The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1916-07-31
ANNEXATION OF FRENCH AND
 ENGLISH CITIZENS 0VERCAME
 DIFFICULTIES, SAYS MARQUIS
Prepared Now, French Official Declares, and Anxiety Is Now Shifting to Adversaries- Submarine Warfare Will Not Open Ports, Chambrun SaystReview of Second Year.

GerHlanS advanced, put they coulu
 neither destroy nor dislocate the Rus
 sian forces. Despite the formidable
 effort of the Central Powers Dvinsk
 held out, and winter was upon Field
 Marshal von Hindenburg's armies
 with the Russian campaign unfinish-
 ed. Even had it terminated then It
 was too late to turn against the Allies
 in the West. Grand Duke Nicholas
 had won for the French and the Brit
 ish the entire Fall and Winter in
 which to continue their preparation.
 While intensifying to the utmost
 their production of arms and ammu-
 milton, the Allies began early in the
 second year of hostilities, with the
 visit of Field Marshal Earl Kitchener
 to France the series of conferences
 that was finally to coordinate their
 military effort.
 Their diplomatic action, however,
 did not as yet reflect the same unity
 of purpose. No parallel result was
 obtained either at Athens or Sofia in
 negotiations regarding territory in
 Macedonia offered to Bulgaria. and there appeared to be divergence of
 views among the Allies as to further
 action. Negotiations were still in
 progress when Turkey ceded the De-
 deaghatch -Mustapha Pasha Railroad.
 with part of Adrianople, to Bulgaria, foreshadowing the 1atter's action
 against the Allies.
 Meanwhile, the Germans and Aus
 trians, after crossing the Vistu1a and
 occupying Russian Poland, transport
 ed part of the troops from the Rus
 sian front to theISave and the Danube for another offensive against Serbia. which after her victory over the Aus trians had only 250,00O effective men left to oppose them.
 The French, in the Champagne and in the Artois in September, gained considerable territory and made im-' portant captures in prisoners and ma terial, but as in the preceding offens- i've north of Arras in June this move ment failed of decisive results because of the narrowness of the front of the attack and the impossibility to push artillery preparation deeply enough into the German lines. That the of- fensive was considered to have con-
 irned the superiority of the French soldier in attack in nowise altered the general situation, just then further complicated by the mobilization of the Bulgarian army menactng the Ser btans, which threatened the eventual extension of the, war to the Far East by the junction of the armies of the Central Empires. Bulgarians and Turks. The Greek army was mobil- ized immediately but King Constan- tine refused to sanction the govern ment's policy of intervention in favor of Serbia, Greece's ally, and forced Premier Venizelos to resign.
 The Allies heavily engaged in the now had to face either the |. eventuality of the crushing of Serbia and an unopposed junction of the armies of the Teutonic powers with those of the Bulgarian-Turkish coalition, or the additional burden of a campaign in the Balkans. The Dar- danelles expedition had accomplished no appreciable result and the need of saving Serbia was more urgent than the opening of the Straits.
 There still appeared to be a cer- tain lack of unanimity among the | Saloniki. The landing at Saloniki | was decided upon, however. and. con- sented to by the Greek government l before the resignation of Premier Venizelos, it began in early October. But it was too late to save Serbia, att lacked by the Bulgarians on October z. when the Germans and Austrians under Field Marshal von Mackensen already had taken Belgrade. Though | they fought heroically, the Serbians were overwhelmed by attacks from two sides and driven into Albania, while the armies of the Central Pow CTS formed d Junction with the Bull garians and opened the route to Con 
 New difficulties continued to devel- op for the Allies, however. In Meso- potamia the Turks stopped the ad- vance of General Townshend's forces within twenty miles of Bagdad and drove him back to Kut-el-Amara, be- sieging him there. In Persia the gendarmerie revolted against the gov ernment, creating fresh embarrass- ments for the Russians. In the Bal kans, after the complete conquest of Serbia and the occupation of a con- | siderable portion of Albania, the Aus l trians invaded Montenegro, and be- fore the end of January all the Bal kan peninsula with the exception of Greece. Rumania and little corner | of Albania was in the hands Of tne group of Central Empires.
 That marked the limit of their suc- cesses. The advantage that time had | gained for the Allies began to tell. | General Ivanoff, commanding the Russian armies in Volhynia and Bess- | arabia, continued their offensive in | January with the occupation of Car | torysk. Itself unimportant, the sig nificance of this operation lay in the | revelation it furnished of refreshed and reinforced Russian army provid- ed with new cannon. abundant sup plies of projectiles and sufficient pow CT to blow up German field defenses.
 Of far greater significance was the | advance in the Caucasus by Grand l Duke Nicholas, forcing the fall of F.rzerum accomplishing the occupa- tion of Kermanshah and, in the mill | tary view here, virtually eliminating Turkey as factor in the European war, beside re-establishing the pres tige of the allies in Persia. Instead of a reservoir of men upon which they might draw to fill the void caus- ed by eighteen months of heavy vast age, the Central Powers found at Con- | stantinople only an additional drain upon their resources. The Russian advance not only meant the recall of Turkish divisions that were expected to help the Germans, Austrians and Bulgarians against the Allies at Sa-