New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1916-12-03
The Allies Golden
Moment of Three
Months Ago Lost
Fate Of Belgium
Now Threatens
Rumania
Rv FRANK II. SIMONDS,
..,hor Of The Great War, They Sha''
Not Pass

lending al ST. Helena from the colI"ps'
- cn,nire after Waterloo. seems likely
90, new meaning IN the case OF ku-
- which. to-day, just three months
.r,or She entered the war. finds herself
.,~o.,ercd with the fate Of Belgium ana
s,r5;5 Rarely in military history has a
.orna;rn marched with such relentless
,r+ftress 10 a final tragedy, not yet ar
~;r,d but already in plain sight.
r-,lite all the other campaigns OF the
- ,or;od Of the war, too, there remains
.6ou. this German drive into Run1ania
.,o,b;ro Of the mysterious and the IN
.,ni;csb'e. 1t was the German purpose
y. oiro the world a sudden and conync-
;ro nroof of the fact that the German
...;+o-r machine was still potent and still
..,oblc If q high order Of efficiency. i
--as the German purpose to demonstrate
81. world the falsity Of the reports
.,rn,op in Allied capitals three months
ooo that the German power was beginning
~ crrmble-and the answer to all such
assertions is being had.
Three Months Ago
Going back three months it is worth
while 70 recall the frame Of mind OF
Allied and neutral opinion. when. at last
pnraria made up her mind. TIE defeat
or tho Germans at Verdun was at last IN
-,;s.ota5lo. the extent Of the Russian vic
TOW, at the Styr and the Sereth was writ
ION on all the war maps and there was
I'm doubt whether the front Of the
Co,.-al Powers in the east had been re-
stored. The Somme was still a progress
.iys if slow moving advance; Gorilla had
fallen and Sarrail seemed a growing mem
ace az Salonica.
Not since the moment when Germany
-5urcbcd her gas attack at Ypres and her
Gigantic phalaux at the Dunajec in the
.r~iro Of 1915 had Allied fortunes
ss,med so prosperous or the fortunes OF
lie Central Powers so nearly desperate.
Il IS bv this comparison that it IS posi-
he TO appreciate the magnitude OF the
moral -iumph Of the Germans.
We still know very little of the opening
,ovcs Of the Rumanian campaign. We
do know that there was at the outset
s-osal blurder. which I have already
mentioned in these articles. Rumania did
not attack Bulgaria; she did not destroy
ne only army az hand, when she entered
he war. Why? First Of al, as | said
everal weeks ago, because she was con-
.inced. for political rather than military
reasons. that her true line Of operation was
in Pennsylvania, where millions of her fell
low Latins beckoned to her IS the people
II the lost provinces had beckoned to the
French in August, 1914.
The Golden Moment Lost
But it seems now that there were two
other reasons. Rumania believed had
some semblance Of a reason for believing
that Bulgaria would not attack her. There
was cleverly simulated apprehension at
Berlin. which the world took for real;
here were secret passages between Blu
charest and Sofia, which Bucharest took
FOR real There were days in which the
main mass of the Rumanian army was
rushing westward and northward, IN
which the Bulgarians stood idly by-made
no declaration Of war It was only when
Pumania was hopelessly committed 70 the
Transylvanian adventure that Bulgaria.
directed by Mackensen, struck in the Do
5rudja.
4 second reason we begin TO see also.
Rumania counted upon Sarrail and the
Salonica army 20 strike and to occupy all
the energies Of the Bulgars. Why did this
not happen? Here the answer is less clear;
but il seems a reasonable conjecture that
AZ the critical moment Sarrail found HIM
self threatened with an attack by the
Greek army and the Greek King. The
precious <lys when his blow might have
been decisive seem TO have been passed
IN ultimatums issued TO Constantine and
in preparations made against an attack
in the rear. When at last Sarrail moved
and Monastir fell Rumania was IN what
seemed. and seems, death agony and
Bulgaria was no longer 70 be coerced into
a Macedonian effort with a vision of Ru-
manian destruction in her eyes.
And so the golden moment passed, the
test hour and the finest chance the Allies
have had TO break the bridge between Ber-
lin and Constantinople since Mackensen
went south a year ago and Serbia fell in
Dust and ashes under his attack. To APP
portion the blame is the part Of history;
it may be that the whole fault was Ru-
msnisn; it may be that the Allies promised
what they could not fulfil; it may be that
Bulgaria deceived Rumania, as she de
e6ssd Serbia a year ago. Ii may be that