The circle banner. [volume] (Circle, Mont.) 1914-1939, 1918-10-04
DEFEATED BULGARS
PLEAD FOR PEACE
SMALLEST OF 'TEUToNIc ALLIES
SEEMS TO HAVE STRUCK
HER coLoRs
THINK TURKEY NEXT TO QUIT
Bulgarian Armies Are in Full Retreat
ard Her Soil Invaded.--AIlies
plunging Through Noun
tains to Belgrade.
THINK TURKEY NEXT TO QUIT

London, Sept 2S.-With the welding
of the armies of the entente into q
compact whole under the command of
the inter-allied army council, guided by
| the master strategy of Marshal Foch,
apparently has come the first break
| in the united front of the central pow
| erS.
| Bulgaria, smallest of the Teutonic
allies. seems to have struck her colors,
| Premier Malinoff has asked for an
armistice to consider terms of peace
| Whether he is acting upon his own
responsibility as the representative of
revolutionary party or with the ap-
prevail of King Ferdinand and the
government, remains in doubt. In
either case, however, there is little
doubt that Bulgaria has ceased to be
a military factor in the war. Her
armies are in full retreat and her soil
has been invaded.
Recession of the Balkan state from
the thraldom of Germany will be al
most as severe blow to the Teutonic
alliance as the collapse of Russia TO
the allies.
Turkey Will Be Next.
If Bulgaria lays down her arms,
Turkey, her armies shattered by the
coup of General Allenby in Palestine,
will be cut off from her allies. Her
lines of communication will be sew
cred except across the Black sea,
through Rumania or over the noun
tain peaks of transCaucasia into Rus
STA, where the grip of the German
controlled Bolsheviki is steadily becom-
ing weaker.
With her supplies of German-made
munitions and raw materials hanging /,
by such Il slender thread, military OBJ
servers believe the Ottoman empire
will have no course left but to follow
the example of her Balkan neighbor.
But it makes little difference to the
entente whether the Turk abandons
Germany and Austria. If Bulgaria
quits, he can no longer be a menace
to their plans.
The back door of Austria will stand
ajar before the victorious British.
$50 Miles From Belgrade.
French, Serbian, Greek and Italian
armies are plunging ahead through
the mountains of liberated Serbia.
Only $50 miles ahead of their advance
guards is Belgrade, across the Danube,
from the plains of Hungary. They al
ready have pressed forward a fourth
Of this distance since the great Mace
DOMAIN offensive began ON September
IA.
Once over the river they would be
passing through territory occupied by
the oppressed nationalities of Austria,
who have little love for the dual en-
pire and there would be no great
natural obstacles between them and
Budapest. Early winter in the Bal
kans, with the limited means of COM
munication available, would present
the most serious difficulty and one
which could not be overcome before
spring.
With the detection of Bulgaria, it
would be necessary for hard-pressed
Austria to throw an army across her
southern front, thus making another
serious inroad upon her waning man
power. The bulk of her force is fac
ing the eager Italian army along the
Pave and in the mountain region
Emperor William has already called
upon Emperor Charles for help on
the western front, and Austro-Hun-
garian divisions are fighting beside
the Germans against the steadily adj
vancing British, French anG Ameri-
cans. Italy still has large reservoirs
of men, and any weakening of the
Austrian front to send forces to an
other frontier of the empire probably
would be the signal for general at
tack to recover not only the invaded
italian territory, but the "lost prov
inces' as we'll"
With Bulgaria evidently fallen by
the wayside. with Turkey staggering,
and with Austria a welter of internal
discord and discomfort, the shaken
armies of Emperor William are
falling back upon their own
frontiers before the irresistible blows
of Marshal Foch's British French
and American troops.
The French and Americans plunged
forward again between Rheims and
Verdun, while the British attacked
wide front in the Cambria sector. Be-
tween them they already have taken
more than 10000 prisoners and many
guns of all calibers.
y