CURRENT WAR TOPICS.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXX, Issue 56, 9 June 1916, Page 5

CURRENT WAR TOPICS.

The victorious Russians arc getting back thoir own. Yesterday the number of captives since the new offensive was started was reported at 41,000, and even the man in the street smiled. It was the first genuine smilefer days! Everybody adifaitted being at least “a little bit down in the dumps” as the result of the news of the naval battle and the loss of Kitchener; indeed, one good judge of human nature said a lot of people were going about with “tears in their voice!” And he wasn’t far wrong. But with the news of the success of the Russians, more cheerful countenances were met with. Today, again, there is room for real jubilation, for it is stated that Lutsk has been recovered by the victorious Russians. Lutsk, it may be stated, is in Volhynia, south-west Russia, good reports from tfhich have been reaching us for some time. Lutsk is at the junction of the rivers Gijitsa and Styr. An idea of the progress being made by the Russians is shown in the fact that it is forty miles west of Rovno, to the east side of which the Austrians had penetrated last year. The capture of the fortress, together with 11,000 prisoners, will put much heart into the offensive, and will also assist the campaign in Italy by depriving the Austrians of reinforcements in the Trentino.

Captain Dagleish, master of the steamer Charon, which recently arrived at Fremantle, had the privilege of seeing a parade of Russian troops while they were op their way to France. It is not permissible to say where he saw them, or many there were. Now that those troops have arrived in France, it can be said, however, that Captain Dagleish considers them to bo the finest disciplined troops he has seen. They are stalwart, well set up men, I and as they marched along, nearly all of them wound-scarred, most of them with ribbons across their chests, and some with the St. George’s Cross'on their tunics, they excited great admiration The goose-step they employed is spoken of by Captain Dagleish as a most impressive spectacle. They didn’t march to the tune of bands, but as they swung along they indulged in sonorous marching songs, which were very thrilling. These Russians, who were picked men, were perfectly disciplined. Not a soldier was seen to turn his back on an officer. In the evening of the march the Russians gave a fine concert on the wharf, and English ladies took down to them gifts of cigars and cigarettes. 1

Scapa Flow, which is mentioned in the

cables about the ,naval battle, is a * sea basin at the Orkneys, nearly enclosed by the islands of Pomona, Bur-

ray, S. Ronaldshay, Walls and Hoy. It has a length of fifteen miles, and a breadth of eight miles. It is much used as a resort for the destroyersquadrons of the navy, and lor their use, the pier was in recent years enlarged at a cost of £BOOO.

■* A significant fact about the crossing of the Mesta River by the Bulgarians, near • Xanthos, and then movement farther west across the Struma, in the direction of Kayala, is that the territory which they are thus threatening on both sides is that which Bulgaria has always claimed as her own, but which Greece got as the result of the Graeco-Servo-Roumanian victory over Bulgaria in the second Balkan war. This very River Mesta, or Karasu, that the Bulgarians have now crossed became, below the place of the crossing, a frontier barring the Bulgarians from what they regarded as their own. It is said that, in the ■beginning of last year, .when Veni-

zelos was trying to get the Balkan League reconstituted and on the side of the Allies, he was ready to try to persuade Greece to surrender pa it of this territory, and perhaps even Kavjila itself in order to bring Bulgaria in. This and the surrounding territory is, as a matter of fact, one of those debatable regions which may be claimed as naturally belonging to the countries on either side of it. Iheie is no natural frontier line following a racial cleavage, and Greek and Bulgarian authorities disagree as to which is the biggest element in the population. Kavala- itself is a tovn of importance, with a population of perhaps . 40,000, and a very laigo tobacco trade; it is also notable as the birthplace of that extraordinary adventurer, Mehmet Ali, who. from a smuggler, became ruler of Egypt.

The position in the Balkans is growing more interesting daily. It is now learned that the Foreign Office is seriously considering the taking of restrictive measures against Greek, shipping with the object of preventing supplies reaching Hie enemy, and the seizure of Greek vessels in Allied ports is hinted at in connection with the decision. There must be something very decided,in the attitude of Greece winch is antagonistic to the Allies and not generally known. Also, there is no; confirmation of the report yesterday that the abdication of King Constantine was pending. A very improbable story, it appears to be, judging from this distance, hut pressure may have been brought to bear upon him making his position incongruous' with his known sympathy for the Central Powers. The suggested arrest of M. Vcnizclos would bo a severe blow to the Allies’ cause at this 1 stage, because, while our friend is on the spot and can do his hit for the Allies, there is more hope of winning over the Greek Nation, if not Royalty, to our side. What the Russian press thinks of the Greek position was shown in yesterday’s cables, when stern measures at Athens and Piraeus were strongly urged. Should this eventuate —and many things are more unlikely at present—then history will have to record the conquest of Greece under most unusual circumstances, for it is certain that the bankrupt Hellenic Government cannot j>ut up much of a fight against an enemy which is already firmly established in their midst.