GREECE INVADED.

Taranaki Daily News, 14 October 1915, Page 5

GREECE INVADED.

BY A GUERILLA BAND. Received Oct. 13, 9.45 p.m. Rome, Oct. 13. Newspapers state that the Bulgarian comitadjis (guerillas) invaded Greek territory near Grumulgina. Greek troops, believing the invaders to be Bulgarian regulars, occupied a neutral Eone, and sharp fighting ensued. ADVICE OF M. VENIZELOS. Received Oct. 13, 9.35 p.m. Athens, Oct. 13. M, Venizelos, in the Chamber, stated that the Entente had given assurances concerning the restitution of DodekanesO Cyprus. He recommended the new Government. if it remained neutral, to suit the interests of the Central Powers, to obtain through responsible channels similar compensations and a guarantee of territorial integrity for twelve years after the war. POSITION IN BULGARIA. / GREAT DISSATISFACTION. (Times and Sydney Sun Services.) Received Oct. 13, 5.5 p.m. London, Oct. 12. Letters from Bulgaria state that the situation is extremely critical. A special train conveying the Allied Ambassadors on the Dede-Agateh railway passed trainloads of recruits, who greeted with frantic cheers, "Mother Russia." The popular indignation and disgust at King Ferdinand's policy threaten to break out at any moment. THE SCHEME FOR INDIA. A WILD-CAT ADVENTURE. (Times and Sydney Sun Services.) Received Oct. 13, 5.5 p.m. London, Oct. 12. The Westminster Gazette says that Colonel Repington's comments point the way to British action in the Balkans. It it imperative that nothing should weaken our forces in the West, and we must not allow the Germans to impose an initiative on us. We must rather take the advantage of the dispersal of their forces to strengthen the concentration of ours. We may dismiss all grandiose ideas of the Germans attacking India by way of Bagdad. If they are foolish enough to attempt such wildcat adventures they will merely play into our hands. It is impossible to strike a serious or fatal blow to the Empire in these regions while we command the sea. ROUMANIA EAGER. , ARMY WITH MARCHING ORDERS. (Times and Sydney Sun Services.) Received Oct. 13,' 5.5 p.m. London, Oct. 12. Milan states that a correspondent at Bucharest reports that M. Jonescu repeats his unshakeable conviction of the ultimate defeat of Austro-Germany, and he appeals to the Allies to act quickly. The whole of Roumania desires to throw the sword into the balance, and the army is longing to receive marching orders. The Roumanian National Federation has issued a proclamation to the Government asking them to intervene in favour of the Allies. HUN OFFICERS FOR BULGARIA. (Times and Sydney Sun Services.) Received Oct. 13, 5,5 p.m. London, Oct. 12. The Evening News' Paris correspondent says that six German generals, eight colonels, sixty other German officers, and two Austrian generals and three other Austrian officers have arrived at Sofia. Jealousies are already evident among the Bulgarian staff who are departing for the frontier. The British naval brigade tlwt has been defending Belgrade has really only been doing the work of a frontier patrol and could not possibly have organised a real defence, seeing that the Serb 3 have no army adequate to guard the long northern and western frontiers. The river flats and plains of the northwestern corner of the country permit the Austrians to establish themselves across the Save and the Drina without serious difficulty, and although the crossing of these rivers has been opposed it need not be supposed that the Serbs can offer an effective resistance to a real invasion in force. In this campaign they will have to retire, as they did last October, to the mountains, and Belgrade will be left once more in the hands of the enemy. The country has been called a chaos of mountain ends, which fall into two main groups, cast and west of the central channel of trade and communication, thfe Morava Valley. This valley is the natural avenue of advance. It constitutei the direct road to Nish, and so to Sofia, but actually it contracts to a long gorge, in places 3000 feet deep, and here and there the road aiKl railway bed have had to be cut out of solid rock, Moreover, several valleys give access from the flanks, while the tumble of mountains on either side prevents an advance parallel with the main valley. The LUorava cuts through Serbia north and south, and indeed gives Serbia her unique strategical position; but the mountains that bar commercial development on either side offer an equal bar to military operations, except those of a guerilla character. Below Belgrade the Danube is broad and deep, varying in width from a mile to a mil: and a half, and averaging about 40ft. in depth. These are the conditions as far as the Roumanian border, so that the inception of an invasion is virtually out of the question between Belgrade and Orsova unless the invading army is sufficiently large to engage the whole attention of the Serbians by demonstrations further west. Possibly this is what is happening, and von Maekensen, if he is in charge of the operations, may elect to advance simultaneously on both sides •* Morava. Last year the Austri-

ana; taking' advantage of the easy crossing of the Save and the Drina, invaded from the north-western corner only, and the SeUbs promptly fell bade to Valjevo. The Austrians pressed after them, intending to push forward for the passes leading over the waterparting into the valley of the Serbian or Western Morava. This valley would have given them the safest approach to Nish, since.it would have left their lines of communication tolerably secure. At the same time they planned to strike at Kragujevatz, which is the principal Serbian arsenal, and which ought to be the site of the Serbian capital. This would have given them command of the valleys leading to the main Morava channel. Their 300,000 men moved forward in three principal columns, the left wing up the Morava Valley, the centre towards Valjevo, and their right towards the hlead of the Western Morava, and by the middle of November the Serbs were back on the ridges of the Maljen and Subovor folds, the ranged, that is, covering Kragujevatz and the Western Morava. It was not until the beginning of December that the Austrians elected to attempt the capture of the heights, and within a week they had been routed at all points. Von Maekensen has exactly the same problem to solve as that confronting the Austrians, and his advance will be met in the same way, though not necessarily on the same ground. He will have mountain fighting, whatever his route, ami actually there is no road to Nish and Sofia that does not involve: heavy marching on high country. If he has Salonika as an abjective he must still go by way of Nish and the Bulgarian Morava, because the only practicable pass to the south is the Uskub saddle, between the Morava and the Vardar. Given men and munitions, and modern methods, Serbia ought to be able to hold up any army that is arrayed against her, but the' Bulgarian development threatens flank and rear, and so compels her to divide her forces,