THE BALKAN WAR.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LV, Issue 219, 4 February 1913, Page 3

THE BALKAN WAR.

A MILLION FIGHTERS. Mr. 11. Charles Woods, lecturing at the Royal Societies' Club, London, on tlie Balkans, said that it was even yet impossible to have more than a small idea of the military operations which had taken place. As far as was known, : tlic Allies had placed in the field a combined force of about 720,000 men. Of tl'csn 350,000 were Bulgarians, 220,000 Servians. 120,000 Creeks, and some 30,000 were Montenegrins. Even at the present time no reliable information had reached the outer world to prove what had been the numerical strength of the vnrious Ottoman armies placed in the field. He believed the strength of the Ottoman army had been greatly overestimated throughout the campaign. In spite of this, even if the total Turkish forces had never numbered more than 330.000 men, the series of victories which the. Allies had scored must have brought about more rapid and successful developments in the campaign than even they themselves could have anticipated. While men who had attended the Bulgarian manoeuvres must have expected that the army of King Ferdinand would perform wonderful feats in war, even those whohad been constant visitors to Belgrade and at Athens would hardly justified in prophesying that'the Servians and the Greeks would play a role destined to gain for ..them, the, respect of ai: Europe. The French guns with which the Bulgarians, Servians and Greeks were aimed, might oe better than the German Knipp weapons, but it was to the superior training of the gunners that the artillery results were due. The present campaign had proved that intelligent leading, efficient training, well-organised transport, and good armament would in future wars be possessed of more importance than the greatest braverv that man can show.