The Birmingham age-herald., 1916-01-03
HUGE RUSSIAN FORCE. .IS HAMMER|NG FOES ON 3OO-M|LE FRONT Campaign in Bessarabia the Most Important Visible
 Activity in War GREEK DIPLOMATS
 ARE BUSY LOT NOW Politely Protesting to Both Sides and Doing Nothing-Wednesday Will Be Red Letter Day for British
 Cabinet-Compulsion Up

London January 2.-RusSias campaign in Bessarabia continues to be the. most important visible war activity. From the Pripet to the Roumanian frontier, over front of at least 300 miles, huge Rus sian force with a great appearance o1 confidence is hurting sledge hammer blows at the opposing force, which, ac- cording to all accounts, totals at least l. 500,0O0 men.
 Petrograd still claims considerable suc- cess in the early stages of the campaign and dispatches emphasize the excellent equipment, supplies and munitions that Russia laid up for this purpose during period of comparative passivity.
 THE ENGLISH VIEW
 Some London observers, speculating on the meaning of the Bessarabian move, hail it as one of the most ambitious strategic plans since the beginning of hostilities and predict that it will prove colossal attempt to break the backbone of the Germanic allies whole line across the Balkans. Thus one critic says:
 ''The plan is that Russia and the other allies, moving from different sides, shall meet in the Balkans and gain complete mastery of that peninsula. If they suc- C6eu, IuTKeS VIII De SuDuueu iuu lHe vitals of Austria Fl Hungary menaced."
 So lcng as Russia keeps up her present activity just north of the Roumanian bor- der, the attitude of Roumania will con tinue tot grow in importance. There have been many assertions in the entente cap- itals that Roumania was about to enter the war on the side of the entente allies, but nothing to support this has yet been heard from credible Roumanan sources. in ha the Balkan peninsula entente allies continue their ex- pectant attitude toward a threatened at tack, although Greece seems mainly occu- pied in making various diplomatic re- quests. having followed up her polite pro- test to the entente allies against the ar rest of the consuls by an equally polite protest to the central powers against their aeroplanes. flying across Greek territory in raid which killed Greek shepherd and few sheep.
 AN AGGRAVATED CASE
 The sinking of the steamship Persia, with the death of an Amer.can consular officer brings up in the European capi- tals the familiar query as to what the United States will do now. Dispatches from English correspondents picture the sinking of the Persia as a particularly aggravated case, owing to the fact that the ship was not only hit without warning or OppUTlulllly lOT lIle pdSSelSelS lo So- cape but was also hit :n a most vital Iart, so that she sank almost immediate ly, the whole time from the launching of the torpedo to the disappearance of the liner being only five minutes.
 In connection with the submarine activ- ity in the Mediterranean, it is interesting to note that an official report shows a total of only 20 British steamships sunk by the submarines during the month of December with the loss of 67 lives, while eight more were sunk by mines with the loss of 13 lives.
 For the English cabinet Wednesday will be a red letter day. for on that day Premier Asquith will introduce compul- sion and the premier probably has never had a more difficult task than he will have in engineering this measure. and his speech presenting it in the House is ex- pected to be one of the finest efforts of his career.