The Taihape Daily Times AND WAIMARINO ADVOCATE THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 2, 1916. THE ROUMANIAN SITUATION.

Taihape Daily Times, Issue 219, 2 November 1916, Page 4

The Taihape Daily Times AND WAIMARINO ADVOCATE

THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 2, 1916. THE ROUMANIAN SITUATION.

(With which is incorporated The Taihape Post and Waimarino News).

The intelligence received yesterday of the Dobrudja fighting indicates with what rapidity Russian reinforcements of men and guns are being poured in. Only forty-eight hours earlier the position seemed hopeless. The beautiful Chernavoda bridge hac been blown up and the Roumanians were hastily retiring before Mackensen's armies, now it is flashed to us that the Russo-Roumanian& and Serbs have resumed the offensive. To enable this Russian reinforcements [must have been very close at hancrj aided by railway and other communications that can be little short of perfect It has been safd that Roumania must go as Servia went; the battle will sway to and fro for a time, but ultimately the weaker forces must be beaten and another country devastated a.nd fall into German possession. Such a view has very little to support it; in the first place the Czar of Russia has personally assured Roumania's King that the whole of the resources of Russia shall,, if necessary, be placed into the fray to save his country, while there was not a man that could be sent to aig Servia. There arc

splendid railway systems linking v

Russia and Roumania, along which reinforcements, guns and ammunition can rapidly be transported, but in Servia's case there were no'means of despatching anything to their succour. When Servia was attacked there was no co-ordination of operations between the Allies, leaving it possible for the Central Powers to con centrate a force to destroy twice the magnitude of that used if necessary, but no such liberties are possible against Roumania. The Central Powers can only increase their pres ent numbers against Roumania from Turkey, and then only with great difficulty excepting, perhaps, on their Dobrudja front. There is very little analogy in the two situations, and that fact is proved by the rapidity with which the fleeing Roumanians have found themselves strong enough to turn again and face the hordes of Turks and Bulgars under Mackensen's command. It has 'seemed from the first German threat to destroy i;c mania that nothing more dangerous to the success of German arms could have been decided upon. Germany cannot now challenge the numbers of Russia, and as it had been made tolerably certain that there were reserves of Russians in Bessarabia, and in training at Odessa, nothing seemed easier than to pour these into the scales with the Roumanians to such an extent that the Central Powers could not hope to equal let alone over-balance. The appearances were distinctly against any chance of Roumanian disaster, and so long as the Czar of Russia keeps to his promise to send men and material, Germany will gain but little military advantage while on the other hand her strength will be drained to very serious proportions. Germany's prospects of capturing Verdun were far greater t-'ian those of subduing Roumania, and yet she failed, sustaining an appalling loss of man power. It required but little fine calculation to realise the possibility of successfully over-run-ning Servia, Poland, and Belgium, but it is different with the Roumanian venture. The man power at the Kaiser's command is now on the wane, that of'the Allies is becoming greater; Germany is now being pinned down tight on all fronts, and is suffering defeat at all other points, while hitherto she could move them from place to place at will and without incurring risk of having her lines smashed through. The German high command has made egregious blunders in the past, where fineness of calculation was essential,: and if the Czar of Ruasia's promises are dependable, the latest will prove by far the most disastrous. We are advised that Roumania has been largely reinforced, and this seems probable, as the supreme effort of Falkenhayn is making but little headway in Transylvania. The fortunes of war are about equal at present, and if Germany can still throw large reinforcements into the struggle without using up her last reserves necessary in a final thrust she may attain some measure of success, serious but not fatal to Roumania. So far the Salnoika forces Lave rendered but little assistance; the plans governing their movements seem inexplicable to us; we cannot understand the conditions that enforce the idleness cf half a million of the best soldiers in Salonika, but that there are supreme reasons we may rest fully assured. In any case, if the offensive has been resumed in the Dobrudja, as reported yesterday, the position in Roumania is very hopeful indeed. We are not likely to be kept long in suspense; the fact that the hitherto dumb Hindenburg has taken to trumpeting over the Roumanian venture is an indication that the German people need a lot of reassuring about it.