WEEKLY SUMMARY

Taranaki Daily News, 1 October 1918, Page 5

WEEKLY SUMMARY

WAR OPERATIONS. QKBfeAIRS CHANGING THEIR TUNE. BOX STILL IGNORE THE MOBAL ISSUES. Wellington, Sept 30. At Acting-Prime has reJtini the following from the Ministry for Information for the week ended Septemhar

Tha Utterances hy the German leaders tkotw dearly the grave impression made by r«MBt events, tad their extreme war •ids tend to ie abandoned. After over--tafM t* Belgium, now German criticism of Bmu policy in the East increases, •id it is mora and that Germany might wise toe Brett-LitoTik treaties. GerMn cavil at the German plan of impacing Genua prince* upon the Ktusian fraKier provinces- It is pointed oat ♦hat it m easy enough for Napoleon * to do this after AusterliU, bet it i> not the same thing for the present Kaiser to do so. Preactit renditions and events in Poland show * weakening of German influence. and the recognition dawns that ' the hope* for cloter onion with Arts'r'sUfangary are futile. Naturally Get many now turns her attention to the idea of the league of nation®. and it seems po<eible an attempt will be made to nse this as a cloak beneath which to maintain that European predominance which Stilitsrv and other events seem Bow to be removing from German hands. But. nothing snows Germany any nearer the appreciation of the moral aspert* of the war. The German people ■tin fall to realise what the Allies are fiffctinft ft*, tnd bow universal and dominant is the moral indignation aroused fay ftmnu conduct of the war and the political attitude during their brief aseetdaarr ia the sprint No better is oAftd Vy the fat-man Government to orfr deprtsssd people* but' the silly ptrnk trf abOdt "a defensive war," wMtft Mirer Ui an* truth and must Uw have lost all it* conviction, even for tie Gcrmaai. Begirding the German condition of warfare, Ac Temps says that the French * (fanQttr will shortly reqtiett the Gorermnent, together with the Allies, to make a solemn declaration that any fre»h d#r*itatloa wrowjit by Germany on towns Within the territory will provoke immediats and implacable reprisals. THE JUGOSLAVS Italy's declaration regarding the JugoSafra is faaptrtast in view of the military devdopnent in the remoter theatres of the Mr. It say*:—"Tlfe Council of lliaiaten resolves to inform the Allied Government* that the Italian Government MfHda the movement of the Jugoslav people for the eonqnest of their in- . dependence and for their constitution into a free State* aa corresponding to the principle* for which the Entente is iad also to th« ahOB of a just and laallag peace." This marks a siglJAeant advance in Italy's previous pesiffan, and the Allied adhesion may be expected in riew of the former proaavnaemcnU. CM=AT ABBIAL ACTIVITY. JhHfitg (he past week British airmen Mm haw fcaavfy engaged in the four HMtbi tlaatna tf war from the Belgian «|aat |Ut away to the defiles of Samufe tldtts Syrian Desert Unmistakable aaeeaiMMjr ha* everywhere been asMTtad. Ob the Western front the ' iMViHI af Wok plaoe north of tit UlTrt flirt Soad. I*rgt enemy htm trwa and the fighting . IMJ Wtttar, fteHiolart/ between Camkti iSd SditlHeat of Dosal Soring «Mk 46 British aachinea wen reMMM aMtt Mi ia additkm, an ir* work wai done la ImMmpbt ground targHllrtSbrtS® dftroyrf 09 taUlitMi daA drove dawn M more aatigm alw W l d °? n fiw MKte, ths. UW Sag _ , Ofi the «Um front the KAf. W«forte made S successful raids, ftad.dnpptd cXMptienally heavy-weight • bomb* <b Sic enemy railways and induetrkt cMIMK HUw eaemj jeetfre* atmi to tooat BfUSSBSD ITOBK flf WISSTBTB. MsUar *iUmVn M deamed by' airial operitkms in Palest* o ' rnftte time past the Boyal Air Force ana the Aartrtliafl flyhW Corps hare been nrffiif m m tha *idert wale recon'vsMnoi* ortr tha maritime from M-nnt Oarmel to the Sbecbera-Joppa ■-< i. nttt AMurift tad the Jordan Vai- . Iron tha edae of Jade* plateau to - #ea el OdmM. Other eontinfeflU, ■■ »*■ over the eastern hills, bombed ana gunned eaemy centres at Am- . r-an and Deraah, across the Hrdjax rjul-

on the nigtt of the ISth, heavily bombing the railway junction at £1 Affulch, ! on the ancient Damascus Road, to hinder reinforcements and aggravate enemy difficulties. Throughout the next day our planes perpetually bombed various objectives behind the lines. | As the Turkish retreat became a rou* t on the 21st and 22nd September, our ! airmen inflicted enormous damage on the I enemy in the congested mountain roads, i especially on the road from Nablus to the -Tisrcddamieh Ford, along which the enemy vainly tried to escape into the Jordan Valley. . OX* THE BALKAN' FRONT. ! On the Balkan front our airmen continue to be very active. On the 21st < British planes brought n?ws of the : enemy's impending retirement, having observed big fires at the Htulova station and other points behind the lines All day they watched the Kostudinostnrza Road, packed with troops and | transport, hurrying back, and perpetu • ally attacked these from close above, i eausinsf wild confusion and much dis- ' aster The enemy retreat was perpetually harassed vigorously by British aircraft, while on the Italian front no British machines wero lost, but six j enemr machines were destroyed and j three dmcn down helpless.

OPERATIONS IN RUSSIA, During the past week General Poole considerably progressed up the Dwina Kiver, severely defeating the Bolsheviks. Four enemy ships wore sunk a.id g.\ns an! war material captured. In the iiiiriMn district the Bolshevik defeat proves to have been most complete. Our Karalian force occupied Ukhtinskaya. which had be.m fortified undiV German supervision. Considerable number? of recruits are joining us. Tlier*, wag complete anarchy at BUgovectwensk until tho town was captured by the Japanese BREAKING THE BUIGARS. While the French, Serbians, and Italians broke the. Bulgarians' resistance on the Vardar-)fona£tir front, the British and Greek forces made an attack on Iwth sides of Lake Doirnn- This work was most important, as preventing the cnomv from transferring forces from the Western front to meet the Vardar attack. The Bulgarians resisted firmly, but on the 21st the enemy were observed to be preparing to retire on the Doiran front. We immediately pursued. Now that the other liyes have been completely broken, the enemy resistance on the Vardar-Monastir has been doubly attacked. The Bulgarian retreat was of the wildest character, abandoning masses of material and stores. This occupation by the Allies of GradskoPrilep means separating a big portion of the Bulgarian army from the rest of the enemy forces ih the Vardar Valley. The only possible Tetreat open to the Bulgarian &npy west of Prilep is along the circuitous road via Tiraehevo to UsVrnb. The situation of the Bulgarian army is already most dangerous. If the A!lie* reach TJskub. the effect will probably V deeisiv* Thjis th* brilliant and tenacious aHacks by the British Army »i the Doiran front plaved a great part in the heavy defeat of the Bulgarian arn»y, wMdi has now lost such numbers anfi such * quantity o? material* that it ir Terr d'rabtfnl if they will be able to recover without German and Austrian help.