Honolulu star-bulletin. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1912-2010, 1916-08-02
THE TIGHTENING OF THE IRON ring

with such force that Austria unable to detach any
larger numbers of soldiers from this front augment
the Central lines either west east 1t is. in tact,
doubtful if Austria has taken any from the Italian
front during the past two months.
In the Caucasus the Sav armies began that new
drive which resulted in the captured OF Erzerun Bit
lis and the occupation of the Lake Van region; fol
lowed few months later by the capture OF krzingan
These successive victories have demoraized the Turks
of the Black Sea provinces and reported to have
cleared Armenia of Turk soldiers. The Caucasus
campaign has probably prevented any Turkish activity
on the Balkan front. .a.,. s.-e::. 49,. H.. .
From time to time there have been that eth
err the Central or the Entente Powers were on the
verge of big Balkan offensive. but nothing like
general campaign appears TO have been started in this
region In July well-informed correspondents at
Berne Switzerland, received news that the Germans
and Bugarians had half million men ready for an
attack upon the Allies entrenched at Salonk. Posi-
bly, the pressure upon other Central fronts was so
great that the German commanders undoubtedly
control the Bulgarian moyelents-felt it unwlse TO
batter at the French and British lines rorth of Sao
nki 1t is certain that Bulgaria is none too we'll
equipped and this may have been deterrent factor
Even with Bulgaria's late entry into the war, Gar
FerdinandS country i'll poor condition for long
fight The two Balkan wars just previous-particu-
larly the disastrous latter onehad pretty well ex-
hausted Bugaria's military resources. In particular
it is said that the Bgarians badly in need of shoes
Napoleon said that army travels on its stomach,
but it is quite as true that it travels its feet no
Irish bull intended) and when poorly-shod it is below
fighting efficiency Bulgaria has no shoe factories
and tanneres and reports indicate that it has been
able to get leather from any of its Allies or from
Rumana. es
fully II Kari H Won Wiegand the Berlin cor
respondent Of the New York Void cabled to his
paper:
Now for the first time in the war the military inta
tive has passed to- the other sidea Germany is fight
ing the defensive almost everywhere.
Germany IS fighting day and night against superior
numbers in the west with heroism and bravery to
which the other side is giving a lavish tribute of
Fed on food that at the very best cannot have the
giving forceproducng properties which the
men on the other side have in abundance; snatching
or sitting up straight the hard wood seats OF s
jammed railroad cars; shunted from front to front
from point to point. like shuttlecocks the vast /
loornlike network of the German railways the Ger
man soldier today is performing feats of prodigous
yalor and showing endurance under adverse condi-
tons against great odds which day. when mill
tary reasons exist longer In any of the warning
countries against details that cannot be told,
will challenge the worlds admiration.
Hawaii has become so accustomed to seeing each
statements and official contradictions, that much of ts
war-news gets to appear as merely routine Much of
the news concerning this vse-ke grip of the Allies,
and the slow, gigantic tightening of that grip may not
stand out from other war-news as significant, since
public interest, fed for two years sensation, tends
always to sag But there many signs that for the
Central Powers have come the most critical period of
the struggle. thas not come sharply and suddenly,
as came France sscriss at the Mae but it has come
with slow steadiness which recalls the words of
Kitchenerthat the Allies could not hope to win in
side three years.