NEWS OF THE WEEK
NEWS from the Balkans is scanty, and what news there is so far is not reassuring. That Greece should have decided to withdraw from Western Thrace need not in itself cause apprehension, and if the Germans have reached the sea at Dedeagatch, that will bring them no immediate advantage. Much more serious is the success of the German thrust through Yugoslavia, apparently in the neighbourhood of Lake Doiran, an operation which resulted in a withdrawal by the Yugoslays and the consequent exposure of the Greek left flank. The pur- pose clearly is to reach the valley of- the Vardar and drive down it towards Salonika. The success of the Germans' initial attack was not unexpected, though the Yugoslav withdrawal at this point is disquieting. If it is the Yugoslav strategy to attack the Italians in Albania and help the Greeks to eliminate them completely, that is sound enough if it can be effected witnout weakening other vital fronts. But the Germans evidently hope to separate Yugoslays from Greeks in the Vardar valley region, as they have already separated Greeks from Turks by the occupation of Western Thrace. The Greeks are fighting magnificently, but the next few days must be critical. Nothing has yet been heard of the movements of the British Expeditionary Force, which was landed on Greek soil without the loss of a single man. Its active support of the Greeks is badly needed, and there is little doubt that it is already being given. The Turks, with German forces now actually on their frontier, have so far given no indication of their intentions, though this is clearly the moment when they could intervene with greatest advantage to themselves as well as to their friends. Even in a week which has seen the occupation of Addis Ababa (but not yet of Massawa) the German successes in Macedonia and Libya, together with heavy shipping losses, impose a perhaps salutary consciousness of the gravity of the struggle in which we are engaged.
Previous page
