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[GERMAN VIEW]

The Situation on Three Fronts

By H. H. von Mellenthin

Foreign Editor New-Yorker Staats-Zeitung

[See Map of Balkan Front, Page 391

HE principal event of the period.

rated when estimated at 400,000 men.

which forms the subject of this As for its equipment, the infantry is

review-up to the middle of September-was the intervention of Rumania on the side of the Allies. Rumania's declaration of war against Austria-Hungary, with a statement of the reasons for her action, came on Aug. 28. Germany promptly declared war on Rumania; Bulgaria and Turkey followed suit a few days later.

Rumania's entrance into the war has, besides its military importance, an economic significance. Economically Rumania is the loser. Through her commercial agreement with the Central Powers she had garnered in enormous profits. Naturally the Central Powers on their part, cut off as they are from the outside world by the British blockade, had gained advantages from the possibility of receiving goods from Rumania-advantages which are not to be underestimated. However, the abundance of this year's German harvest more than counterbalances the stopping of the Rumanian source.

The military significance of Rumania's action lies primarily in the intention of the Allies to extend still further the general offensive on all theatres of war. The Rumanian offensive has two possibilities:

1. The forcing of the Transylvanian Alps, which form the continuation of the Carpathians, and the invasion of Hungary either from the southeast or south.

2. An invasion of Bulgaria from the north, in conjunction with the Russian forces for whom the Rumanian border was opened with the declaration of war. For both cases the condition and the strength of the Rumanian Army constitute the decisive factor. The numerical strength of that army is hardly under

armed with Mannlicher rifles dating from 1893, 6.5 millimeter calibre; the artillery with Krupp guns, model 1908, 7.5 centimeter calibre, and 12-centimeter howitzers. The machine guns are constructed after the Maxim type.

On the opposing side considerable Turkish forces are at hand for the new campaign. Since the conclusion of the Dardanelles enterprise of the Allies the Turkish main forces which had been massed partly at Constantinople and partly in the new big military camp at Tchatalja, west-northwest of the capital, have not been heard from. It was said that they were being kept in readiness for the event of an allied attempt to break through from Saloniki in order to cut the communication between the Central Powers and Turkey, established by the Serbian campaign. Such, too, would be the ultimate aim of a Bulgarian invasion by the Russians and Rumanians. The realization of this aim, however, would for Turkey be the gravest blow, and the Turks may be expected to exert their entire available strength to avert it.

The Rumanian Attack

The Rumanians opened attack even before the declaration of war by proceeding against Rotenturm Pass, Toerzburg Pass, and Toemoes Pass, in the Transylvanian Alps. At the same time a RussoRumanian army attacked the front of the Austro-Hungarian Archduke Heir Apparent, Karl Franz Josef, in the Southeastern Carpathians, at Toelgyes Pass and Bekas Pass. The result was the withdrawal of the forces of the Central Powers, in accordance with the general basic idea of the whole war-to rest on the defensive at certain points and to

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take the offensive on other fronts designated therefor.

The Rumanins advanced at three points: Far to the west, near the "Iron Gate," where the Czerna empties into the Danube, Orsova was occupied. In the centre they pushed through the Transylvanian Alps from the south in the direction of Kronstadt and Hermannstadt. The open Hungarian city of Kronstadt (Brasso) fell into their hands. They advanced as far as the Gyorgyo Mountains north of the town. Kronstadt is of military importance as an intersection, being the converging point of several lines leading across the mountains into Rumania. The city had, therefore, been fortified in former times, but is today completely

open.

Thirdly, there was the Rumanian advance from the east, across the wooded Carpathians against the Ersik heights, the Rumanians being aided here by Russian forces.

The withdrawal of the Austro-Hungarian lines to previously selected positions was based upon the military advisability of shortening the front. A front running along the whole frontier, from Dorna Watra before the Borgo Pass of the wooded Carpathians to Orsova, at the "Iron Gate," would have been 600 kilometers long. The defense of all frontier passes in south and east was hardly possible; to hold the entire 600-kilometer front would have presented enormous numerical difficulties. The present plan of the Austro-Hungarian high command is to oppose a further advance of the enemy on the line that has been reduced to less than half its original length.

The Austro-Hungarian troops also have taken up new positions in the Csik Mountains, withdrawing to the heights west of the Csik Szerada.

The Teutonic Offensive

On Sept. 2 the Central Powers and their allies opened the offensive against Rumania from the south. Bulgarian, German, and Turkish troops crossed the Dobrudja frontier and entered Rumania. The Southern Dobrudja forms the territory which Bulgaria had to cede to Rumania at the peace of Bucharest, Aug. 10, 1913, after the second Balkan war—

although Rumanian troops had had no actual part in that conflict.

The border was crossed by three columns in the east, in the centre, and in the west.

1. The western column of invasion advanced against the Danube bridgehead Turtukan. German troops took a part in this advance. The bridgehead was constructed to defend the crossing of the Danube to Oltenita, on the left bank. From Oltenita a railway runs directly to Bucharest. The distance between Oltenita and the Rumanian capital is sixty kilometers as the crow flies.

2. The advance of the central column was directed against the fortress of Silistria. This stronghold, too, was taken.

3. The advance of the easternmost col- umn was aimed primarily against the fortress of Dobritsch, (Hadshi-OgluBasadshik.)

On the left wing and in the centre the Bulgarian troops are strengthened by Germans, on the right by Turks. Russian forces, on the other hand, are aiding the Rumanian right flank.

On Sept. 3 Dobritsch fell. Three days later the Danube bridgehead Turtukan had fallen, and on Sept. 9 the fortress of Silistria was stormed. On Sept. 7 the Rumanian Black Sea ports of Baltchik, Kowarra, and Kali-Akra were occupied.

Turtukan is to be regarded as an advanced position of the Rumanian capital and principal fortress, Bucharest. It is at this point that the great Moltke considered that the Danube could best be crossed.

With the occupation of Turtukan and Silistria, the crossing of the Danube at two important points of the Dobrudja is within reach of the attackers' guns. Oltenita, on the northern bank of the river opposite Turtukan, already is under bombardment. And from Oltenita a railway leads directly to Bucharest. The Rumanians only have left the second Danube bridgehead, Czernavoda, east of Silistria. This bridgehead is connected by rail with the principal Rumanian port, Constanza, on the Black Sea.

The entire land defense of Rumania is organized after the so-called central system. Bucharest is the principal fortress,

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RUSSIAN BATTLE FRONT IN GALICIA AND VOLHYNIA: DOUBLE LINE MARKS RUSSIAN POSITION BEFORE THE PRESENT DRIVE, AND DOTTED LINE THAT ON SEPT. 15

the pulse of that system; and, as its capital, it is the heart of the kingdom. The fortress, one of the strongest in the world, is the work of General Biralmont, the famous Belgian fortress builder who also constructed Liége, Namur, and Ant

werp. The present war, however, has considerably reduced the value of fort

resses.

The Russo-Rumanian troops have begun to retreat northward, and thus have opened for the attackers the cross

ing of the Danube. At this writing comes an official statement from the Berlin War Office reporting Field Marshal von Mackensen's right on the line from Rasova across the Southern Dobrudja through Cobadin to Tuzla, a line about twelve miles from the Czernawoda-Constanza stretch protected by the historic rampart, Trajan's Wall.

The development up to date of the offensive by the combined Bulgarian, German, and Turkish forces under the chief command of Field Marshal von Mackensen against Rumania from the south already has had its effects upon the military situation on the northern front. The Rumanian advance in Transylvania, after first slackening, has now come to a standstill at Sepsi-SzentGyorgy, slightly to the north of Kronstadt. The shortening of the AustroHungarian line has been carried into effect.

The military expert of The London Times already has asserted that Rumania must be "saved." The rescue, he emphasizes, must be effected upon the main theatres of war, for a rambling about in the whole world would be folly for the Allies. Rumania will remain an incidental theatre of war, even though the campaign in that country is in close military connection with the great Russian offensive.

Russian Offensive Fails

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The grand offensive" of the Russians has meanwhile resolved itself to two operations on separate fronts.

When on June 5, in accordance with the allied military conference in Paris, the great general offensive began on the eastern front, ushering in the united attack on all main theatres of war, the task mapped out for the Russians was the "rolling up" of the entire Teuton front through a break in its southern line, from Baronovitchi, north of the Pripet Swamps, down to the Rumanian border of the Bukowina. This general strategic idea of the Russian drive was analogous to that of the Anglo-French offensive on the western front, which also was aimed at the "rolling up " of the entire German front.

But the Russians have progressed

neither from the lower Stokhod north of the Sarny-Kovel railway, nor against this line from the south, from the Lutsk region. The new Russian attacks on the lower Stokhod thus far can be regarded only as demonstrations. Nor has the advance from Brody in a westerly direction even begun.

Thus, all that is left at present of the "grand offensive" in the east is the fighting in the region between the Zlota Lipa and the Dniester and the advance across the Carpathians. The battles on these two theatres of war are extremely violent and in themselves of great strategical importance, but they are in no inner military connection whatsoever with the task originally set to the "grand offensive."

The battles in the Carpathians have completely lost their original tendency. They gravitate toward the Northern Rumanian front, which stretches from the wooded Carpathians down to the "Iron Gate." The result of the Carpathian battles, too, is influenced by the course of the campaign in Rumania.

Thus we have left of the "grand offensive" really only the developments between the Dniester and the Zlota Lipa. These are described by Russian military experts as a "Russian general attack." The general attack is aimed at Lemberg from the south. After crossing the River Koropiec and occupying positions in the terrain of that river, the Zlota Lipa and the Khowanka, the Russians reached Podhajze and occupied Maryampol, on the Dniester. By this operation the Russian left wing (army group of General Letchitsky) had effected a junction with the centre (army group of General Schterbatscheff) on the comparatively short front Stanislau-Maryampol.

From this line the advance on Lemberg was continued. It was aimed primarily against Halicz, the important railhead of the communication with Lemberg.

On Sept. 6 the Russians had won some ground in the direction of Halicz. In the battle of Sept. 7 and 8, between the Zlota Lipa and Dniester, they attempted to seize Halicz by means of swift successive mass attacks against Buraztyn, (about seventeen kilometers northwest of

Halicz, not far from the railway to Lemberg.)

Had the Russians succeeded in breaking through there they would have gained, with the possession of the city, the control of the railway as well. The attempt was frustrated "by a cleverly mapped out and as cleverly executed plan of defense on the part of General Count von Bothmer," in the words of the official German War Office statement. In the same report the highest praise was expressed for the Turks' fighting on Count Bothmer's front.

advance

Since them the Russian against Lemberg has been-temporarily, at least-discontinued.

Field Marshal General von Hindenburg has been called from the east front to become Chief of the German General Staff of the Army in the Field, succeeding General von Falkenhayn.

Simultaneously came the appointment of General Ludendorff, Hindenburg's former Chief of Staff, as Quartermaster General. This post once before received a significance quite out of proportion with its usual functions. In peace time, from 1881 until 1888, a Quartermaster General was the 66 right-hand man " of Field Marshal Count Moltke, then Chief of the General Staff of the Army, and was in the absence of the latter Acting Chief of the General Staff. General Ludendorff will be Hindenburg's right hand.

The fact that these two men have been simultaneously taken from the immediate command on the front and intrusted with the chief direction of the whole war, as far as the German arms and operations are concerned, indicates the seriousness of the entire war situation.

The new army chief, after personally inspecting the military situation in the west, has effected a regrouping of that front. The front as a whole has been divided into three main sections, commanded, respectively, by Field Marshal General Duke Albrecht von Württemberg, Field Marshal General Crown Prince Rupprecht of Bavaria, and the German Crown Prince. The regrouping is analogous to the changes made on the eastern front.

Fighting on the Somme

The break which was to usher in the "rolling up" process on the western front was to be effected on the line Peronne-Combles-Bapaume. The storming columns of the Allies have in the course of the period under discussion regained their unity of action in the various sectors of the 45-kilometer front extending from north of Thiepval down to Vermandovillers. The German firstline positions were battered to pieces, the second lines were stormed, and even sections of the third-line system were conquered.

The British are operating north of the Somme; in the centre, at the point of their junction, French and British cooperate, and the allied right wing, south of the Somme, is held by the French.

After careful artillery preparation the Allies are attacking alternately on the left, in the centre, and on the right. Thus, on Sept. 2 the centre advanced to the line Ginchy-Guillemont-Combles-Le Forest-Clery, and on Sept. 4 the French on their right wing pushed from the line running from Barleux to south of Chaulnes as far as Soyécourt, the outskirts of Berny, the northern edge of Deniecourt, and into Vermandovillers and Chilly. At the moment of writing the abandonment of Deniecourt is admitted by the Berlin War Office.

Sept. 4 saw the beginning of the battle for Ginchy, on the Anglo-German front. On the following day the French advanced their lines north of the Somme to the region east of Le Forest. With the occupation of the village of Ommiecourt the French lines on both sides of the river were straightened out. On Sept. 9 the British attacked on a front of 6,000 meters from Foureaux Wood to Leuze Wood; all of Ginchy was taken by them. Two days later the French progressed as far as the Béthune-Peronne highway. On Sept. 15 the British took part of the Bouleaux Wood, High Wood, (Foureaux Wood,) Flers, and Martinpuich, (on the road Albert-Pozières-Bapaume,) seizing all the ground between the region northwest of Combles and the Béthune road as far as Courcelette.

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