OCR Text |
Show THIS SERBIAN ADVANCE. Whether tlio sudden willy of the -. Turks from . lonik i. against tho Bulgarians Bul-garians occupying: tho aC'lonian ii eights irfMiuIfs an offensive in that t heater of war, must remai u a matter , of guesswork for some 'lays. It may lie cither a feint or an offensive. The far l t iiat t ho tSerbians were selected se-lected to lead tho attack migiit indicate a peuuine offensive, for naturally they would lie iven tho position of lion or in any attempt to redeem their own lotintry from the foe. Seutimenta of horyjr, thirst for revenge against the Bulbars and a desire to rescue tho Ser- binn people from captivity, starvation and all the woes that are visited upon a conquered race combine to inspire the reorganized Serbian army with a passionate pas-sionate longing to advance against the foe. In tho circumstances they would appear to be the best soldiers to lead the van of a big drive. The Teutons and Pulgarians conducted conduct-ed their campaign against Serbia during dur-ing October and .November of last year. The main body of the Serbians, unable ... ' to effect a junction with tho Anglo-French Anglo-French relief expedition which had landed from Saloniki and advanced into southern Serbia, retreated to tho westward west-ward through Albania. More than .120,-uni) .120,-uni) Serbs were able to participate in the reorganization cf their army on . the island of Corfu, a Greek possession seized by the allies for the purpose of rehabilitating the Serbian forces. Chol-,eia Chol-,eia broke out in Corfu and an unknown number of Serbians succumbed. Never- ' theless, more than 100,000 were enabled to laud at Salouiki this spring and join i with their countrymen who had re-! treat ed from southern Serbia at the time of the Bulgarian occupation. In command of Saloniki, at last accounts, ac-counts, was General Sarrail, who conducted con-ducted the Anglo-French retreat from Serbia last fall. He has in his army several hundred thousand French, English, Eng-lish, Serbians and Russians, while on the islands of the Aegean sea occupied by the allies are several hundred thousand thou-sand more soldiers who can be rushed in ships to Saloniki and the port of Kavala, eat of Saloniki, in case of a big offeusive. To keep such a great force immobi-Jied immobi-Jied when its striking power can be used to advantage, is merely playing I he enemy 's game, unless the euemy himself is compelled to keep similar forces immobilized. It may .be that there are still several hundred thou-i thou-i sand Germans, Austrians apd Bulgarians on this front, but the chances are that no Austrian and few German contingents contin-gents remain. .Moreover, the Bulgars must keep a vast number of men along the Rumanian frontier for fear of at-tack at-tack from that source. There have been reports of late that Turkish troops were entering Bulgaria tn reinforce the army of that nation, while Austrians and lionnans'were being withdrawn for the fighting on the Russian and French fronts. Ir would seem as if the Turks needed all their men for the defense against the e-'fir's Caucasian nnny, but t he Moslems probably have on their east-en east-en front as many soldiers as they can supply over the bad lines of com muni-cat muni-cat ion. In Bulgaria they would be equipped and supplied- from German sources if willing to fight for their old enemies, the Bulgarians. That tliev are willing is likely, for in fighting for the Bulgars they are f ighr ing for rhem-selves rhem-selves and to preserve tho Turkish empire em-pire from extinction. 1 1 it is true that the Teu to-Bulgar lines in Macedonia have been weakened weak-ened by the withdrawal of effectives, ; a iaud offensive by rho allies on this front is -probable. The difficulties in the way of a sneers fu I advance ro manv and disheavtening, .bin with the enemy occupied on all the other fronts ;he task U much easier than it ever has been s;:t.-e "the nllies occupied Salouiki. |