The Washington times., 1916-07-20
AN ADVANCE FROM sALoNlKIp

There Is report that offensive &C.
tivities have been opened by the al
lied forces on the Saloniki front. II
seems quite probable, weighing all
the factors in the military and politi-
cal situation, that before the sum-
mer ends there will be a powerful
effort Of the allies to crush Bulgaria
and Turkey.
An army Of possibly 100000
French, Serbs, and British is now in
the prime Of condition. but doing al
most nothing. In Armenia the Rus.
SLAMS are making a great campaign
which lately has seemingly been
somewhat checked by the Turks. In
the Mesopotamia the British enter.
prise has been unfortunate. II
would seem altogether good strategy
to use the great Saloniki army to
keep the Turks and their allies busy,
and thus aid the Russian and British
forces farther east.
Moreover, it has been stated that
German. Austrian, and even Bulgar
forces have been withdrawn from
the near east for service against the
Russians or on the western front
The one sure way Of preventing such
use Of these forces would be to start
a determined effort against the
Turk Teutonic armies. The recent
strategy Of the allies has been to
keep the enemy 50 busy on every
front that the German tactics OF
shunting great armies back and
forth, using the same organizations
now east, now west, now in the
Levantine area, might no longer be
possible. This is the one plan by
which it may be hoped to overcome
the advantage that the central en-
pires enjoy through their posses
sion Of inside and shorter lines, with
the most complete facilities for quick
military transport.
The advance Of the Russians con-
tinues with a vigor and success that
are startling not only to the out.
side world, but to the Germans and
even to the entente peoples. 1t is
now admitted that the Austro- Ger.
mans are outnumbered on the east.
ern front and on the elgo-British
section Of the western line. Whether
this is also true in the more easterly
section of the western front is moi
nearly SO certain. The Germans
have staked heavily on Verdun, and
are probably still maintaining a nu,
merical superiority there. The fact
that Russian troops have been taker
to the French front adds plausibility
to this theory.
To leave three-quarters Of a mil.
lion Of the finest veterans the wal
has trained doing nothin, useful in
the near east would be excuseless
and utterly out of harmony with
the manifest demands Of the allies
situation and their apparent pro.
gram. They have force enough now
to keep something going on in every
war zone. Some weeks ago it was
said that big campaign had beer
planned by them for the middle Of
May. but that 1t had been post.
poned and would probably start a,
the middle of July. That exactly
synchronizes with the present indi.
cations Of renewed and determined
activity.
One more reason for expecting q
campaign in this quarter. The
allies have brought their forces, ir
men and material. to a strength that
can only be maintained at the daily
expense of an empires ransom. I,
is declared by the British chancello,
of the exchequer that it is costing
Britain $30,0O0,0OO a day to carry
its end of the war. When the enter.
prise gets so expensive as that II
is very certain that no days will be
wasted, forcing an issue, once there
is completed preparation for the
blow. Time has fought on the side
of the allies from the beginning OF
the war till now. With their prep.
arations complete, with their wa,
costs piling mountain high, with the
offensive in their hands, 1t may b.
said that time begins to fight
against them from this time forth
They must push matters. They car
never have the advantage Of tn,
tigers leap that was Germany
main chance when the war started
but they can get the advantage o.
superior wealth and numbers ane
material, if they will use it per
sistently, steadily, unsparingly.