New-York tribune., 1918-08-16

(The Ne,c York T,-ib,,rte)
Wv THILE the rehabilitation OF
N/ the West front still hangs
W fire a new East front is
emerging. The centre of dramatic
interest shifted yesterday to the
East. There big events are prepar-
ing.
The advance guard of the Ameri-
can Siberian contingent landed at
Vladivostok. 1t consisted of the 27th |
Regular Infantry, transferred from
the Philippines. 1t is said in Wash
ington that this regiment has not yet
been recruited up to war strength. !
But it is on Siberian soil. And its
presence there is an earnest Of more
and bigger American units to come.
The danger points in Siberia at
present are the Maritime Province
and the section of the Siberian rail |
road east of Lake Baikal. There the !
Red Guards have been reinforced by |
many Austrian and Hungarian eX-
prisoners. But the capacity of these
forces for harm can be nullified to
great extent by a movement direct |
from Manchuria into the district
east of Baikal.
The japanese can reach the Man
churian border without going to
Vladivostok. They can come up from
Port Arthur to Harbin and thence
to the Manchurian border. 1t is
probable that the japanese General
Staff has already started an expedi-
ton by this route. 1t is a relatively
short distance, as Siberian distances
go, from the Chinese border town of
Manchuria to Chita, the junction of
the Chinese Eastern branch with the
Amur River branch Of the Siberian
railroad system. Possession of this
junction would sever communica-
tions between the enemy forces in
/ the eastern provinces and those in
the Lake Baikal region. From Chita
to Irkutsk is another relatively
short jump. And it is clear that the
Red Guards and the Austrian and
Hungarian eX-prisoners, who are in
adequately armed and organized,
cannot make serious stand any
where against trained japanese
troops.
The surprising news came yester-
day that British troops, detached
from the Mesopotamian front, had
reached Baku, on the west shore Of
the Caspian Sea. Baku is the centre
OF the Caspian oil trade. It is the
eastern terminus of the Transcau-
casian railroad across from Batum,
on the Black Sea. The Turks have
been anxious for some time past to
get foothold there
A few months ago a Turkish force
penetrated from Kurdistan into
Northwestern Persia, with the pur-
pose, apparently, Of working down
OH the right flank of the British
Mesopotamian army striking north
toward Mosul. This expedition evi-
IDENTIFY came to nothing. The British
themselves have now moved north
east into Persia and crossed Persia
to the Caspian. If they obtain as
sistance from the Transcaucasia
republic, which is ct odds with Tur-
key, and get control of the Caspian
Sea, line of communication could
be opened up through the Volga
River with the Cossacks and with
the Czecho-Slovaks now operating
along the upper Volga.
Y Yesterday, also, the Allied forces
operating south from Archangel
reached Pabereshkaia, 100 miles
south of their White Sea base. Other
Allied troops have been landed on
the shores of the Bay of Omega, 100
miles southwest Of Archangel. This
second expeditionary force is prob
ably destined for the protection of
the Murmansk railroad below KEN.
point threatened by the Germans
and Firms until recently, when the
tlnns began to lose interest in a
foray against the Murmansk rail
road which would involve them in
war with the Allies. The first col
umn is headed for vologda, whence