Every evening, Wilmington daily commercial., 1918-10-07
TWO WEEKS WAR
WITHOUT PARALLEL
Wonderful Have Been the Achieve.
ments OF the Allied Armies in
the Fortnight Just Passed.

An amazing fortnight, perhaps the
most wonderful in all history, was that
which drew to its thunderous close last
night Not the destruction of Babylon
nor the investment of Troy had such
color and movement
During this fortnight, in every theatre
Of war, triumph accrued TO the allied
arms as the reward Of four years struggle.
From the North Sea to Vcrdun, from the
Adriatic to the Businesses Of the Balkans,
from the Mediterranean to the great
Syrian desert success crowned their
efforts. One nation capltulatcd to them;
and an ancient city, where once Saul OF
'rarsus had his dwelling in the Street
Called Straight, passed from Turkish
INTO Christian possession.
Most great events of history have
como singly Noah's food had the stage
all to itself, and so il was with the Span
ish Armada and the Bastile when it fell.
Even the initial Russian revolution in
this war shouldercd other happenings
out Of view A single spotlight has
been enough.
But of late events of pomp and cir
cumstancc have been so rapid and so
widely separated in area as to prompt
plaintivc observation by one American
editor, William Marion Rcedy of st.
is very like the four-ring circus Of our
youth, in which so many startling things
were going on that one could not comprc-
hend the greater part of them.
IL may not bc amiSs, therefore, to
rccapitulate briefly what has happened
during the last two weeks, and TO take
stock Of allied acquisitions
LONGEST BATTALION IN HISTORY.
On the longest battlcline ever known
nine armies one aS1a'lcd tho hosts
British, three French. one Belgian and
one American. In the Balkans, two
bulgarian armies were cut apart and
routed bv Serbian, Greek, Italian, British
and French forces and, in Palestine,
General AIlcnby, when he destroyed
three Turkish armies, had the support
of Arab Bedomns
In addition, the whole German Cabinet
resigned. and the liberal Prince Maxi
milan of Baden was named as the sue
cesSor Of Chancellor Hcrtling and out
come perhaps as remarkable as any of
the others
A. the beginning Of the fortnight the
Americans, having ovcrrun the redouht
able st Athlel salient, found themselves
looking over the hills Of Germany tn
ward Metz. and their guns were she'll
ing its fortresses But their most active
fighting was 10 take place nearer the
Argonnc tiaig's men further north
were gripping It Quentin
The Scrbans had extended q twenty
fivc-mIlc front in tho Balkans 10 tho
Ccrna River and had taken $1,000 prs
oncrs. while British and Greek troops
had pushed ten-mllc front To the south
Of Lake Dorian. Allcnbys drive which
had begun week before, had carried his
British. Australian and Indian troops
to II Rafat at tho foot Of Mount Ephralm
and General Liman Won Sanders. German
commander Of the Tcuton and Turkish
forces. had fled IN panic from Nazareth
JAPAN CONES NEARER
At tho outset, too, OF this memorable
fortnight. the Japanese Cabinet, headed
bv Field Marshal Count Tcrauchi, re-
signed kci Iara. leader Of the SeIyu-
kai Party. was chosen the new Pre-
micr. assuring even closer cooperation
with the Allies. and particularly with
the [ nitcd States, in Siberia. Member
ship in Cabinets during wars Is an cX-
tra-hazardous occupation, and the num-
Der Of portfolios that have changed
hands since 1914 Is almost countless
but there Is good ground for believing
that the discussions IN Japan which
caused Terauchi' downfall will be quiet
ed by his successor.
ON Sept - the Scrbians east OF Mon
astir had advanced TO the Nardar River
President Wilson denounced the reign of
terrorism IN Russia 1t was announced
al Washington that 1.75O,0 900 Americans
had been sent to France General Haig
broke INTO the tlndcnbuTg line north
west of st Quentin General Allenby's
cavalry traversed the Field OF Anna
geddon 10 complete the enlightenment and
destruction of the Turkish Seventh and
Eighth Armies.
Ferdinand of Bulgaria sent up a Mace
DOMAIN cry to the Central Powers on
Sept %, but the help he asked was not
forthcoming. How could Germany send
divisions 10 his aid when the French
were winning the Disc front north of La
Fere and Germans were evacuating
Nendueil: when Foch, master strategst,
was arraying his armies for the farfiung
battle which he was to lnauguratc in
three days?
On that same day the Japanese cap
tured the capital of the Amur district
in Eastern Siberia and the Bulgars were
swept back on a ninety-mile front in
the Balkans Their First and Second
armies were cut apart, and the Italians
advanced VIGOROUSLY toward Prilep 1t
was time for Ferdinand to yell for help.
uaig frightened his grip on st. Quentin
the next day, as a forewaming of what
was to come. and took four villages and
] 300 prisoners in doing il. D'Esperey's
forces in the Balkans counted $1,000
Bulgar prisoners and 140 cannon, and
the British occupied Dorian, while the
Serbs and French took Pnlep
On Sept. 25 the British captured
Selrncy with 1000 prisoners, while the
French held their gains and marked time
Allenby announced that his total of
Turkish prisoners was 10000 but il
grew as time went on. The Bulgar
front was crumbling, the Serbians were
nearing Veles, Teuton forces were re-
treating on a Bonnie line, but still no
German forces could be seen to their
rescue.
GREAT BATTLE OPENED.
On Sept 26 the great battle on the
western front was opened. In describ-
ing that battle supe rlatives are in order
1t was the biggest and the bitterest bat
tic az a war mark cd hv battles ri nm