CURRENT WAR TOPICS.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXVIV, Issue 26, 6 January 1916, Page 5

CURRENT WAR TOPICS.

the east; and the French continually hammering in the west, the Germans will soon be unable to supply the wastage, and will have few troops to supply for operations elsewhere., It is very probable that Djimal Pasha will have to wait a long time for his 25,000 Germans, whom he wisely wants to use as a vanguard in the attacks upon the Suez Canal.,

The occupation of Czernowitz by the advancing Russians is a very important item in the news to-day. CzernowitZj it will be remembered, ' was prominent in the reports of the operations on the Galieiaii front several months ago before the retirement of the Russians. A dust-up of the geography of Bukowina, of which Czernowitz is the captial, wijl be worth while at this stage. Bukowina, or Bukovina, is a duchy and crown-land of Austria, -and. stretches from the river Dneister across the' Pruth and Sereth (now Very fami- .• liar names to all war students) and up the east face of the Carpathians to the border line with Transylvania. The country is very mountainous, . and almost one-half of the surface is' covered -wiW'¥oi^sls ): *(ljeech, alder;, '', etc.) The prmcipal, crop is maize,' and much' fAwSI gWn. The arefi of finkowina is 4,039 square miles;, and the "pepina"ti < o , i'r"over 200,000. In* the .west the majority of the people "!aro'' ; Ruthenians; in' the' east' RouK mahians, * Hut 'there' are' also num^ v'i bei-4 of Jews/ Germans, Magyars,' Poles, and Czechs. The capital 'which is on the' Pruth I.6s'miles by - : rail south-east, of Lemberg, is the' see of ■an archbishop of the Orthodox Greek Church 'and there is' a university. It is the seat of an active trade and has machinery shops, sawmills, breweries, etc; The population is about 100,000.

I The Baralong case, to which the | German Chancellor, Herr von BetTimann Hollweg, made rcferrence m tho Reichstag, a short time ago, is the subject of a Press Bureau memorandum, giving particulars of tho charges made and Sir Edward Grey's reply thereto. The allegations made are certainly, startling, but they have , yet to be substantia atetl. It is stated that the steamer Nicosiaii'was -stopped, by a.submarine,and after the ; crew, had , .left, a i learner flying the-Ainericam flag ap-; tproabhed and- fired ; on, ;tUe submarine While* 4he i hitter was, j engaged., firing on I the ,; , |f he ; ,,; stranger turned out.to,be the,British auxiliary cruiser Burahmg,j and.; ,wh,en , thecrew of thd-.submarine .were in drfh'cultiesdn the water, and .wer ( e seeking to saveithemselves, it .is alleged, they were killed• by gunfire - from .the Baralong. Germany takes it for granted, says the statement, that the British Government will proceed on a charge of murder against the captain of the Baralong, otherwise 'the German Government consider they will be obliged to ftlHI into retribution for.an unpunished crimet; Sir Edward Gref's'reply is, as usual, dignified, impartial, and to the point. He ; f savs truly' that to single out the oaso" of'the 'Baralong was the - height ' of ! al)surdity; he might have said.that it was'a red berring across the, scent drawn'by Germany in an attempt to counteract the long list of unparalleled murders committed by the Huns ion the High Seas: Sir Edward Grey s offer to submit the whole question of atrocities on land and sea to examination by an impartial tribunal will, it may be taken for granted, never be seriously considered by Germany, because, as is pointed out, "the very multitude of allegations against her would overload any such tribunal. . Sir Edward Grey's satirical sugges-tion-that the scope of the tribunal • should be confined to three incidents . within a few hours of the Baralong allegations is. a striking one, as he goes on to quote the cases of the Arabic, the murder of the crew ot the stranded ■ British submarine on i the Danish coast, and the fatal use ' of shrapnel by a German submarine , on the steamer Ruel! Britain wi 1, he continues, do all in her power to • further an, inquiry and carry out the .findings of the court, and in reply to the suggestion that the British Navy is guilty of inhumanity, con- • trasts the number of German sailors t rescued from drowning (lloO) witli > the record (nil) of the German' Navy. . T he fact that six affidavits are produced in evidence by Germany may .i ra ean something or they may mean I'nothing, as the value of German Scraps of paper" is so well known f'as to be now written down as.utteri ly worthless. [\ Artillery and mine-gnhting continues on the Franco-Belgian fron- " tier but no details are given ot the I result, either by our own side or the I enemy 'lbis may be taken as a I I favorable omen, which may be found "'in this way: The Allies have gained S a ra ther unenviable reputation lor S-i r id censorship in cases of good or 1 It reports, but it is quite certain the l enemy gained no advantage whatever _indeed the chances are he came out ! of it badly-as he never fails to try I and impress the neutral world and the Balkans on the slightest provocation. His silence on the stateII ment of the result of the operations

•U The .fall cfi Czernowite 1 is bound'to make an immense-,, impression,' ■<■ upon the relative opinions of the Balkan -.' Statesr:knd,-the >!retrealH vviil (fprovje ■itifttyi n• to \ .'the.- .tenemyj,' who/iihowever, to, save ►his faee,, admits ,■/only :a: partial evacuation. The event is further, proof of the Russian "come-back," and raises hopes 'of the long-looked-for turning point •in the rather disastrous operations on this front during last year. It is bound to be of great assistance to the campaign being conducted in Bessarabia, and will conduce to the removal of. some of the difficulties a clear road to the shores of the Black Sea; or, again, will hasten the march of the Russians down to the Roumanian frontier, and, it. is hoped, through that country in a swoop upon the Bulgarians, Read in the light of the news- yesterday, th;at Russia views Roumania's neutrality without alarm and that the importance of her 'active co-operation on the side of the Allies is diminishing, much sustenance for optimism is contained therein.

The general attack of the Hussians is part of a general plan ox the part of the Allies to keep th< Germans busy during the winter The Allies on the western front hav< "been carrying out the same plan The public must not be disappomtec 'if no great, gains 'are made. The general scheme is to seize points o advantage that will be useful late on and to wear the enemy out. I is to be noted that the number o small gains on the French iron havei been made in an almost con tinuous fashion, and" that of sue] gains the Germans have very ietf to their credit. As a Southen writer says the weakening *of tli German lines in parts is analogou to the dropping of stones and eart. 'in a' quarry when a great tall > about to take place. The continue ] o «s of small sections of the Iron shows that the power and nghtu. efficiency are on the side ot th French, and that the morale ot th Germans is deteriorating. With tli Russians making heavy attacks i