November 6, 1915- 
LAND AND WATER 
battalions established a bridge head over the 
Drina at Visegrad, yet the last Austrian commu- 
nique to hand dees not tell us that the frontier even 
is vet crossed ; though that frontier only lies a 
couple of hours march up the valley, and though 
the enemv has here two railways to serve him. (He 
lias had time to rebuild the bridge sufficiently to 
restore rail traffic). 
Again, once the Northern enemy gets two 
days' march south of his present line, he has in 
front of him a mass of high mountain land with 
ho" good road communication, which mass stretches 
South and West in a huge tangle of savage bare 
hills to the Adriatic itself. There is still a 
fair system of roads up into the hills from Kraguie- 
vatz, but the high lastrebatz Range overhangs 
him beyond and further south and east the moun- 
tainland -grow more and more difficult as one 
advances. 
If one were concerned with this district alone, 
it would be difficult to see how the enemy at his 
present rate of progress, and with the ground he 
now has to deal with, could prevent the Serbian 
forces falling back southward and westward to- 
wards the Montenegrin frontier. What is more 
puzzling is the state of affairs east of the main 
railway in district D. Such Serbian forces as 
remain in that district have no very wide gate by 
which to retire. -- 
The Bulgarians claim, probably with truth, 
that they were last Friday on the ridge of the 
watershed West of Kniajevatz at about E. We 
further know that they were beyond Pirot on the 
same day. On the main Salonika railway above 
Nish they were as far as Brdelyitza. 
By Sunday they had, in the advance on Nish, 
passed Bela Palanka. 
Put all this together and it means that the 
Serbian forces still East of the Morava Valley and 
the main railway running through it must fall 
back southward and eastward towards the railway 
and across it, if they are to avoid envelopment. 
For by marking down as is done in the above 
sketch map, the points where the enemy stood as 
late as Sunday last, one sees how perilous a salient 
those North-Eastern forces of our ally in " D " 
now make. They are defending difficult country 
it is true but, behind that difficult country the 
trench of the Morava with its road and railway 
permits both their enemies an uninterrupted 
advance, cutting the neck of the salient. 
THE LOSS OF TAHURE KNOLL. 
The recapture by the enemy of the knoll of 
Tahure is certainly of importance, but of what 
measure of importance we cannot tell until we 
know at what expense he achieved this success. 
The summit of this rounded knob of chalk 
(it is neither steep nor high) is the only point upon 
the present French line, I believe, which gives 
one a good observation post for the enemy's 
lateral railway of communication and for the 
roads beyond. Further, it covered all the valley 
of the Upper Dormoise ; and though only just 
the summit was held, and only just the summit 
has been lost, these. advantages have gone with it. 
At the same time, it was the point which the 
( uemy has ])articularly strained himself to recover 
U)]- a good fortnight past. The Germans, tlierefore, 
rightly insist upon their success and emphasise it 
in their communique. 
But, on the other hand, the French com- 
munique insists upon the ver}' heavy loss of men 
which the enemy suffered in this great attack. 
We are further told that the offensive was under- 
taken over a front of live miles, and that every- 
where, except on the head of the knoll of Tahure, 
the enemy was repulsed with such loss. He must 
even in some places have been deprived of small 
sections of trench which he formerly held, because 
the French (who only count unwounded prisoners) 
took first and last over 200 such. The enemy, 
counting the wounded on the ground he occupied 
and the unwounded, claims over twelve Imndred, 
which is a puzzlingly small number for the wounded 
alone in such an important section and an action 
of such magnitude unless, as is probably the case, 
the ground really recovered and held was very 
small in area. 
We shall probably have later some fuller 
account of the aftair from which we shall be able 
to judge the one essential point of numbers ; until 
we have this it is impossible to judge the value, 
plus or minus, of that affair. We know, indeed, 
that all over the front the enemy has been throwing 
away men wholesale ever since the new Allied 
offensive began. The policy has been as remark- 
able in Flanders as in Artois, and we now have 
another example of it in Champagne. But, though 
for the earlier fighting we have more or less precise 
figures, and know. that up to the 25th of October 
or thereabouts the Germans had lost 40,000 dead 
(say, a total casualty list of 200,000), we have no 
figures to guide us for this last fighting, and w'c 
must v/ait till they come before judging it. 
THE RIGA FRONT. 
The news from the extreme north of the 
Russian front is of exceptional interest this week, 
because it hints at a strain on the enemy's resources 
greater than we have yet been able to note in this 
region, and in particular to some difficulty with 
his artillery, whether from a withdrawal of batteries 
for the Balkans or from some breakdown in com- 
munications, or even perhaps from the lower human 
material that he is now compelled to mix with his 
earlier stuff to make wastage good in this very 
murderous sector. 
At any rate, what seems to have happened 
is this : — 
He got about a week ago, or a little more, 
across the narrow branch of the Dwina south of 
Dahlen Island and on to Dalilen Island itself. 
He seems to have failed to take Kekkau, so he 
must have crossed above the mouth of the little 
River Brze. But once on the isli^nd he could not 
maintain himself there and his artillery failed to 
keep down the fire of the Russian guns upon the 
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