Atlanta semi-weekly journal. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1898-1920, 1916-09-01

Rumanias entry into the is significant not
only because of the military aid she brings to the
Allies but also because of the strategic position
she holds; furthermore, her decision, made after
two years of watchful waiting, is the judgment of
a shrewd self-interested observer regarding the
outcome of the struggle.
The Rumanian army, now modified is esti-
mated at five hundred and eighty thousand men;
some authorities say that, if need be, she can
muster a million. AS to the quality and prepared
ness of these troops, reports differ. One CORE
spondent writes that their officers are i'll trained
that they lack heavy artillery and that their aero
nautc service is inferior. Against this opinion
however, may be set the statement of so distin-
gushed an army critic as James F. J. Archibald
who declared in the early months of the war:
81 have never a more magnificent
force of men than constitute Rumanias army.
Her aeronautic corps is highly advanced and
her artillery is equal, in efficiency, to that of
the French. The whole country is more like
France: and French influence is more in
evidence than that of any other country in
Europe"
More important however, than Rumana $
fighting strength is the advantage of her geograph
ical position in the present contest. Her territory
affords direct passage for a Russian invasion of
Hungary and also IOr q RUSSIAN DlOW ITOu the
north against the Bulgarians, which, if well
timed with the drive of the Allied forces from
Saloniki, should bring the Balkan campaign to a
decisive turn. Thus, by merely opening way for
the full employment of Russian troops, Rumania
can be of invaluable service to the Entente cause
But she may be expected to render more than
passive assistance. Three lines OF aggressive
cooperation are open. Acting in concert with
Russia she strike into Hungary in such way
as to put the Austrian army between pincers. Or
striking southwark into Bulgaria, while the Allied
forces operating from Salonih strike northward
she can put the Bulgarians between upper and
neither millstones. Or, by vigorous thrust into
Serbia she can cut communications between the
Teutons and their Bulgar-Turkish supporters. 1t
remains to be seen of course, how successfully
those possibilities are developed. The Central
Empires and their Balkan confederates have not
been taken unawares by Rumania's entry into the
Allied camp That they have prepared for the
new enemy as we'll as they could and that they will
resist with all the resources of which they are
capable is as a matter of course.
1t is not apparent, however, how either Ger
many or Austria, hard pressed as they are
on other fronts spare achievements for
their Balkan positions. Bulgaria on whom rests
the main task of holding conquered Serbia, has
fewer than half a million troops against the Allied
force of six hundred thousand more based at
Saloniki Thus the total Allied strength in the
Balkan arena Rumana's army included, is con-
siderably in excess of million men. Such supe-
riority of numbers bound to tell, particularly at
a time when the Teutons are no longer able to
shift their forces from front to front
The Balkan campaign, in which the soldiers of
ten nations now are engaged, becomes for the
time being. the most impressive scene of the war
It's progress and results will count heavily in all
the other fields of action, and will go far toward
bringing the terrible drama to climax if not to
an end.