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Show gTrio11ss the greek bobber HOLIDAY LULL IN WORLD WAR LIKELY FIRST TO BE BROKEN ON THE BALKAN FRONT. Guarantees Demanded of Central Powers by Greek Government-Germans Government-Germans Assure Serbians They Will Respect Nationality. London. Dispatches from the continent conti-nent predict that the holiday lull will first be broken on the Balkan front, where Greek observers believe the central powers are preparing a huge army for operations directed against the entente. Whether this will take the form of an actual attack on Saloniki, or merely an advance into Greece for the purpose of seizing strategic defensive de-fensive positions is a matter of keen speculation In Athens. According to one correspondent, the ?reek government has definitely de-tided de-tided not to permit the enemies of the entente to penetrate Greek territory, unless the central powers satisfactorily satisfactor-ily guarantee that Greek territory will ; not be endangered. i According to dispatches from a Ser- ! Man source, the Germans have estab- lished a provisional government at Nish, withdrawing all the Bulgarian i and Austrian troops and ending Bui- i garian-Austrian interference in the ad- t ministration of Serbian affairs. It is t added that proclamations have heen r Issued, announcing that the Germans will respect Serbian nationality. c One of the most interesting of the reports came through Athens to the c effect that on Friday German artillery c on Lake Doiran, about forty miles d northwest of Saliniki, "was shelling a the Anglo-French lines in Greek c Macedonia, which the allies are con- u tinuing to fortify. This might easily n mean that the looked for advance by the forces of the central powers c against the allied base at Saloniki was about to begin. The Montenegrin official communication communi-cation states that the Austrians are Intrenching on a front between Mon- f tenegro and Serbia, which British ob- P servers take to mean a pause In the a.: active Austrian campaign against the 11 little mountain country, presumably to S enable the Austrian forces to be k turned to more pressing matters on C other fronts. n Paris reported the Christmas eve ul operations along the western front as not being important enough to record. iAnMnTlTrMojPdmy ' nt's" "'rations, inwhich ttie tier-' a-i b:'.' 'up works which were under j construction in front of their lines. ma y In the Dardanelles the Turkish guns S have been .busy and according to Con- stantinople, have done considerable ro execution recently against the allies' kj trenches and lines of communication, j In Persia, the Russians are declared Da to have severely damaged the Persian -u Insurgents in a battle twenty-five oy miilea from Teheran. Along the Rus- de elan front itself the fighting, accord- ing to Berlin, has 'been limited to pa- i trol engagements. A quietus has been put on the talk of a huge German peace campaign f from Zurich by the departure from that town of Prince von Buelow and his staff of secretaries, of which much i has been heard in the entente press during the past few days. |
