THE BALKANS.

Taranaki Daily News, 30 December 1915, Page 5

THE BALKANS.

ATTACK ON SALONIKA. INDICATIONS OF ITS APPROACH. SICKNESS IN BULGARIAN ARMY, Times and Sydney Sun Services. London, December "28. The Times points out that there are many indications that a formidable coneerging attack' on the I'ranco-British forces at Salonika is imminent. The enemy, by launching an assault at the earliest possible moment, will strike before the defences are sufficiently developed. it is unlikely that AustroGerman forces alone will cross the frontier, because they are in insuflicient strength. Reports suggest that the assault will be openly conducted by Aus-tro-Germans, Turks and Bulgars, ur !er a common direction. The Bulgarians will be in the centre of the attack, and are evidently intended to bear the brunt of the fighting. The Allies arc extremely hopeful, and it is unlikely that their defences will be rushable. The Nouveau Siccle, in an inspired article, asserts that the delay in Macedonia is not due to vacillation, but for completing military preparations and endeavoring to overcome Greece's aversions by offering the most ample guar, antee. Germany will- proba'bly not wait to finish the Macedonian campaign before attacking Egypt. Enver Bey has plenty of men and needs only officers and munitions, which will now be quickly suppliable. Whatever happens in the Balkans, the Turks will certainly re-attempt to overthrow British domination in Egypt. Bucharest, December 28.

During Friday's bombardment of Varna a Bulgarian torpedoer was sunk. A conspirator's confession revealed a bomb plot, hatched, at Budapesth, to kill several public men, including M. Take Jonescu and M. Bratiano. Four arrests were made. Fifty pounds of explosive from the Timesvar arsenal and eighty thousand francs of gold were found at the conspirators' hotel. Rome, December 28.

Thirty thousand Bulgarians from the Serbian frontier are concentrated on the Danubian frontier at Nabrudama, where they have dug twelve series of trenches. The Messagero's Bucharest correspondent states that numerous trains are conveying ammunition to Constantinople. Two 42-centimetre howitzers, intended for the Egyption operations, were carried on the Belgrade-Sofia-Constanti-nople line.

Bucharest, December 28. General von Mackensen is directing operations at Bukovina. M. Tontcheff, in an interview, said the Bulgarians had been ordered not to cross the Greek frontier. Salonika, December "8.

The Bulgarian deserters report that the army is suffering from dysentery is badly fed and clothed, and that the whole commissariat is deplorable. A French engineer lias received expert reports showing that damage to the Serbian railways delays the German offensive. It is necessary to carry supplies from Kumanovo by mules along mountain tracks. The Germans cannot properly repair the lines within six months. . UP AGAINST A SNAG. i ALLIES ENTRENCHED AT SALONIKA. Eeceived Dec. 29, 5.5 p.m. Amsterdam, Dec. 28. A special correspondent to the Vossische Zeitung, after a visit to Salonika, states that 210,000 troops have landed, whereof 90,000 are English. Twenty-seven thousand sick and wounded troops have already been sent back. Twelve hundred guns have been landed, and the Entente have completed the first lines of defence around Salonika, and are preparing the second line.

BULGARS WILL INVADE GREECE. UNDER STIPULATIONS. Received Dec. 29, 5.5 p.m. Athens, Dec. 28. The Greeks, will not offer resistance to the Bulgarians frontally attacking the Anglo-French, but will not permit a Bulgarian invasion from the flanking points of the frontier.