Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1915-11-02

tOf troops northWard expedluously.
! Should Greece decide to enter the
war on the side of the allies the
situation would be improved, but the
Greek army also would have to travel
overland so long as the Bulgarians
held the railroad south OF Nish So
/ far As Serbia is concerned, Nish IN
qpestionah}y IS the main objective
of the Austfo-Germans Nish is fur
Their from Saionica than from Bel
/ grade and thee Austro-Germans have
made considerable progress down the
Norava Valley, holding the railroad
! as they come.
"Tbe Austro- Germans also have
had 10 overcome formidable natural
obstacles TO the progress OF large
army. The country in which they
are operating also Is rough and
mountainous. The valley OF the
Ioraya river is quite narrow and the
mountains decidedly rugged The Serb
/ jans ara Sighting for life. and therefore
/ desperately.
The primary purpose OF Germany
and Austria. presumably, is TO cut a
path through to the Dardanelies.
While the Turks we're able to feed
themselves, like the Serbians, they
had NOT the facilities for manufac-
+ turing arms and ammunition in the
quantities required to hold back the
land and naval forces of the allies.
+ Pressure on the Turks has been
greatly lessened by the allies in
order TO send an army to the relief
of the serbians and, if possible, pre-
vent the Austro-Germans cutting
their way through Serbia.
Invasion Of Egypt Remote.
THE possibility that Germany will
. make a serious attempt to invade
Egypt OF India or to cripple the
I suez Canal. is very remote. In the
first place, such far-distant cam
paigns would be OF doubtful military
value. Germany, Austria and their
allies have neither men nor ammuni-
ton to spare for campaigns OF that
character. They cannot afford to in
dulge in military novelties at this
stage Of the war. They have put up
> a great fight, hut every blow must
- count more than ever from row on.
e There has been considerable dis
g cussiou in Europe about a possible
. invasion Of Egypt and the capture
of the Suez Canal Germany and
Austria could have no good reason for
destroying this great commercial
artery Il would be of assistance il
they could control it. preventing the
shipment of foodstuffs from the far east
to the allies, as we'll as colonial troops
Such q campaign by Austro-Cermar
troops, however, is hardly in the realm
Of probability,
Should the Austro-Germans fai
to reach the capture Nish before tbs
British and French troops make g
junction with the struggling Serb
ians, they will still he able to ge
through Bulgaria to Turkish terri
tory. and in time undoubtedly woult
construct a railroad TO connect will
the branch line running north from
Sofia This would require laying
lot of track however, and the char
acter Of much Of the country wouIg
make 1t a difficult task.
German railroads also might h.
CONSTRUCTED to connect with othei
Bulgarian lines which run north Il
the Danube. That river Is of con
siderable size and doubtless will b,
utilized 10 transport supplies to
point where they can be transferred tt
Bulgarian railroad connections.
But what Austria and German,
most want Is direct line of railroad
which they viii have If their presen
campaign IS complete success. TIL,
BeigraderAish-sa loniea railroad is
trunk line from Constantinople /,
budapest Hungary, connecting witi
( the Aus'ro-ii0ngariau systems aftet
crossing the Save River at Bel
grad4