tliat there is no blockade of Greek ports. INTEREST IN KITCHENER’S VISIT. GREAT EXCITEMENT AT THE PORT OF ATHENS. THE SITUATION IMPROVED. United Press Association. London, November 22. The situation in Greece is occasioning the greatest interest, and all news-' papers are canvassing the possibilities, in view of Lord Kitchener’s visit. Advices from Athens state that after Lgrd Kitchener’s departure Cabinet sat until three o’clock in the morning. There is great excitement at Piraeus, and shippers await the development of the blockade with apprehension. Ministers said that the attitude of the Allies was not unexpected, while some declared that the importance of the situation was exaggerated. Liberals announce that they will only participate in the elections in the event of the demobilisation measure which M. Vgnizelos desires in the present ciegnmstances. The Daily Telegraph’s Athens correspondent says that the British Legation’s declaration is creating a critical situation. M. Cochin, who intended leaving with General Sarrail for the front, is returning to Athens. Greek officials deny the possibility | of Grece attacking or disarming at all, and contend that the differences with the Allies will soon be adjusted. A Monastic telegram received at Salonika states that the situation lias improved. The Bulgarians have retired from Prilep, and the Serbian cavalry which advanced towards the Babuna Pass failed to discover any . Bulgarians. There is an unconfirmed report that two Serbian divisions are j 1 1

marching from Ferizovitch towards Mona stir, and that the Bulgarians, fearing they will be enveloped, are retiring eastward. A German communique states: The Serbian rearguard was thrown back near Socanca, in the Ibar Valley, and both sides of the Pordujeve Valley have-been forced. We took 2600 prisoners, and six guns, four machineguns, and much material were captured. We found in Novibazar an arsenal of fifty big mortars.

WITH THE FRENCH FORCES I CAPTURE OF IMPORTANT j HEIGHT. 1 BRILLIANT FIGHTING AGAINST ' big odds. London, November 23. Mr G. Ward Price (the Daily Mail’s correspondent at Salonika) reports that the French are holding fifteen miles of a triangular plain pointing to Veles, bounded by the Cehna river on the west and by the Vardar on the east and north. Both streams are unfordable. The triangle includes'' good water, and there are three villages with houses for billeting; and landing places for aviators. The French also hold the gloomy height of Karahodjali. When General Sarrail arrived he saw the immense importance of the height and ordered its (immediate capture. No bridge crossed the Vardar, but a crazy old Turkish boat was found whereby a whole regiment was ferried over, the

boat coming anti going day and night. The Bulgarians were driven out, and later, when they realised their mistake, they repeatedly attempted to recapture the height, but wtere repulsed with heavy loss of life.

• The chief difficulty of the French position is that every 'man and every ounce of munitions and shpp'lios must be carried on a single line of railway. There is not even a road, moreover, the railway passes through narrow ravines, the longest of which is ten 'miles through Demirkapn Gorge, northward of Strumnitza, of which the northern end is so precipitous that the train can only make its exit by going through a tunnel for the last hundred yards. If the tunnel is blown up a few guns will suffice to prevent it being repaired. General Sarrail, by a brilli’aht crosscountry march in order to join up with the Serbs! in Babuna Pass, Jia§ reached to .within ,tffii miles', 'desperate .fighting ib which the outnumbered three to one. GERMAN VIEW OF CREEK NEU- / TRALITY. The Berliner Tfigdblatt says thk'f the neutrality of Greece depends, solely jon the increasing success of the Central Powers in Serbia. King Constantine will be guided rather by their approach to the Greek frontiers as conquerors than by the Serbs, French, and English fleeing. The neutrality of Roumania is determined by the . inability Russia to bring.help. The intervention of 1 (Italy is? discounted. ‘VVeWS OF BULGARIAN PPL.ITI- ■ S ) l •(.’ C I ANSa . . ... rl! . ;., n . The Times’ Bucharest reports. t|rat M. Radoslavoff had a conference with M. Maliuoff. j The Oppositionists made an agreement to convoke the. Chamber,-and the- Oppositionists, forming a majority, demand that Bulgaria'will not further participate in the war after ,\the occupation of the Macedonian districts offered.by both groups of Powers, and, if a separate peace is impracticable, the Bulgarians to cease hostilities.

AN INTERVIEW WITH THE MINISTER OF JUSTICE. Loudon, November 23. Mr Jeffries, the Daily Mail’s correspondent at Athens, had an interview with M. llallis, Minister ot Justice, who declared that it was madness to suggest that Greece should think of disarming the Allies when the guns of the fleet might be levelled on the cities. Greece was ready to demobilise in twenty-four hop ns, if the Allies left Salonika. M. llallis angrily declared that the British Government and press were adopting a disgraceful attitude. “You are scoundrels,” he added, banging his fist on the table. “You are starving us, and want us to endure the Horrors of a Bulgarian 'invasion and become another Belgium, though no English have shed blood in Serbia, and only a few thousand' troops have landed to help us after endless mistakes and delays.” The interview discloses that King Constantine agreed, under M. \ enivelos’ reasoning, to an original disembarkation of 150,000 of the Allies at Salonika, but that he repented within twenty minutes and sent an aide post haste after M. Venizelos, who had already informed Sir Francis Elliot of the King’s decision.

King Constantine does not love Germany, and offered to join the Allies in April, when Germany’s hands were full, stipulating that the Dardanelles operations should not bo undertaken, but that an advance should be made through Thrace, and the Allies accepted, his proposals. Mr Jeffries quotes King Constantine as saying: “Whatever happens France and England will never bo too severe on Greece, whereas Germany iwill bo implacable, and my duty is jto save my country from the horrors of Belgium.” BULGARIANS AS FOES. Salonika, November 22. i Allied journalists who have visited the French fronts at Strumnitza and on the loft bank of the Ornoya, report that officers state that the Buigars are good artillerym?u and clean fighters, observing the rules o; war and the dictates of humanity. They never fire on ambulances, and have scrupulously avoided interfering with the work of collecting the dead and wounded. CAPTURE OF NOVIBAZAR. ENEMY’S HEAVY LOSSES. Geneva, November 23. General Koevess’ occupation of Novibazar was due to receiving reinforcements. Owing to heavy losses the mountain routes are covered with dead and dying. General Koevess’ !casualties in five Jays were 25,000.